<p>I know I should apply to safety schools that I'm truly interested in, and I will.</p>
<p>What I want to know is this: for my safeties, should my SAT scores fall into the ranges of the schools' scores, or exceed these ranges? What about my GPA?</p>
<p>Should my safeties basically be defined by my stats?
My SATs are 730 CR, 680 M, and 660 W. (I'm going to take them again, though.)</p>
<p>This is my first post to CC. Thanks for all advice! :)</p>
<p>Yes, your stats should define your safeties. Why? Because if the admissions procedure doesn’t place a heavy emphasis on stats, it is inherently unpredictable and therefore doesn’t provide a safety.</p>
<p>Ideally, your stats should a) fall well above the 75%ile for the school or b) meet guaranteed admission requirements.</p>
<p>Remember to consider finances, because it isn’t a safety if you can’t afford it.</p>
<p>There is a way around this if you can’t find any schools that will work. If you apply very early to schools that are not true safeties but that do issue decisions on a rolling basis, you may be admitted and not have to worry about anything else. If you are rejected, you still have time to file apps for true safeties.</p>
<p>Academic Safety: You are guaranteed, or very nearly guaranteed admissions based on your GPA and exam scores.</p>
<p>Financial Safety: You can pay for it out of pocket, or with no financial aid other than need-based federally determined (FAFSA) aid.</p>
<p>Not all Academic Safeties are Financial Safeties, and vice versa. Do your best to identify at least one place that meets both those criteria.</p>
<p>However, to meet the standards for Rock-Solid or True Safety, the institution must also offer the major(s) that you are interested in, and be a place that you would be happy to attend if all else goes wrong in the admission process.</p>
<p>As noimagination has written above, it may not be absolutely necessary to apply to a Rock-Solid Safety right away if you have reasonable chances of admission at other rolling admissions schools. Just be sure to identify one in time to take advantage of any goodies (like merit scholarships or priority housing selection) that they have to hand out.</p>
<p>For strong students, I think EA at several match schools is the way to go. Match schools, like everyone else, are becoming less and less predictable, and it’s nice to have a good option in hand early. It keeps the nerves at bay when the horror stories of people rejected everywhere, or everywhere but their safest safety start rolling in</p>
<p>^ Except that I’d argue for rolling, not EA. By the time EA decisions come out, some good safeties may be past their prime admission windows.</p>
<p>They definitely should NOT fall in the range of the schools’ scores. They need to be well above the 75th percentile. Schools with your scores in the middle are bound to be very competitive and you should by no means risk your entire future on the chance that you’ll get in. You need to be absolutely certain that there’s no way you’d possibly be rejected.</p>
<p>A state school is a good example because those are usually financial safeties too.</p>
<p>For me, safety school has to have three requirements:
-Very good shot admissions-wise - I’m thinking your SAT scores are well above the 75th percentile, usually, with your scores, state flagships fall under that category just fine. (I know mine did)
-You can afford it under almost all circumstances, so in the event you do get rejected everywhere else, you can still go. I know someone who used BC and UCLA as “safeties” based off of stats, got rejected to all ivies and is now stuck in limbo because he can’t afford it. In addition, this part should hopefully play in with the first, since you can hopefully get a good deal of merit aid out of the school thanks to your higher than average stats.
-You would have no qualms about going there, besides the obvious “I would have rather attended [insert reach school here]”. No brainer, but you’d be surprised how many students ignore this crucial factor.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone, I wasn’t expecting so much feedback!</p>
<p>All of your posts helped me out.</p>