My daughter is building her list as a rising senior. My husband works at a college where she would get a big discount. She has very good stats and is a strong applicant in other ways, and we expect she would be admitted. She recently toured the campus as a prospective student and found that she liked it and would be happy to go there. (She’s spent many happy hours in campus, but as a faculty kid, so this was a new perspective.)
The other schools she is interested in are much more competitive/difficult to get into.
Right now, my husband’s college is the only “safety” she’s interested in applying to. She has one or two matches. The others are reaches. Her college counselor has suggested she have a more balanced list.
But given that she has an affordable option where she is virtually guaranteed admission, and where she would be satisfied to attend, does it really make sense to fill out a list with schools she has no interest in?
One consideration is that we have a very tight budget, and we expect based on the NPCs that some of the more competitive schools would end up being less expensive than her dad’s school. That is not the case for some of the matches and safeties her counselor has suggested, which would be more than we can afford, unless they come through with a lot of merit.
Is it really that unwise to apply to one safety, one match, and maybe six or seven reaches?
I’m curious about others’ thoughts on list-building strategy when there is a great safety in the mix
If the safety is a sure thing, affordable, and she would be happy to be there, I think you are all set.
Although what’s known as a balanced list may not be beneficial to your daughter in her circumstances, I’d recommend she consider, and perhaps emphasize, more high matches.
I think this strategy is fine as well, as long as she is certain she would be happy to attend the safety (which seemingly would only happen after experiencing denials everywhere else.) And I think that’s hard for a HS senior to truly understand how those denials might feel and to not have a choice in the end. Obviously, some kids shake off denials more easily than others.
I’ve had plenty of students with IU Kelley as a safety (they meet the direct admit criteria and it was affordable) who had a similar strategy…apply IU Kelley and then a bunch of reaches. I did have one student who in the end was quite disappointed they only got into Kelley…that was partially ego though for sure. This student was denied at their flagship’s business school (a reach for all) and it hit them hard. So, the student appealed the denial in a long, drawn out process. And although I would love to take credit for the appeal being successful, I have no idea what happened there and wouldn’t advise anyone to repeat that strategy 
Student ended up attending their flagship.
I think the idea of a balanced list is great advice for a typical applicant. But being a faculty kid and having an inexpensive safety in the home institution means you are not a typical applicant.
So I think it’s fine to approach the situation as “We have this wonderful home opportunity, and then we’ll also throw in a handful of lottery ticket schools.” I have seen this work out fine for a couple kids I know (one of whom got into a reach, one of whom got rejected by all his reaches and ended up at the home institution.)
But both of these kids were practical minded, understood the financial situation, planned on grad school, and wanted to save for that. Also neither was in a peer group where comparing admissions for social status was “a thing.”
Perhaps a compromise would be to consider a rolling-admission school, like Pitt. Applying in August will get a response by the end of September. She’d then presumably have one in the bag, and the counselor would be appeased (and, tbh, it would give her a boost of confidence as well). She could then apply to the safety and the reaches with a bit less anxiety about the whole process. (I believe there’s a Pitt application fee waiver code floating around, so even that wouldn’t cost you.)
You don’t need balance. You need one affordable, assured school that will excite you. Kids choose safeties over reaches all the time. Both mine did - not for money but in your case, it is money.
If school A excited the student and is more budget friendly for the family than B and C, why even apply to B and C?
If you want more schools, find some that will be less expensive than A since that’s your assured and it seems as if budget is a concern.
In essence it seems like B and C are time wasting.
Of course, we don’t know budget, stats, interest and the list but you can do as you are - but it’s inevitable the student will end up at the safety or at the reaches that cost less.
Is there any way that they’ll end up at the matches ??
One match may be out of reach unless she gets good merit, though her counselor thinks that is likely.
The other is more of a match/reach (two kids with similar profiles were admitted from her school last year). I have already been in touch with that school’s financial aid office, which helped me calculate that cost of attendance would be less than what she would pay at her dad’s college (assuming she got no further aid beyond the faculty discount).
The other reaches seem similar to the match/reach - most are small and selective liberal arts colleges that give generous aid, and the NPCs are coming in on budget for the most part.
This is a good idea. She is looking at some schools in Canada and Europe, some of which offer rolling admissions (though some are unpredictable in when they let you know)
This is amazing to have! Most are not lucky enough to have a school that is true safety for affordability and admission that the student would be happy to attend!
Enjoy the freedom that this allows you not to waste your time energy and money coming up with any other safety. This definitely allows you to target a couple reaches.
Ok - this is smart.
Safety. Match. Reach. Doesn’t matter.
What matters is you run NPCs and / or talk to the aid counselor as you are to ensure the other schools are in your budget.
Or potentially in your budget.
You have the one locked in so the make up of your list going forward should be price or potential price based vs necessarily harder admission.
I’d recommend adding a second safety to have a contigency plan in case of the unlikely but plausible scenario that your spouse has a change in employment / leaves that college.
So it sounds like you are approaching this in a sensible way, and any rules of thumb about lists can be departed from when it really makes sense for that individual kid in their context.
The only general point I would make is choice is really nice. Even if in the end she did choose your husband’s college, I think it is nice when the kid didn’t HAVE to do that for lack of other options, but instead could consider other options before making that choice. I do in fact think this is part of why experienced counselors try to encourage “balanced” lists–they have seen too many kids who don’t feel great when they are rejected by a bunch of Reaches and feel forced into going to a “safety”, and want as many such kids as possible to feel excited when they actually make a choice among multiple good options.
So that is part of the appeal of having not just one but at least two Likely/Foundation colleges, and maybe 3-5 Target/Matches. Typically that means having multiple offers to consider, even if no Reaches come through. And that is nice to have.
Again, though, maybe in this case it is less, but I would still think in terms of trying to make sure she has multiple good options to consider even if no Reaches come through.
She didn’t know she like her father’s school until she toured it as a prospective student either. There are a lot of hidden gems out there.
If you do go with your current plan, I’d at least add one school with rolling admissions or an early admission date. It is so good to have one or two acceptances under your belt in case of bad news from some reaches. We know they are reaches, but it still hurts to be rejected..
Those schools would have to be chanced based on getting a large enough merit scholarship, which typically means that they could be reaches (rather than matches or safeties).
No, if the safety actually is a safety where admission and affordability are assured, and the student would be happy to attend. Some students and parent underestimate the difficulty of admission to their “safeties” and get unpleasantly surprised in April.
I don’t think she, or anyone, needs to have a list filled out with schools she has no interest in. If a student has no interest in a school, then it seems like a wasted application.
That said, however, I agree with the above posters who talk about the importance of being able to make a choice. It’s a very different mental space when one has “chosen” a school rather than having the decision made for you because everything else was a rejection/waitlist. Additionally, there are so many examples of students who wanted one thing in the fall of their senior year and then want something very different come the spring. Allowing enough optionality in the college list to allow for that is also very beneficial.
This is sometimes why it can be hard to find extremely likely admits for a student, but that doesn’t mean the effort should not be made. If your family would like help brainstorming possibilities, you could start a Match me thread for your D, or you could share the budget, your state, and a bit about your D and what she’s interested in. I’m sure that there are folks here who would love to help brainstorm possibilities to research.
Another problem with have most of the colleges as reaches is that, as much as they try not to care, rejection after rejection can be disheartening. Aside from the unhappiness, the feeling that she is attending her safety because it was a last resort can also affect how she feels about the college.
Of course, having a choice, as others have correctly ponted out, is extremely important.
Targets and likelies can also be colleges that she would require merit funding to attend. Even if she is accepted but does not get merit, “I was accepted to other colleges, but I chose my safety because it was far cheaper” feels a lot better than “I’m attending this college because nobody else wanted me”.
Also, if your husband’s college has non-binding EA, she should do that. Having a college acceptance, even a safety, makes the rest of the college adissions process a lot less stressful.
I like choice but one could argue no choice is better. How many struggle with picking, then act like they regret that choice etc. So many want multiple acceptances but then struggle because of it.
But in theory a safety doesn’t mean guaranteed. Unless they have auto admissions for meeting certain criteria like the Arizona or Iowa schools, it is ‘possible’ one could get rejected by a safety - which in that case it’d be nice to have a second school.
Of course, there are various schools that even if left with no acceptances that are easy ins and available up to May 1 and even later.
If admission and affordability are not assured, then it is not a safety.
However, receipt of an affordable early admission through early action or early rolling application makes that school a safety.
Well - it’s like this - we have a thread now with the Rutgers/QB student.
He assumes, everyone assumes with his GPA and test score that he’s in. But he’s not 100% in - maybe it’s 95% or 90% chance. And would be affordable. But people call that a safety.
I suppose you’d call that a likely.
In this case, OP says - “But given that she has an affordable option where she is virtually guaranteed admission,”
I suppose you’d call that a likely…then in reality, most that people deem safeties are “likelies” in your lexicon - until that acceptance (which is affordable) comes in.