I’m starting to narrow down my college list to the internet-recommended “2 safeties, 3 matches, 2 reaches” and I’m stuck on my safeties. I know I want to apply to George Mason as my first safety, so I’m left to decide between Virginia Tech and UMD College Park. They both have a wide variety of majors that I am interested in (for context, I’m interested in pursuing either film or communications, but the schools that I’ve narrowed down have a “backup” major that I wouldn’t mind pursuing should my plans go south), and they both have features that appeal to me. On a superficial note, VTech has a nice campus that lowkey kinda looks like Hogwarts ehehehe. UMD is my state school, so it’s cheaper than VTech for me. However, UMD only guarantees housing for freshmen owing to its size (I’m not sure about VTech though).
Overall, I’m just wondering if I should go for UMD because it’s more financially feasible or if I should just try for VTech.
Any advice, whether it be related to this or just narrowing down college options in general would be infinitely appreciated.
Tysm!
A true safety is one where you will be admitted and can afford to attend. If you are “trying” for VTech, is it really a safety? I would suggest your in state option.
I don’t have any suggestions. But looking at this thread, I just realized that I would love to see each college have a public webpage where they say “Consider us a safety if you meet XYZ criteria”. I’ve had a very hard time determining what are my best safeties.
Have your parents run the Net Price Calculator on each schools web site and verify they can afford the school. That may make your downselect easy.
A True Safety meets these criteria:
- You are guaranteed automatic admission because of your GPA (and ACT/SAT test scores if those are required).
- You can pay for without any aid other than federal aid you qualify for by filing the FAFSA and/or state aid that you automatically qualify for and/or merit-based aid that you are automatically qualified for because of your GPA (and ACT/SAT test scores if those are required).
- Your potential major is offered, or if it is a community college, the first two years of your major is offered with an articulation agreement (automatic transfer agreement) for that major with at least one 4-year institution.
- You will be happy to attend if all else goes wrong in the admission and financial aid cycle this year.
A Reasonably Safe Place meets these criteria:
- Every applicant like you from your own high school has been accepted there in the past few years.
- After running the Net Price Calculator at the website, your parents say, “Yup, we can pay that much.”
None of the places on your current Safety list is a True Safety for freshman applicants.
They do have some auto-admit options for transfers from community colleges in-state. University of Alabama, Iowa State University, and a number of other places have their auto-admit information right on their websites.
Are you sure that these are actually safeties?
If they truly are safeties, I do not see any harm in applying to three safeties. That way for example you have time to compare financial offers, and more time to think about which university you would prefer to attend.
I have always heard “two safeties” as the minimum. It is fine to apply to more.
Given that UMD is in-state for you, and the good things I have heard about it, I think that you should include it on the list of schools you apply to. However, if in your situation I would apply to VTech and GMU also.
I don’t think the 2/3/2 you mention is any kind of requirement. My D didn’t apply to any reaches (she was accepted everywhere) and had 3 that I would consider safeties.
I would suggest applying to all three. Especially an in-state school with a much lower cost, in case something happens to change your financial picture. UMD was on our semi-short list, and she applied to VT- both are quite good schools, IMHO.
I would suggest you apply to all 3 given that they each offer something different that also appeals to you. You may have more clarity in the spring, and your circumstances could change a bit. It would seem that preserving that flexibility could be valuable.