<p>Finding Reaches and Matches has been easy, but finding a safety that my d loves was a bit more difficult. We finally looked closely at Willamette and are impressed with the school and the science program. Are there other safties schools that you love and why?</p>
<p>UBC, UT, Queens, etc. only 1 safety school is needed, and they're also pretty good schools in general (probably within top 50 if it was in US rankings), and 100% chance of getting in. Yes, 100%. it's like a match and safety in 1. You can save like 4 or 5 applications.</p>
<p>Ofcourse, I'm from canada so I guess that's not too much help</p>
<p>Mum, Lewis & Clark in Portland is a very good/nice school. What stats/info can you pass that would let us know what might be a safety? Where would your D like to go and what kind of school, etc?</p>
<p>L&C was her original safety, but she never really loved it. It doesn't seem to be as good in science as she would like. Willamette seems to fit her a bit better. She if very bright, and well rounded 2330 SAT, 34 ACT, IB diploma candidate, EC's OK, but not great. She doesn't want to go too far away, but has schools in Wash, Cali, and Colorado on her list. She isn't interested in the midwest - too cold, and east coast is too far for her.</p>
<p>It's definitely hard to find a safety I can be happy with, but I've come to love some of my lower-end matches, Boston College in particular. My dad went there, so initially I felt like I didn't want to just follow in his footsteps, but I've come to love BC and to embrace my legacy status. Even if I don't get into any of my reaches, I'd be happy there.</p>
<p>My D had same issue. Was not that enamored of any of her safeties. </p>
<p>That being said, here are some thoughts: Occidental, Santa Clara, Claremonts, USC, UCSB, Whitman (WA); Colorado College (quite a unique program).</p>
<p>Santa Clara U is a definite safety for my daughter AND it's her first choice. She is madly in love with it. Keeping our fingers crossed for merit scholarships.</p>
<p>OP,
I had very similar stats to your daughter (great tests and grades, average EC's), and actually wound up going to Willamette, my safety. I applied to Stanford, USC, Colorado College, Pomona, Willamette, and UPS. I got in everywhere except Stanford, and got wonderful merit aid at Willamette. I decided it was a better fit for me than those other "better" schools, and so I made my decision! I recommend keeping Willamette as a safety. I do wish that I had looked at Occidental, so that may be worth a shot. And of course other Claremonts could be thrown in the mix, although I think Pomona is the best in sciences besides Harvey Mudd. If your daughter liked Willamette, you should take a look at the University of Puget Sound. I really liked the school, but I didn't want to go to school with my sister :-/ it is very similar to Willamette, and it did just get a new science building... I'm not sure how the two science programs compare though. If you have any quesions about any of those colleges feel free to ask!</p>
<p>Many of these are on her list, but more as matches. Colorado is a Match Safety, 2 of the Claremonts and Whitman are a match and a reach. Pomona is a reach for everyone I think. some of the others are bigger than she would like, or don't feel like a good fit.</p>
<p>Thank you Applesauce. It is nice to hear that you are happy with Willamette, and chose that over some of the others.</p>
<p>Colorado College offers a couple of full-ride merit scholarships to science students--I think one for chemistry and one for biology. You should take a look at them (there's a separate application process).</p>
<p>University of Vermont - gorgeous campus, and though the engineering program is small, it seems very personal, and the Honors program is good</p>
<p>University of Colorado - Boulder - great mountain/outdoors city (and I love the rocky mountains), with good merit scholarships and a very highly-ranked engineering program (they started Engineers Without Borders, and other state schools are basing their research programs off of CU's)</p>
<p>I really like Guilford College in NC. It's not hard to get into in terms of scores, etc. but if you're a fan of LACs it has small classes, lots of personal attention, and it's a Quaker school with a strong community. Also nice campus, beautiful weather.</p>
<p><em>edit</em> sorry i didn't see that you weren't looking at the East coast. Oh well, maybe someone else will find this post helpful =/</p>
<p>I like Wisconsin-Madison because as Minnesotans we get in-state tuition under our reciprocity agreement, but D isn't so keen on it. She is, however, intrigued by Earlham, a small Quaker college in Indiana with a 68% admit rate that gets rave reviews from people familiar with it.</p>
<p>^ Guilford sounds interesting, too; we'll investigate.</p>
<p>D doesn't want to consider the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities because she's eager to get away from home, but it might make an attractive safety for some. It recently changed its tuition structure so OOS students now pay the in-state rate + $2,000 per semester, making it much more affordable than most schools of comparable quality. Its engineering school in particular is ranked in the top 20 nationally, and its college of Biological Sciences is also very good.</p>
<p>I am just interested in all safeties, east coast, west coast, northern border, gulf, inner city, suburbs, rural. It really doesn't matter where, I am just curious about other lovable safeties.</p>
<p>University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC)
University of Toronto (Toronto, ON)</p>
<p>Clark U in Worcester, MA. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea but I've heard nothing but good things from current students.</p>
<p>My son really liked Dickinson (in PA) a lot when he visited it. He ended up at a large university, but Dickinson was his favorite LAC regardless of the safety factor. </p>
<p>Admission is fairly competetive, but I'm guessing your daughter would have a very good chance.</p>
<p>Have you thought of Georgia Tech? One of my friends applied to several top private universities, two of which were MIT and Caltech. He wasn’t accepted to any of the privates, but he received a full ride to Georgia Tech, his safety.</p>
<p>Being a research university, we have many postdocs and Ph.D. students. Consequently, research opportunities are abundant. Two of my same-year friends did research this summer with postdocs, but one of my upperclassmen friends did research with a professor.</p>
<p>Your daughter seems to have a preference for smaller schools. Compared to other state research universities, Georgia Tech isn’t that big, but compared to LACs, it’s enormous. I’m obviously biased because I attend GT, but I think you and your daughter should check it out.</p>
<p>"I am just curious about other lovable safeties."</p>
<p>What's an abhored safety to one person may be a loveable reach to another.</p>