speedo

again, Roger Dooley, and I feel like l'm beating the
proverbial dead horse, but the 30,000 student state
u may not be available to many students. Low income
pop at PSU main campus is less than 10%, black
enrollment 4%. Yes, the micro-peer group may be
available to you at a lower level, mostly white school
in the middle of a cow pasture. Or you may find it
in an all black state u, say Cheyney U, for example,
Have you taken a drive through lately, Roger? I
wouldn't get out the car, if I was you. But, yes,
youll have learned a valuable lesson in life -
safety means loser. If youre low income with
decent stats, try for one of the elites, apply early
do everything you can, but if you don't get in
you might be better off, getting a job and doing
the night school thing. In many ways it makes a
lot more sense. Going to some third tier toilet,
living cheap, taking out the loans, youre chances
of making it are very slim. I bet the large majority
of these students drop out often with big loans.
I think the safety school route may be bad advice
or just irrelevant for many students. Again, probably
better off getting a job.

pearlygate

I don't understand a single word you're saying speedo...

mercruz

If you already have the stats to be applying to great schools that you require a safety, then vocational school probably isn't for you, in my opinion, although vocational schools are excellent programs for many.

illuminar

Generally speaking, Canada doesn't have "reach" or "match" schools (I'm not even sure if they're just terms used exclusively on CC), which in my opinion is a good thing.

My general outlook on this whole University application thing is that if I were to get into an Ivy League or prestigious school in the US, that's great. However, I recognize that the odds are against me, and that most universities here are great. I'd have no qualms being rejected because it'd mean...

McGill

b3tt3Rt[-]4nU

Great point to make, I know plenty of seniors this year at my school that have only been accepted into Rutgers and absolutely detest it. I have no idea why they applied if they couldn't see themselves attending.

I for one, will be happy attending Rutgers if I don't get into McGill, because of the top Philosophy and Science departments and I know plenty of people there that love it.

Good Luck Everyone!

cornell75

I think one of the key things that tokenadult advised is to apply in the early rounds if possible. Since many schools have gone to early action rather than early decision, it is possible to apply to multiple schools early and get an indication of how the remainder of your applications will fare. My son applied early action to two schools, one a likely and the other a safety, and then applied ED to a reach school, and was accepted to all three. It was great to have the two EA decisions come in. He knew that no matter what, he would have a school he liked. Even though the waiting for the ED decision was stressful, it wasn't as much as it might have been.

Also remember that for some schools, applying in the early round gives you an advantage.

warriorboy648

We are just beginning this college journey. If you apply to a school with early acceptance or rolling admission, can you wait until you hear from all your schools before you make your final decision?

When determining a safety, are the websites like Princeton and College Board fairly accurate?

Sligh_Anarchist

I thought you couldn't apply to more than one school EA/ED?

tokenadult

Usually one may apply to ONE college on an early decision basis (with, of course, the commitment to enroll if admitted) and some early action colleges don't think it's inconsistent with their rules to apply early action at the same time as applying early decision elsewhere. Check each college's rules for interactions with other college's rules, but ONLY apply early decision if you would be really happy to be admitted and glad to enroll, no matter what the financial aid offer.

tokenadult

In general, the national reply date for college offers of admission is May 1st, even if you were admitted way back the previous October 1st.

Looking at the statistics of the previous entering classes on websites is helpful for gauging chances of admission. A student applying in fall of 2009 will have the information for the class before last (class that entered fall of 2007) available when planning where to apply, and if a particular college is becoming much more competitive, it may be possible to overestimate chances of admission. That's why I recommend being VERY conservative (cautious) in choosing a "safety" college.

standrews

This needs to be repeated. As tokenadult points out there are very few ways to get a reality check before it is too late in the admissions process. Applying as early as possible to a school with rolling admissions is one of them. Hopefully everyone can find a school with rolling admissions that:
1) will accept them
2) is affordable
3) would be enjoyable and beneficial if they end up there

The_Guy

A friend of mine only applied to very elite schools (HYPS, Amhearst, and Swarthmore) and was rejected from all of them.

He was really confident in himself and thought that he would get into one of those places for sure. Of course, he's kicking himself now for not applying to any safties.

khsstitches

Although I agree completely with the concept of safety schools, I really hate the nickname. It has gotten quite the negative reputation. Tokenadult has it right in terms of what this school should be for the applicant. Certainly you need to like it and be willing to attend. Many kids end up at their safety and love it. In terms of "kids being dumb", a school with an honors program may help that aspect. Although my D would not have been thrilled to only have been accepted to 1 school she did admit that the honors program there certainly made it more appealing, and she was accepted to that as well. With lots of money, too. I have told D #2 to try and avoid the word safety. If she doesn't happen to get in it saves face, and if a friend doesn't get in and she does, it can mean fewer hard feelings.....and again, that negative connotation of "going to your safety" means you didn't get in anywhere good....which is nuts.

Venkat89

I would say almost as important as applying to a safety that you love is applying to a match you love. I would even go so far as to say the most important colleges you pick are your matches. If you apply to a bunch of top uber selective colleges and one safety (lets say you got in here by mid November and really didn't have to worry about getting into college) you will not have the best end result. You might only be accepted to your safety. You might be accepted to some of the selective schools, but only receive money from your safety. However, with good match schools you decrease the risk of only getting into one college, or only getting money from one college. If your two acceptances are to Harvard and Maryland (my state school) with $0 from H and a full ride to UMD it basically becomes a money debate. However, with a 10 or 15k scholarship to a match, it can be a good middle ground for not paying full price while having the option to go somewhere with a better name or better programs. Match schools are probably the best ones to look at for a strong student who doesn't qualify for need based aid but can't pay the full price.

vballmom

I can't say about the College Board site, but I found the Princeton site to be very optimistic. Schools that in my opinion would be reaches for my son turned out to be matches, and schools that I thought were matches turned out to fall in the safety category on Princeton. I think this gives a false sense of security. However, having said that, I might be paranoid because I've seen so many posts here on CC from kids with great stats rejected from schools that seemed to be matches. My son also hasn't applied to any college yet, as he's a junior this year, so I don't have actual results.

I think the only true safety school for DS1 will be UC-Merced.