So I’m really good at picking schools that are way out of my reach (lol) but I’m having trouble deciding what constitutes a “safety” for me. I know it’s something with percents but I really don’t get what that means, so if you could give me some examples that would be great. I’m a junior btw.
30 act
3.8 UW gpa
took honors for all core classes throughout hs
Took one AP, will take more next year
money not really an issue so don’t ask
Thanks! 
oh and I live in the midwest! (Illinois)
Do you have a preference for a major (ie., engineering, cs, math, foreign languages, humanities in general, social sciences in general, sciences in general…)?
Are there some parts of the country that you like better than others? Are you drawn more to rural or to cities? little colleges or big colleges? Weather issues? (in that you like cold or hot weather).
With price not being an issue many many schools would be safeties. We need the answers to the questions above to narrow it down.
UI Chicago
Well I want to look at the midwest primarily, but I’m not limited to it. I don’t care hot/cold. I like medium or large schools. I want to go into cognitive science
Run the Supermatch engine on the left side of this page for Cognitive Science. That should give you a good starting place.
Find a couple of schools where you meet/are above the typical admission stats, that you like, and that have EA or rolling admissions – if you get in by December then those schools can be your safety.
@happy1 that’s a really good idea!!! I can’t believe I never thought of that. I’m actually looking at a couple schools witht rolling admissions
Percent just means admission percentage, the amount of people who were accepted out of the amount of people who applied. = Admission percentage. With your stats, it is safe to say a school with a 55+% admissions percentage will accept you. The other components of a safety include being financially affordable and you absolutely wanting to go there.
Take a look at the thread listing colleges with automatic admission criteria in the college admissions section.
Mizzou could be a good option. Depends on what geographic region you are interested in, but when I toured the Mizzou campus there were quite a bit of Chicago residents on my tour.
University of Evansville.
If cost isn’t a concern, and you’re willing to go to the Northeast, I would look into Syracuse. It would be quite surprising for them to reject you.
Other possibilities:
-Drake University
-Loyola University Chicago
-Lake Forest College (Chicago area LAC)
-Augustana College
-Iowa State University