Safety schools for high achievers

[Anonymous]

Title says it - but to elaborate DD is in a social group where basically every student is expecting to get into a top 10-15 school. DD has solid credentials but is extremely worried she won't be able to get into a top 15. She is ok settling with a lesser school but doesn't wasnt to go to a school lower than rank 25. Michigan, Emory, USC seem to be her top safeties at the moment, does anyone have any other suggestions?

[Anonymous]

The rankings are such garbage. What a terrible way to pick where to live and learn for four years. I could understand focusing on name recognition to network, but ranking the top 15-25 as safeties is risky. They’re all very different schools, and there are different methodologies to rank.

[Anonymous]

What is her area of study? Also, need her stats (GPA + SAT). First of all, don’t worry about the friends. What they want and where they get accepted can vary. For your child, focus on a balanced list of schools. Safeties are key and I would advise multiple safeties. By the time you get to March 30, everyone wants a few choices. Talk to your GC for realistic choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Title says it - but to elaborate DD is in a social group where basically every student is expecting to get into a top 10-15 school. DD has solid credentials but is extremely worried she won't be able to get into a top 15. She is ok settling with a lesser school but doesn't wasnt to go to a school lower than rank 25. Michigan, Emory, USC seem to be her top safeties at the moment, does anyone have any other suggestions?

Yes, my suggestion is that you and your daughter quickly reset your priorities about college and higher education, and that you get her out of that toxic social group. Otherwise, she'll be "extremely worried" and miserable her whole life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Title says it - but to elaborate DD is in a social group where basically every student is expecting to get into a top 10-15 school. DD has solid credentials but is extremely worried she won't be able to get into a top 15. She is ok settling with a lesser school but doesn't wasnt to go to a school lower than rank 25. Michigan, Emory, USC seem to be her top safeties at the moment, does anyone have any other suggestions?

Yes, my suggestion is that you and your daughter quickly reset your priorities about college and higher education, and that you get her out of that toxic social group. Otherwise, she'll be "extremely worried" and miserable her whole life.

They are expecting to get into a top 10-15 school you say. But will they? A lot of these kids will be hit by the thud of reality, particularly in a year when admissions departments will be struggling themselves to adapt to the new situation with covid when the usual SAT, extra-curriculars, teacher rec inputs have also been affected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Title says it - but to elaborate DD is in a social group where basically every student is expecting to get into a top 10-15 school. DD has solid credentials but is extremely worried she won't be able to get into a top 15. She is ok settling with a lesser school but doesn't wasnt to go to a school lower than rank 25. Michigan, Emory, USC seem to be her top safeties at the moment, does anyone have any other suggestions?

You're delutional. How many people at your DD's school gets into Emory for it to be a safety?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Title says it - but to elaborate DD is in a social group where basically every student is expecting to get into a top 10-15 school. DD has solid credentials but is extremely worried she won't be able to get into a top 15. She is ok settling with a lesser school but doesn't wasnt to go to a school lower than rank 25. Michigan, Emory, USC seem to be her top safeties at the moment, does anyone have any other suggestions?

Yes, my suggestion is that you and your daughter quickly reset your priorities about college and higher education, and that you get her out of that toxic social group. Otherwise, she'll be "extremely worried" and miserable her whole life.

They are expecting to get into a top 10-15 school you say. But will they? A lot of these kids will be hit by the thud of reality, particularly in a year when admissions departments will be struggling themselves to adapt to the new situation with covid when the usual SAT, extra-curriculars, teacher rec inputs have also been affected.

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/12/900173338/how-the-coronavirus-has-upended-college-admissions

[Anonymous]

Your state flagship university is typically the safety school for high achievers. Otherwise look in the 30-50 range for a safety.

Any school in the Top 20 is a reach for all unhooked applicants. Schools in the 20-30 range is never better than a match for unhooked kids.

[Anonymous]

Can't help you without more info. Stats, including unweighted gpa, are needed.

[Anonymous]

I'd go with state flagship. Actual safeties are beyond the top 50. Acceptance rates below 50% aren't safeties, and no, Naviance doesn't indicate true safeties - apply to ones that Naviance makes look safe, but have a true safety somewhere on the list.

Look up all deadline options. Some true safeties may have later deadlines, so that the student doesn't actually need to apply if they are accepted elsewhere earlier. But it helps to have that safety plan in place, in case all else fails.

[Anonymous]

She doesn't need to tell her friends every college that's on her list!

[Anonymous]

She should get a different friend group.

[Anonymous]

Look at the top 20 in her proposed major. There will be some obvious options there.

[Anonymous]

Mine was accepted into Duke, Cornell, and Johns Hopkins as a CS major. For his targets, he applied to UVA, UMD, Michigan, UCLA, and UT Austin. The safeties he applied to were Pitt and VT. For safeties, if you want to go with higher ranked safeties, try to apply to one rolling (IU, ASU, Pitt are all good rolling options). Also look for schools with good honors programs

[Anonymous]

Her expectations are way off, sorry. Our child was in that high achiever group by any definition, and we were advised very clearly and correctly that Michigan and USC are not safeties for this group. In some cases, they aren't even matches. I don't know anything about smaller schools like Emory because my kid wanted a bigger school. Safeties (and strong schools by any measure), which by definition your child is almost certain to get in to, are more along the lines of Wisconsin, UIUC, and UT Austin. In our kid's peer group, all had the qualifications on paper to get into places like Michigan, Cal, and UCLA, but only about half did. Same as for all of the other schools in the top 25.