<p>you guys are idiots. do you honestly think that safety schools are worse that reaches? that makes me sick</p>
<p>If you end up at a safety but after a year or two you truly know where you want to be and you have EXCELLENT grades, you should be able to transfer into a harder program. So I say no worries about having to go to a safety for the first year of college, just relax and try to learn to make the most of your circumstances, expand, grow.</p>
<p>Donemom, I feel you make an excellent point: "If the student's choices are strongly influenced by prestige and the "density" of very high achievers within the school's population, then the terminology change aimed to dress up the concept of "safety" will do little to alter the student's affection for it. By contrast, students who are more focused on the specific educational opportunities that a school can offer, as well as other lifestyle factors (and are less influenced by college ranking systems), will, I think, be more likely to feel good about attending a "very likely"". </p>
<p>That is exactly what I realized this summer I wish I had known as a junior-senior in high school.</p>
<p>"Perhaps I obsess about language more than most, but I believe part of the reason why many students never love their "safety" is because something called a "safety" is inherently unloveable."</p>
<p>Hmm. Older S was among other things an excellent copy editor and writer. Still, he managed to love his safety, which also was his second choice university. When his first choice university didn't give him the much needed aid, he very happily went off to his safety, and definitely loved it. It met his criteria for being in a big city and having an excellent team in his favorite sport. </p>
<p>Although he dropped out after freshman year (which had nothing to do with its safety status, but had a lot to do with his immaturity), he still fondly calls himself an alum and especially enjoys seeing his alma mater's sports teams beat his original first choice college. :)</p>
<p>My safety school was the lowest on my list, and the one I ultimately ended up attending. As the enormous state school, on paper it offered nothing I was interested in.</p>
<p>I am currently a freshman at my last-choice school. And I love it. I dreaded going here, and although people told me it was a "fine institution," I could not help but to feel disappointed that I was unable to attend the other schools on my list. However, now that I am here, I am amazed at the opportunities it offers for those students with initiative. There is a lot less personal attention, because of the size of the school, but that has only pushed me to pursue what I want, making me more responsible for my accomplishments. To my surprise, I honestly couldn't ask for anything better.</p>
<p>curiouskate,</p>
<p>As you found out, flagship state schools (particularly with honors programs) can provide an outstanding education for motivated students. If you do well, you can then move on to top grad or professional schools.</p>
<p>I am amazed at the opportunities it offers for those students with initiative.
wow...here's to your promising career at college and beyond..great appreciation for what is right in front of you, which is so key all along the road of life.</p>
<p>my safety school this year is third choice on my list, but still above some reaches. I find myself having a very very hard time ranking my list, while my #1 schools was eay to identify , others (if you may excuse the language) just all blobs together. I think the reason I love my safety school is taht I fell in love with the school before I looked at the admission requirements. its quite a big and wellknown school that I didnt think would be a safety, but turned out that the program I'm interested has a very low admission standard ( in no way a bad program, just recent expansion of the program lowered the admission stadnards)
I realize that I'm lucky for finding such a school, but I can very confidently say that I love my safety (even in the face of "very highsly possibly" rejection from my #1 school)</p>
<p>Thanks, audiophile and Faline2! I just want parents and other students to know that last-choice isn't always as bad as it seems. :)</p>
<p>Love your safety means that it's a school that you might choose to go to even if you have another choice. With all acceptances in hand I chose a school my guidance counselor told me that I would get into from the very beginning, my SAT scores were higher than the norm my GPA was high, I got merit money, and I'm absolutely thrilled.</p>
<p>Curiouskatie - what a wonderful testimonial. A lot of loving your safety, or even your reach after you get there is in the attitude of the student. You are emphasizing the positive about your situation - amazing opportunities for the motivated student, and rising to the challenge of having to go a little extra to take advantage of those opportunities. Guess what - that initiative may be more important to you in the long run than any perceived "better educational experience" you may have had at your reach! You are living what we mean about personal growth - GO TO IT, GIRL! Best of luck to you - my prediction is you will have a great future.</p>
<p>wow... sbmom called Johns Hopkins a safety... wow...</p>
<p>Not for everyone; only for a female humanities major who was a strong HYPS candidate. That's who they don't get enough of at JHU.</p>
<p>i love my safety!</p>
<p>go berkeley!</p>
<p>nam pretty much summarized my situation...(replace berkley with waterloo computer science)</p>
<p>Not sure if this has been mentioned, but one crucial aspect of safeties is that they are affordable! </p>
<p>If you aren't assured of getting in; if you just can't "see" yourself at the school; and if your family can't afford it - then it ain't a safety.</p>
<p>Perhaps you could consider lower-ranked schools that have cross-registration with awesome schools as a source of safeties that would be academically challenging - thinking the 5 college consortium in MA and the Claremont schools in CA as good examples.</p>
<p>Over the weekend it became apparent that (currently) S' first choice school is one of his safeties (yes, I hate the word too). I'll wait and see how this plays out -- plenty of time until next year. </p>
<p>On the one hand, I'm happy that he has found a school that he would be quite happy to attend, without the angst of reaches. It's certainly a school that has a lot to offer, it's a small state university so even out of state it's a nice financial safety as well, and it offers an Honors Program that looks nice. </p>
<p>On the other hand, since it's rolling admissions I can easily see my S applying next year, getting admitted, and calling it a day without submitting any more applications. I really would like for him to have at least a couple of options to weigh, but it may not work out that way.</p>
<p>It is a blessing to see that there is an emotional connection to a school that is a likely admit and offers a fine education...so great news in your household for peace of mind and something positive to look forward to regardless.
One thing I will mention..is enjoy this year of looking just as a rite of passage in your family. It may be some of the longest stretches of time you will have with your son. I enjoyed "getting to know" my son better as we visited colleges, and watching him sort things out from massive blurry confusion to sometimes surprising insights and outcomes. A lot of maturing takes place when the search suddenly seems real rather than abstract and kids this age have a history of suddenly exhibiting great leaps in short spans of time. My son's goals altered as we went along and by late April, he could make sound decisions in a way that showed me we had done a good job raising him. The thing I most appreciated was that he truly respected his match/safeties and could interact with adults at each of these great schools who gave him their time,attention and consults in a way that made me proud. Our universities really do house some wonderful human beings and it was a privilege to meet and interact with most of them.</p>
<p>Faline2, absolutely right. Even though we're relatively early in the process, I have truly enjoyed the time I've been able to spend with S on our visits. My wife feels the same way. While the actual RESULT of the visits may be a little frustrating ("no, doesn't feel right", "too big", "too small", "no football" [kid doesn't even attend his HS games, why would this suddenly be an issue?]) the actual process of making the trips has been very enjoyable and enlightening.</p>
<p>ha..My S also never attended HS football or basketball games...maybe showed up twice. To be fair, he did a high school sport for four years, but sports were never really viewed often on TV or getting much of his attention. Now he is loving his college sports teams and out there in all sorts of weather, but I was incredulous when this "sporty atmosphere" factor was given weight when it came to decision time. So many things change..one other example was that his cell phone rang about every five minutes when we visited. His share of our cell family plan used to waffle between three and five minutes a month.</p>