Back then, Trinity was a safety for strong candidates. When I applied to colleges in 1993, Carleton and Oberlin were my safeties. That would be unthinkable now. |
+1 I graduated HS in 1989 and attended UVA. It was my dream (and stretch) school. Then, and now, it is far from anyone's safety. |
if the acceptance rate is lower than 50% it can't really be a true safety for anyone. It could be a very likely but it's not a safety. |
With the high number of kids applying, and the increasingly high stats many of them bring to the table, I'm not sure that true safeties exist anymore for 50/75th percentile+ kids. Most of their target schools are going to be at least relatively selective competitive, i.e. not just accepting any kid who can fog a mirror. The exception are schools with generally low SATs/GPA requirements. Those schools exist so ultimately, most high school graduates can get a college degree if that's their desire - it just depends on where. On Niche, several schools offer direct admission through the site, no application required, just by meeting certain minimum GPA requirements. |
I know of five kids from the Blair science magnet in MCPS who didn’t get into UMD. I think of that as a safety for those kiddos but I guess not! |
Daughter who graduated HS in 2020: Accepted at VTech, Syracuse, Temple, CNU, Towson Waitlisted at Wake Forest Rejected at UVA, UMD She saw UMD as somewhat of a safety, even though we knew admission has become increasingly competitive. Come to find out, they were even more selective, especially for OOS students like her. |
Well, they may be safeties for generally high-achieving NOVA kids, but not for many others. Never been particularly easy to get into GW, and Mason has become increasingly competitive. |
This is just a sign of your misunderstanding of selectivity. Given your list, the rejections/WL are predictably the harder admits. This doesn't suggest being rejected from a safety... |
Not sure what you mean by that. Its not about whether its "true." Its just a fact. A kid applying wanting Harvard as a first choice, will likely have schools the caliber of the other ones listed, as their "backups/safeties." For other kids, UVA, W&M and VTech may be first choices, with schools like JMU or VCU as safeties. |
DP but I think what they meant is that UVA, W&M, VTech, Northwestern, Amherst are not safeties no matter how high your stats are...because their acceptance rates are all below 30%. They are by definition not safeties for anyone |
Not disagreeing with you here, but many people here think about "safety school" from the perspective of where a kid is near guaranteed admission, versus their likelihood of admission relative to other schools they are applying to. Its a key distinction that I believe many folks here are missing. |
Private or public HS? My guess is private which is why UMD was not a safety |
This isn't the 70s. UMD is not a safety for anyone. |
You're missing my point. There is no misunderstanding of selectivity here. My point is that we, like many parents/students (mistakenly) saw UMD as a much higher likelihood of admission and subsequently saw it as somewhat of a safety. We learned the hard way that wasn't the case. As evidenced by the conversation on this thread, there are still parents that, like us, saw certain schools as safeties, even though they are far from it. |
My 1450/3.6 kid was rejected for cs (or undecided when major wasn’t required) from Penn State, JMU, Drexel, Delaware, VT, South Carolina, Villanova. Legacies at two, strong demonstrated interest, and preferential invitations for honors college from some. It’s been a brutal cycle with a “trash” gpa. Kid will be attending a need aware school at full pay. |