<p>No, a safety needs to be a school that is both easy to get into as well as completely affordable (for you, probably through merit). For example, one of my safeties was UTD: automatic full-ride because of NMSF standing. I also applied to a couple of matches that offer competetive full-rides (and received a full-ride to Indiana), and I have since dropped another safety application to Southwestern that I did not complete. My matches were schools like Case Western, and then I threw out a bunch of applications that are reaches: HYPS, Pomona, etc. Am I a good candidate for those schools? Absolutely. Are thousands of others? Yes.</p>
<p>I don’t have a list of schools that are still awarding merit aid with me, but I would encourage you to look at old threads for lists of schools that are still offering merit money. SMU in Dallas offers a full-ride that I know about right now.</p>
<p>Especially if you are on a gap year, you /need/ at least one safety that is completely affordable. You don’t want to be doing this in another year or trying to make up a difference of 10k a year. Yes, you’re probably a wonderful applicant- but so are many others, and the reality is that you have to go through life preparing for the worst while hoping for the best. So even if you have to take another two dream schools off the list so you can afford it, you can’t afford not to have at least two safeties in your pocket.</p>
<p>All right, I’m getting off my soapbox now. Just please, whatever you do, figure out the meaning of an actual safety, especially when you’re already on a gap year.</p>