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<p>But if that were true, then most admissions safeties would unsatisfying, since most admissions safeties would have mostly students with much lower academic credentials (the exceptions may be situations like auto-admit-top-7%-or-10% for Texas residents at the Texas public universities).</p>
<p>Whether such a school would be satisfying for the student likely depends on whether there are enough other high achieving students that make it worth it for the school to offer courses suitable for them (large schools and those with a wide distribution of student abilities may have an advantage here). This may also depend on the student’s major – some majors may attract the better students, while others may be seen as “gut” majors that are filled with the lower achievers (the rigorous majors and “gut” majors are not necessarily the same at each school).</p>
<p>In other words, consider who the best students at the school are (and how many of them there are, and in which major(s)), rather than the worst students (who define the admissions selectivity of the school), for this purpose.</p>