<p>so i just went on a california trip and looked at a bunch of colleges, the only one that I have left is CalTech which I've scheduled for tomorrow...</p>
<p>i really loved UCSD and the Claremont Consortium. (yeah they're not really similar, but i guess i just don't have a specific type then)</p>
<p>this all does have relevance to safeties. i checked out UCSD and the Claremont Colleges, and UCSD has an acceptance rate of 42%, while Scripps has an acceptance rate of 38% or something. (I'm also thinking Pomona and Harvey Mudd, but those have lower acceptance rates) would this be enough to qualify them as safeties/very probable schools, or should i look for something with an even higher acceptance rate? how does one choose a safety (statistically, i mean, obviously the college should fit you too)?</p>
<p>i'm a junior, A- honors student with 7 APs by the end of this year, went to CTY, PSAT of 214, varsity track, science team, to get an idea of me. i can give more info if you'd like.</p>
<p>I don't think you can choose a safety school based on its acceptance rate. You have to compare your scores to the scores of students already attending. If yours are above or high on their scale, then you should consider that a safety, along with a good acceptance rate. </p>
<p>Apply to all the schools you want, then just apply to an OK (maybe pretty high acceptance rate according to your scores) school, that you could consider being at (just in case! You never know what could happen). If you continue doing well in school and EC's, then you will probably get into one of your math/maybe reach schools, but it is nice to have that one school under your belt, in case something goes wrong.</p>
<p>No offense, or anything, but you don't have the stats to consider Mudd or Pomona safeties. Mudd's average SAT is roughly 2230 while I would imagine Pomona's is right around there as well. In addition to SATs, you need super-strong ECs.</p>
<p>Mudd's acceptance rate has dropped dramatically in the last few years. (thanks to an increase of 15% in applicants last year alone) Acceptance rate will not tell you much about Mudd's rigor or prestige, as the people who apply to a place like HMC are already self-selected. Mudd has no place in pop-culture which streamlines the selection process; nearly all applicants that apply to Mudd are serious about science/engineering/math.</p>
<p>So, no. Not safeties. If you are lucky, they are matches.</p>
<p>UCSD has a gpa average for admits of well over a 4.0 and an SAT average for admits of over 1300 (old sat). Claremont schools have slightly lower GPA averages for admits but even higher SAT scores close to 1400 (old sat) for admits. I dont think any of these schools are safeties. not even close. i agree with the above poster. These schools may not even be a match. we would need to know more about you and you grades, sat's, ec's etc. You cannot simply figure out the competiveness of a school by its acceptance rate. The university of chicago had an acceptance rate of over 40% yet it is extremely difficult to gain admission too. while some Cal State schools have acceptance rates of lower than 40% but obviously are not as competitive for admission as the schools you have listed. You have to look at the average applicant when looking at acceptance rates. applicants to top UC's and Claremont schools are typically very well qualified. Best of luck!</p>
<p>I don't know much about Harvey Mudd, but Pomona is a safety for no one.</p>
<p>I don't know much about the UCs either, but maybe a couple of those (I don't know which ones) can be used as matches/low safeties? (Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to offend anyone)</p>
<p>Yes lower tier UC's such as UC Riverside and UC Merced and possibly UC Santa Cruz could be possible safeties for the poster if he is in state for california and has decent to good stats. Deffiantly not UCSD, UCLA or UC Berkeley. I also agree that Pomona is deff not a safety for anyone. Harvey Mudd is also not a likely safety for anyone.</p>
<p>SInce you went on a trip to Cal you must be from another state. The UC schools in general are very hard to get in from out of state. For a safety you would probably be better off looking at a state school from your state of residence. If you're dead set on Cal you might want to consider a private school out there. Some such as Pepperdine have average SATs under 1300 (old scale).</p>
<p>A safety is when your SAT scores fall in the middle range or upper end of the accepted students scores. You can find this information in the individual college web sites. If you don't find it under admissions, you can search in the college's web site for institutional research or common data set. This will get you (usually) several pages of statistics showing the score/ranges of previously accepted students.</p>
<p>I don't think anyone should really consider Scripps a safety because they are looking at more than just your stats. If there are applicants with your stats or lower and they play concert piano or something they may get in and not you because admissions is trying to "Build a Freshmen Class".</p>
<p>UCSD may be more of a safety if you have the stats because they go by points on their Comprehensive Review. Check for posts this year in March/April to see what the cut off point is for UCSD for 2007.</p>
<p>Here are the cutoffs for previous 3 years:
2004 ---> 7465
2005 ---> 7483
2006 ---> 7421</p>
<p>Maybe like UC Riverside, San Diego State or schools like that. Scripps, Pomona, etc. are safeties for no one not even if they have 2400/4.0/lots of ECs.</p>
<p>To me, a safety school is one for which you have a 99% chance of admission. I'd say that means your numbers put you above the 75th percentile, and the school takes the majority of applicants.</p>
<p>A safety school is a school to which you are very likely to be admitted, ideally with some nice merit money, and which you would like to attend as much, or almost as much, as your other schools.</p>
<p>Yup - also, consider how your SAT scores line up with their averages. That and acceptance rate are the best indicators for a safety school. </p>
<p>Just by the way, I saw in a rating somewhere that the people at UCSD are not very attractive. Of course, that really shouldn't affect your decision, but it's good to know.</p>