I see so many students with a long list of private elite schools as their targets and reaches, and a few large generic state schools (often not flagships) as their safeties. These are usually students who never anticipated ever having to consider actually attending their safeties. Well, many students end up at their safeties. It makes sense to put time into selecting them. Choose schools that have the characteristics you are looking for but are simply less competitive than your target schools. If your targets and reaches are private schools or small liberal arts colleges, are you really going to be happy attending Generic State University of Whateverstate? Probably not. So choose safeties that are desirable to you-where there are some compensatory factors that may offset the fact that it isn’t as competitive- perhaps a great department or opportunities that are not available at your targets or reaches. If you want a small school with decent faculty-student ratios then don’t choose a large generic state school as your safety. Some large generic public universities are crammed full of disappointed students who gave less (or no) thought to their safeties than to their other schools. Don’t be one of them!
Agree; if you will be unhappy going to a school then it is not a true safety. For a lot of kids the problem is that they are under the spell of a Prince Charming “dream school.”
I also agree. My daughter had no safeties (she hated them). Thankfully it worked out for her. The safety school is the hardest one to find.
Since a safety has to be affordable, and safeties rarely give great aid, it’s hard for many to choose a safety that is "like’ their favorite reach or match schools.
If someone wants an LAC that gives great aid, but can’t afford a “safety LAC,” then his/her safety may end up being the local state school, or even the local CC.
Reach schools can manifest the same qualities. They appear on often heterogeneous lists for who knows what reason – perhaps the school’s popularity itself is all that makes it desirable to the applicant – then, if offered a spot at one, the student is likely to accept the offer, irrespective of intrinsic factors, because the feeling of having won a prize may prove irresistible. However, there may be a rationality to the marketplace that I’m failing recognize.
It is quite clear that students have very little skill in handicapping.
Parents should play a simple game with students. Would you bet me the application fee, cost of the trip to visit and the costs of sending test scores? Most students would then understand that 50% acceptance risk is pretty much ideal.
There are times to take more risk but at least 75% of all students are in no position to take more than 50% risk with each application.
The whole concept of Reach, Match and Safety is completely flawed.
For each of my kids, we have built their college list from the bottom up. I started taking them around to schools that they were almost sure to get into until they found their safe schools. Then we built up from their. It is always easy to find a few elite schools that they MAY get into that they love- so often they just fall for the name!!! So I found that it was best to save that for the end of the college search.
One was looking at high level top 20 schools and we started the list with much more likely schools given the GPA and Scores and worked our way up towards reaches. The other kid is interested in engineering and tech schools so we created a list of possible schools and get excited from the bottom of the list moving up. It’s much more fun to tour schools they have a chance of actually attending and less stressful to tour the reaches if they have a reasonable safety already on the list.
It took me 9 years to work my way through school, so I don’t really get the concept of being disappointed because the school you’re dorming at isn’t your first choice. I’d love for my children to have that dilemma, but we just don’t have the money to send them away to school.
Although my son had a dozen acceptances, he happily commutes to the local SUNY because every college that went on his list was one he could envision himself attending. I think it helped that he took the time to look through the programs and note classes he might like to take at each one. Maybe the kids who are disappointed with their choices just need time and encouragement to discover things to love about them.
I was careful not to let my son have a dream school. Getting an education is the dream (one my dad couldn’t afford for himself) and there’s no guarantee you’ll get into the school you want and get enough money to be able to afford to attend. Even our local SUNY is getting selective enough that getting accepted there isn’t a guarantee. And if you don’t qualify for any aid, the $10k/year for tuition, books, and commuting expenses can make it a financial reach. Many solid students in our area end up starting at one of the cc’s and finishing at the 4-year school. But I suspect they knew that was a real possibility going into the application season. A student who never really envisioned having to attend their safety may want to take a gap year to work and give themselves time to explore other options.
My daughter is the opposite of many kids here on CC - her favorite, and preferred, schools - and really, the only ones she’s applied to so far - are her safeties.
And yes, they are regional public schools.
Our state flagship is not a safety for a B student.
She disliked the small town/small school combo of almost all of the small LACs we visited, although they are more of an academic match for her.
She also did not want to be at a huge OOS flagship - even if it was as affordable as our own - because she felt they were too big.
She still wanted to be at a school that focused on undergrads.
She’s obsessed with marching band and wants to be in a college marching band. 
So she looked for “regional” or “directional” state colleges that had her potential majors, and marching bands, and that were within a half-days’ (8-9 hrs) drive from home.
I’m trying to encourage her to apply to a couple of small LACs that are more matches, but honestly, I’m not pushing too much, because I know she’d be really happy at ANY of the schools she’s already applied.
She never had a dream school, btw. She really knew nothing abut colleges before we started looking … she knew that if you have good grades and test scores, you go to UIUC - or, you go to one of the directionals and they throw ( little or a lot, depending…) money at you for picking them over UIUC or UW-Madison or IU-Bloomington.
Or if you’re a “genius” you go to Harvard or University of Chicago.
My kid never even heard of Northwestern, just up the road from us, before looking into college… We never watch college sports.
(She only knew of U of Chicago because she’d been on the campus before and to Hyde Park. )
By definition, a safety school is something you tolerate, not something you smile at.
Actually, some students’ first choice schools happen to be safeties for them.
On the other hand, students who equate school desirability with selectivity and selectivity-based prestige may not have any safeties that they like.
I loved everything about my state school, except that it’s suburban. But, it’s only 12 miles from NYC. It’s not a great school, but it’s an okay price (for New Jersey).
I guess I’m lucky I like my state school!
one mans safety is another mans treasure
I just coined a new phrase!