Anyone here been rejected from their safety?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it a school that used to be considered a safety, but now has so many applications it’s getting more difficult to get in? Like maybe Auburn or Alabama?

+1

Is it really a "safety"? A general definition for Safety: your kid's stats are 75% or above for GPA and SAT/ACT and the school has an acceptance rate of 50-60%+. IMO, it also needs to be somewhere your kid would like to attend and your family can afford

So any school with less than 50% acceptance rate by definition is NOT a safety for anyone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, there isn’t a stipulated definition on DCUM of what constitutes a safety.

Yeah, this board is full of folks who describe likelies and then call them "safeties."

Aren’t likelies and safeties the same thing?

DD was deferred from a likely-kids with lower stats and less on their resume were admitted so think it was some sort of yield protection. Admitted to second and still waiting on third. Admitted to a target so unlikely she will attend any of the Likelies.

DP: I don't consider likelies and safeties the same thing. Safeties are schools that admit 80+% of applicants, and your child's stats are in the top 75%. A likely is a school with an overall admissions rate of 50-74% and your child is at or above 75%. However, a likely can become a target if your child is applying to a competitive major.

My definition of "safeties" is stricter. They're schools where either (1) you've already been accepted (usually an early rolling acceptance) or (2) acceptance decisions are made strictly "by the numbers" (e.g., Iowa/Iowa State, Kansas) and you have the necessary numbers. Anything less certain is a "likely."

This is one reason the guaranteed admissions policy at VCU is so great. It puts VCU in the second category of actual safety (admission by the numbers).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it a school that used to be considered a safety, but now has so many applications it’s getting more difficult to get in? Like maybe Auburn or Alabama?

+1

Is it really a "safety"? A general definition for Safety: your kid's stats are 75% or above for GPA and SAT/ACT and the school has an acceptance rate of 50-60%+. IMO, it also needs to be somewhere your kid would like to attend and your family can afford

So any school with less than 50% acceptance rate by definition is NOT a safety for anyone

Your "general definition" fits a likely, not a safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, there isn’t a stipulated definition on DCUM of what constitutes a safety.

There is a generally accepted definition in the college admission world:
Acceptance rate of 50-60%+ and your kid has stats at or above the 75% for SAT and GPA.

So no, no kid can use CWRU as a safety school even with 1600/4.0/15+ APs and a stellar EC list. Because it's acceptance rate is ~30%. So it's at best a Target school for high stats kids.

Whereas, Applying to MSU (Michigan state) can be a Safety because their general admission rate is 83%. But it might not be a safety if you are applying for a direct admit program with lower rates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from a friend today that this happened to her son. Does this happen more often than we think? I remember some stories from last year, but I didn't come across any examples until today. Now her son thinks he won't get in anywhere.

Can you tell us the safety school?

If you do, we can give you other schools of similar quality that he has a chance of getting into that he may not have considered before.

I hate that he thinks he won't get in anywhere now... that's an awful feeling for a teenager. 🥺

Here's the thing - I know the school, but I don't know his stats (and didn't want to question her about it since its not my business and she was obviously upset). My friend just described the school as a safety for her son. So I don't know if the school was truly a safety. Still, I imagine that parents around here do some basic level of research to figure out safeties and targets (i.e. common data set); and this friend is someone who would be on top of those things. The school is Clemson.

So Clemson admission rate was 49.5% last year, so it's "very close to being a safety" for some kids, but then your stats must be 75%+. IMO, something right at 49.5%, an excellent public school (so more kids want it cause it's affordable), I wouldn't consider that a true safety. I'd make it a target. Then again, major also matters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Possible reasons are the "safety" was ranked too highly to be a real safety, or there was yield protection going on, or there was some problem with the application like something was not completed properly.

Can schools that consider demonstrated interest be true safety?

Of course they can. Your kid just has to put in the effort to convince them "you are school #1 for me". DO that and you will likely get accepted.

[Anonymous]

Is GW considered a safety? DH is convinced DD is a shoo in but I lean toward the side of caution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, there isn’t a stipulated definition on DCUM of what constitutes a safety.

Yeah, this board is full of folks who describe likelies and then call them "safeties."

Aren’t likelies and safeties the same thing?

DD was deferred from a likely-kids with lower stats and less on their resume were admitted so think it was some sort of yield protection. Admitted to second and still waiting on third. Admitted to a target so unlikely she will attend any of the Likelies.

DP: I don't consider likelies and safeties the same thing. Safeties are schools that admit 80+% of applicants, and your child's stats are in the top 75%. A likely is a school with an overall admissions rate of 50-74% and your child is at or above 75%. However, a likely can become a target if your child is applying to a competitive major.

Excellent definitions! I'd also say a school with admit 80+% and your kid's stats are 50-60%+ could be a likely, as long as your kid shows interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, there isn’t a stipulated definition on DCUM of what constitutes a safety.

Yeah, this board is full of folks who describe likelies and then call them "safeties."

Aren’t likelies and safeties the same thing?

DD was deferred from a likely-kids with lower stats and less on their resume were admitted so think it was some sort of yield protection. Admitted to second and still waiting on third. Admitted to a target so unlikely she will attend any of the Likelies.

DP: I don't consider likelies and safeties the same thing. Safeties are schools that admit 80+% of applicants, and your child's stats are in the top 75%. A likely is a school with an overall admissions rate of 50-74% and your child is at or above 75%. However, a likely can become a target if your child is applying to a competitive major.

My definition of "safeties" is stricter. They're schools where either (1) you've already been accepted (usually an early rolling acceptance) or (2) acceptance decisions are made strictly "by the numbers" (e.g., Iowa/Iowa State, Kansas) and you have the necessary numbers. Anything less certain is a "likely."

Aside from a competitive major (business, CS, engineering none of this applies), can you tell me about a kid who actually was rejected from a school that admits 80+% and the kid is at/above the 75 percentile? Oh, and the kid showed some interest in the school (visit, communication with AO, online "visit", etc).

[Anonymous]

I've seen posters here describe well-ranked schools with 25% acceptance rates as "safeties," so there's lots of misplaced confidence by parents — which unfortunately hurts the kids applying.

That's why so many colleges use demonstrated interest as a factor. They don't want to be a lazy fallback for students who really have no intererest in going there. But it doesn't have to be hard — if you can't visit in person, at least do a virtual tour or sit in on a Zoom presentation and make sure it's a college you actually would be happy to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, there isn’t a stipulated definition on DCUM of what constitutes a safety.

There is a generally accepted definition in the college admission world:
Acceptance rate of 50-60%+ and your kid has stats at or above the 75% for SAT and GPA.

So no, no kid can use CWRU as a safety school even with 1600/4.0/15+ APs and a stellar EC list. Because it's acceptance rate is ~30%. So it's at best a Target school for high stats kids.

Whereas, Applying to MSU (Michigan state) can be a Safety because their general admission rate is 83%. But it might not be a safety if you are applying for a direct admit program with lower rates

You don’t speak for “the college admission world.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is GW considered a safety? DH is convinced DD is a shoo in but I lean toward the side of caution.

GW is not a safety.

[Anonymous]

No. DC accepted EA to all 3 safeties with merit aid. I counseled him to avoid safeties with a reputation for yield protection and to seriously consider them all because low admission rates do not necessarily mean better a better academic experience. All 3 are good schools with good outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, there isn’t a stipulated definition on DCUM of what constitutes a safety.

Yeah, this board is full of folks who describe likelies and then call them "safeties."

Aren’t likelies and safeties the same thing?

DD was deferred from a likely-kids with lower stats and less on their resume were admitted so think it was some sort of yield protection. Admitted to second and still waiting on third. Admitted to a target so unlikely she will attend any of the Likelies.

DP: I don't consider likelies and safeties the same thing. Safeties are schools that admit 80+% of applicants, and your child's stats are in the top 75%. A likely is a school with an overall admissions rate of 50-74% and your child is at or above 75%. However, a likely can become a target if your child is applying to a competitive major.

My definition of "safeties" is stricter. They're schools where either (1) you've already been accepted (usually an early rolling acceptance) or (2) acceptance decisions are made strictly "by the numbers" (e.g., Iowa/Iowa State, Kansas) and you have the necessary numbers. Anything less certain is a "likely."

Aside from a competitive major (business, CS, engineering none of this applies), can you tell me about a kid who actually was rejected from a school that admits 80+% and the kid is at/above the 75 percentile? Oh, and the kid showed some interest in the school (visit, communication with AO, online "visit", etc).

If you need to carve out 30% of applicants and put additional requirements on the ones who remain, your definition is worthless.

[Anonymous]

Of the three safeties that DC applied to, was accepted by 2 - Gettysburg & Clark, however was waitlisted by St Olaf.