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<p>My point was not that the OP’s daughter needed more safeties, but rather that she needed a different safety. Someone whose wishlist is small to medium private may not be satisfied with the experience at a huge state university. In my opinion, the best safeties mirror the culture of the applicant’s top choices.</p>
<p>Safeties are harder to learn to love (or sometimes even like) than more selective colleges. That the OP’s daughter didn’t relate positively to the school that looked like a good choice on paper isn’t unusual. Sometimes you have to visit – or at least research thoroughly – several less selectives in order to find the one that best fits. </p>
<p>The OP says the cultural issue was thought through and that his daughter is good to go with her current list. Since I don’t know anything about this young woman’s personality and how she would relate to the teaching style at a large university I certainly wouldn’t argue with her parent’s appraisal; however, I would say that my experience at Michigan and my son’s experience at Williams were vastly different – polar extremes in educational philosophy, resources, social structure, environment. I’m not saying that one is better than the other. I am saying that they are very different. Same would apply to Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Culture, fit, personality whatever you want to call it does matter – in the liberal arts arena I would suggest that it matters even more than choice of majors.</p>
<p>The good news here is that by applying to Michigan under the early rolling admissions policy and also applying to one or two EA schools (presumably including her #1 choice) the OP’s daughter will know by mid December if her strategy was correct. If she gets disappointing news (which I don’t think will happen), she can re-calibrate.</p>