What defines a "Safety" in college admissions

Applying to College
1

<p>Essentially, when are you at the point that you are 100% positive of getting accepted. Say for example, that your GPA is .4 higher than the average and your ACT is 8 points higher than average, would you be 100% positive then? Or would .2/ and 3 points cut it?</p>

<p>I'm asking so that I may pick an effective list of colleges to apply to, with two colleges I know I would be positive of getting into.</p>

<p>Edit: I should add my stats for relevance</p>

<p>GPA: 3.74
ACT: 32
Rank: Top 5%
--almost all honors/Ap's ,
--decent EC's, no big awards really
--Upward trend from freshman year to junior yr 1st semester. --Downward trend from 1st semester of junior year to 2nd semester (3.8 GPA to 3.3) early senioritis haha</p>

<p>Indicated major: Mechanical Engineering</p>

2

<p>As truly safe college/university meets these four criteria:</p>

<p>1) You know that you are flat-out guaranteed admission because either it is an open admission institution, or because it has a numbers-based policy and the GPA and ACT/SAT exam scores that guarantee admission are right on the website. Lots of public universities have policies like that. If human beings can read the application and decide Yes-No for any reason, then the best it can be is pretty safe. But it isn’t a real, true, safety.</p>

<p>2) You know for dead certain that you can pay for your studies with nothing more than federally determined (FAFSA) aid and/or guaranteed state aid and/or aid guaranteed by the institution itself because of your GPA and/or ACT/SAT scores and/or class rank. For lists of places like that, see the threads on guaranteed merit aid in the financial aid forum.</p>

<p>3) Your major is offered. </p>

<p>4) You could be happy there if everything else goes wrong in the admission process.</p>

<p>Take a look at the guaranteed merit aid and the auto full tuition threads in the Financial Aid Forum. Your ACT score and GPA qualify you for some of that money. Those places would be your real safeties.</p>

3

<p>TenMore, I am so glad to see you asking this question NOW instead of after decisions are handed out next year. I have been sometimes saddened, sometimes unnerved, by all of the students expressing shock and dismay when they are rejected from schools they considered safeties or at the lack of financial aid they have received from schools they felt certain would be generous with them, but were not. Happymomof1’s definition is accurate–and ALL of the four elements must be in play in order for the school to be a safety. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>If your GPA and scores are within the range of the top 25% of students admitted, it is still not a safety! There needs to be a clause that says specifically that students with a GPA/ACT/SAT of ___ or higher will be admitted. If the school does not guarantee admission with your stats, it is not a safety. If you live in TX and you are in the Top 10% of your class, UT-Austin is NOT a safety for you (they guarantee admission to the Top 8%). Just because you are “close” and you know 50 other students who have been admitted with lower stats than yours, UT-Austin is not a safety! Just because “half the kids in last year’s class were admitted to (State U)” does not mean that YOU will be admitted to State U. Only schools with guaranteed admission for students with YOUR stats are safety schools.</p></li>
<li><p>Check out the thread that HappyMom referred you to now in order to get an idea of what schools are “Financial Safeties” for you. Then, review it again next fall to make certain that the school’s policies have not changed. Schools that “meet need” are not financial safeties. All FA packages are not created equal–even if your EFC is zero. You need to make sure that you have at least one school on your list that is a true financial safety that guarantees the amount of MERIT SCHOLARSHIP $$ you need for students with YOUR stats as of the end of your junior year–not your friend’s stats who got in with a full ride last year, and not your stats IF you make straight A’s your first two semesters of senior year and raise your ACT score by five points. Use your stats as they are by end of Junior year to find a solid financial safety that meets all four of HappyMom’s criteria. Then, if your stats DO rise, you’ll have more options. If they don’t rise, you won’t be disappointed.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>3). Yes, the school has to offer the major you are seeking. Let me add, though, that if you feel very, very strongly about being in the Honors College for your safety school, you need to make sure that your safety school guarantees admission to Honors with a certain GPA/Test score combo, too. Do not assume that just because 28 of the 30 seniors who got into State U from your school last year were in Honors, that 28 of the 30 seniors going to State U from your school this year will get into Honors. This happened with our local State U this year. Many of my son’s classmates with high stats and lots of EC’s were denied admission to HC this year after most of last year’s class got in last year. I also saw it happen with BU this year–SO many students with very high stats did not get into Honors at BU this year. So, if being in HC is important to you, make sure you are guaranteed admission to it at your safety, as that factors into Happy Mom’s #4.</p>

<p>4). IF YOU WOULD NOT BE HAPPY ATTENDING YOUR “SAFETY SCHOOL”, IT IS NOT A SAFETY! Don’t even apply there! Find another safety school that meets the above criteria where you could be happy. I am so sad for all of the students I have read posts from over the past few weeks who are devastated that they are “having” to attend their “safety school”. If you could not be happy attending that school, it was NOT a safety! I understand that students can be disappointed by being rejected to their top schools. But if they cannot imagine ever being happy attending their safety school, they should have spent more time exploring the amazing schools all over the country that guarantee admission and scholarships to students with their stats. </p>

<p>Full disclosure, I am a U of Alabama alum. I love my alma mater, so there could be inherent bias in what I am about to say. However, facts are facts, and anyone looking for a safety owes it to themselves to at least consider the following:</p>

<p>My son is a high-stat student with over two dozen Nat’l awards and hundreds of service hours. He has never lived in Alabama and because we lived so far away, he has not spent much time there. He visited UA his junior year and fell in love. He did more research online when he came home and found even more to love. U of A offers phenomenally generous scholarships, and for high stats students/NMF it’s a guaranteed full ride + iPad + study abroad stipend for the first year, and full tuition scholarships for years 2-4. There are also numerous other cash stipends and scholarships offered through departments, alumni groups, etc. DS was especially impressed by their brand new science and engineering facilities, the way they stack scholarships and return excess outside scholarship dollars to students (something few other colleges do), the weather, the close proximity to fabulous beaches, the friendliness of both students and faculty/staff and the delicious food on campus.</p>

<p>My son’s safety school was the University of Alabama. It met all four of the above criteria for him. He applied to 1 safety (Bama), 1 match (BU) and 8 Top 25 Reaches. He didn’t need any other safeties or matches because he knew without a doubt that he could be very happy at Alabama, could afford Alabama, Alabama offered his major and he was guaranteed admission as a Presidential Scholar even before he got NMF. </p>

<p>DS was lucky. In March, he was admitted to his top choice Ivy with a very generous FA pkg, as well as Duke, UVA and BU (with Pres. Scholar and HC). But, guess what? Though he is still considering Duke and UVA, his top two college choices currently are … Bama and Brown–His safety and his favorite Ivy. Why? Because he chose a TRUE safety school that he would also love to attend. In addition to being thrilled with the outcome of his app process, he was very calm throughout the process because he knew that, even if he wasn’t accepted to any of the other 9 schools he applied to, he would be very happy at his safety school. No stress. No drama.</p>

<p>So, PLEASE do yourself a favor and make sure you have a TRUE safety on your list instead of a “safety” that you either don’t want to attend or can’t afford without hardship. They are out there, and some are outstanding Top 100 schools. So, do your research, keep an open mind and find your TRUE safety! It’s one of the best investments of time and energy you will make in high school. :)</p>

4

<p>I have never replied to a post before but yours really HELPED me!!! I am now thinking about things very differently! Quick question - how do you find schools with “auto. admission based on stats” I keep looking for threads but I am exhausted by the effort!<br>
Thanks again!!!</p>

5

<p>Run a search for threads started by BobWallace in the Financial Aid Forum, and you will find a link to the thread on Automatic Full Tuition scholarships. In the first couple if posts there are links to several other threads on guaranteed aid.</p>

6

<p>Just from my experience, don’t assume that a state school is a financial safety. Of the 15 schools my son applied to, the 4 state schools ended up being the most expensive.</p>

7

<p>My son is very interested in an OOS regional public U with a specific major. I agree with him that it’s a perfect course of study for him. He is guaranteed admission based on his ACT score which he has in hand. He would also be able to minor in a related area of interest and receive scholarship money. Through the Academic Common Market, he will receive in-state tuition rates which are lower than most of our state schools. This all sounds too good to be true! Does he need a safety? There are two other options offering in-state tuition that have a similar major, although not as strong IMO. Other schools with this program offer far less bang for the buck.</p>

8

<p>Jeannemar, If he would be happy going there and you can afford it, then that would be his safety.</p>

9

<p>Jeannemar, it sounds to me as if your son is in a situation similar to my son–his safety is a TRUE safety AND it’s his top choice school. There seems to be an unfortunate attitude on CC that a safety school is not a school you would actually want to go to but, rather, like the old definition of “Home”: “It’s the place where, if you have to go there, they have to take you in.” NO! LOL. Your safety school should be that place where you know THEY WANT YOU. You know that you can AFFORD to spend four years there. You know you can get the MAJOR YOU NEED. And it’s the place where you know you could feel AT HOME AND HAPPY. There should not be an “ick factor” to your safety. If there is, it isn’t a safety. I am so happy for you and your son! Having been in your shoes for the entirety of DSs app process, I can tell you that finding that perfect “safety” school will make enjoying your son’s senior year so much easier! Congrats!</p>

10

<p>I will add that for some students, there may not really be a “true safety” that meets all the criteria listed above–that is, a place where you are guaranteed admission that you would be satisfied attending. In this case, you may want to apply to several near-safeties–i.e., a state flagship that doesn’t guarantee admission, but that has never rejected kids from your high school with stats similar to yours.</p>

11

<p>I agree with the sentiments above, especially with a school that has a true cutoff for if you are above x.xx and yyyy then you are in. That couples with the finaid and major requirements mentioned in the first reply make for a true safety, but even if there aren’t true cutoffs, a second measure is a school that is “pretty safe” but on a rolling admission.</p>

<p>If a school is on a rolling admission and you think you’re pretty safe there, then you should get in within a month or two. If you do this early on in the process, and you like the school, then you are done with safety schools and you can focus on reaches and matches. There is no school that is safer than one you are already admitted at! :)</p>

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<p>Hunt, I understand what you’re saying, but that is how so many kids got in trouble this year. Universities change their criteria for acceptance, scholarships and Honors College every year. Kids who were within a breath of the 8% rule in TX, who knew students with considerably lower stats than theirs who got in last year, were rejected this year. In our home state, last year about 40-50 kids were accepted from DSs HS with Presidential Scholarships and Honors College admittance. This year, the number was about half that, though I believe this year’s class has overall higher stats. </p>

<p>Also, there are arbitrary rules that some universities implement from one year to the next that can plow down a student’s app unexpectedly. DS has a classmate who lectured at one of the Top 2-3 Universities in the world last year, has completed all of his college classes in his chosen field with As and Bs (he began taking classes at the University in 8th grade), was NMSF and had a GPA very similar to DS (around 3.7 UW). DS has LOTS of Bs on his transcript, but nothing lower. His classmate had mostly As, but also had a couple of Ds on his transcript (in a difficult AP class). DS was accepted to several top 25 schools and was only rejected by a couple of Ivies. His friend was rejected by every school he applied to except our local U (which is ranked by USNWR around #125, as I recall). Our local U accepted him, but gave him no $$ and no Honors College. </p>

<p>DS and his friend had almost identical GPA and test scores. Evidently, though, our local U and other schools prefer a student with lots of Bs to a student with lots of As and a couple of Ds in a single class that was unrelated to his proposed major. </p>

<p>There are so many similar horror stories out there, that I have to respectfully disagree with Hunt and say that unless you are guaranteed admission, it’s not a safety. If you can’t find a school where you are guaranteed admission AND where you would be happy, you need to realign your expectations (which you can control) rather than expecting admissions to miraculously work out exactly as you intend (which you cannot control). Admissions is an ever-changing, unpredictable crap shoot, even for top students with top ECs. Find your TRUE safety and fall in love with it. Then, if you end up having other options it will be a wonderful surprise!</p>

13

<p>The ultimate safety is usually the local CC.</p>

14

<p>Much has been written here on CC and elsewhere about this year’s admission cycle, including various takes on emerging trends vs anomalies…but this much is clear: each year brings changes, and so the past is not the predictor it once was.</p>

<p>For this reason I urge you to do your research BUT apply Early Action to all your schools, for the best merit and scholarship options as well as the potentially closer read and more holistic review of your total application. In fact, some colleges open their online applications August 1. </p>

<p>I believe your first job is to get accepted, and then later to evaluate, visit and decide. Cast a wide net, make sure you have more than one true safety (meeting all four criteria!) and focus more on “high-match” than unrealistic reaches…although go ahead and apply to your dream school if you have one, just try to make sure your stats are at least close, you have a hook that shifts the odds your way, etc. or prepare to frame that rejection letter proudly.</p>

<p>Towards that end, take both the SAT and ACT by no later than the end of your junior year, with re-takes in early fall of senior year after a summer spent prepping (for $18 you can get the detailed breakdown on what you missed on your ACT!).</p>

<p>And write those essays in the summer if you can, along with getting the resume and Common App ready to go.</p>

<p>My point is that you want to frontload this process to the extent possible, keeping in mind that Early Action deadlines are mostly in November. This gives you some solid “birds in the hand” with the best possible merit.</p>

15

<p>Regarding a safety that is a top choice, I also urge caution: DS had found his perfect college after a two-week engineering camp the summer after his sophomore year. That particular program was eliminated in budget cuts the following spring, and a number of other degrees cut as well.</p>

16

<p>Besides all the great advice you’ve received, a quick guide for our kids was to be at or above the 75th%-tile for academic statistics, at a school with at least a 50% admit rate. Apply to two like that.</p>

<p>Publics tend to be stats driven. Using the above profile it’s hard to see a rejection.</p>

17

<p>A safety is a college in which you are guaranteed admission with your stats. It also needs to be financially doable, so most students use an instate public school as their safety for this reason. But the most important criteria you need to use to choose your safety, is that you LOVE the school, because it could end up being the school you attend. Although I know one girl, who is near and dear to my heart, who ended up attending her safety and didn’t fall in love with it until the second day of freshman orientation. :)</p>

18

<p>happykidsmom, that might have been the longest response I have ever received on a question here, and it was definitely the most helpful too! Along with everyone else, thank you very much. </p>

<p>I feel as if reading on CC for a while has shown me the rather unpredictable side of college admission, for me now, a window has opened up for the predictable side of things…which is truly great considering I always worry about uncertainty.</p>

19

<p>I guess I would say that if you don’t have a true safety, you should have at least several near safeties, and a Plan B–which might be a gap year. If you are rejected at all your reach, match, and near-safeties, you have probably made a miscalculation in your evaluation of your college chances, and might want to think about a new list anyway. You might be able to do better than the local community college if you wait and try again the following year.</p>

20

<p>Thanks, now just so I can be sure, if you meet the requirements for a full tuition scholarship, will it guarantee you acceptance?</p>

<p>I understand acceptance at that point is assumed, but I would just like to know whether it’s safe to accept that school as 100% one that you’ll be accepted into</p>