Safeties for a strong student

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid's safety, according to college vine or wise (can't remember) for CS is U of Chicago - Urbana, GA Tech, UMD.

Hard target is CMU and U of Michigan.

Reach: Cal, UCLA, MIT

800 on SAT
Taking MVC right now
5 on AP Calc test

Several 5s on other AP tests.

800 on SAT math? What's his score on SAT ERW?

[Anonymous]

Lots of good safety options if you are in VA. For my kid (4.1W GPA, 1400 SAT), safeties were JMU, VCU, and UMW. She didn't like CNU, GMU, or VT, but those would also have worked as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC has similar stats to what OP describes. Look at schools in 50-100 range on USNWR (I hate the ratings, but many of these meet the criteria in the first reply to OP). Locally, NC State and Penn State seem to be popular options - and both have excellent honors programs. Good luck.

I know a lot of excellent students who were not accepted at NC State. According to this, their acceptance rate for out of state students is 38%: https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/how-to-get-into-nc-state-university/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid's safety, according to college vine or wise (can't remember) for CS is U of Chicago - Urbana, GA Tech, UMD.

Hard target is CMU and U of Michigan.

Reach: Cal, UCLA, MIT

800 on SAT
Taking MVC right now
5 on AP Calc test

Several 5s on other AP tests.

You need to know your student's class rank / high school GPA before looking for safeties. Again, Georgia Tech CS is not a safety--especially not even a 50/50 shot for a non-resident.

[Anonymous]

DS only has one safety (68% acceptance rate for early action, and stats above half the students). Furthermore, he'd be *happy* to go there. UMD has a 51% acceptance rate and he also has above mid-range stats, so it's a near-safety - but not very exciting.

As a PP said, safeties should be places the student would be happy to go to. That's the hard part!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those are average stats for USC which isn’t a safety for anyone with its current acceptance rate.

I think that depends on which USC. South Carolina is probably a safety at those stats.

South Carolina definitely makes more sense. It used to be a place where kids applied to get merit. I don't know how easy it is to get merit post covid.

[Anonymous]

A few of the VA state schools. Kid is 4.0/4.6 gpa, 35 ACT, ECs, athlete, Club president, part-time job, etc. It's tough you can't be thrilled about a safety. I ended up attending my safety and loved it though, after getting over the disappoinment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few of the VA state schools. Kid is 4.0/4.6 gpa, 35 ACT, ECs, athlete, Club president, part-time job, etc. It's tough you can't be thrilled about a safety. I ended up attending my safety and loved it though, after getting over the disappoinment.

Oh and I see so many kids transfer after the first or second years these days which was almost unheard of when I was a college student. So, I figure if they don't like the safety--they can always keep the grades up and transfer the following year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's safety, according to college vine or wise (can't remember) for CS is U of Chicago - Urbana, GA Tech, UMD.

Hard target is CMU and U of Michigan.

Reach: Cal, UCLA, MIT

800 on SAT
Taking MVC right now
5 on AP Calc test

Several 5s on other AP tests.

How is Georgia Tech CS a safety for a non-resident of Georgia ?

No such school as "U of Chicago-Urbana".

that's what it said. DC has very strong stats.

And yea, I mixed up U of I and U of C.

It might be what the website said, but no school with an admissions rate in the single digits is a safety — regardless of stats. Naviance says every top school, including MIT, Stanford, and Princeton are matches based on DC’s stats. But these schools have roughly a 5% acceptance rate. So they are reaches regardless of what Naviance says.
Your DC might have very strong stats, but is applying to one of the most in demand majors. The schools you are looking at are not safeties for CS, regardless of his strong stats. UMD is the closest if you are in state. Even then, there is a chance he could be admitted to the university but not directly into CS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is 4.0+, 1500+ student, what are their safeties?

I told my kids they need to have true safeties. One kid said Boston University and other kid said USC. I told them they should have a few true safeties. I was thinking Penn State.

Clarifying.... USC is generally Southern Cal. Do you mean University of South Carolina?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS only has one safety (68% acceptance rate for early action, and stats above half the students). Furthermore, he'd be *happy* to go there. UMD has a 51% acceptance rate and he also has above mid-range stats, so it's a near-safety - but not very exciting.

As a PP said, safeties should be places the student would be happy to go to. That's the hard part!

Those aren't safeties, unless he's applied EA and already gotten in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's safety, according to college vine or wise (can't remember) for CS is U of Chicago - Urbana, GA Tech, UMD.

Hard target is CMU and U of Michigan.

Reach: Cal, UCLA, MIT

800 on SAT
Taking MVC right now
5 on AP Calc test

Several 5s on other AP tests.

How is Georgia Tech CS a safety for a non-resident of Georgia ?

No such school as "U of Chicago-Urbana".

that's what it said. DC has very strong stats.

And yea, I mixed up U of I and U of C.

It might be what the website said, but no school with an admissions rate in the single digits is a safety — regardless of stats. Naviance says every top school, including MIT, Stanford, and Princeton are matches based on DC’s stats. But these schools have roughly a 5% acceptance rate. So they are reaches regardless of what Naviance says.
Your DC might have very strong stats, but is applying to one of the most in demand majors. The schools you are looking at are not safeties for CS, regardless of his strong stats. UMD is the closest if you are in state. Even then, there is a chance he could be admitted to the university but not directly into CS.

so, then how are people determining "safeties" if not by what a website shows, whether that's naviance or some other website?

DC is in a magnet, and our school doesn't do rankings.

Also, someone told me that naviance is not reliable, either, especially for magnet students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's safety, according to college vine or wise (can't remember) for CS is U of Chicago - Urbana, GA Tech, UMD.

Hard target is CMU and U of Michigan.

Reach: Cal, UCLA, MIT

800 on SAT
Taking MVC right now
5 on AP Calc test

Several 5s on other AP tests.

You need to know your student's class rank / high school GPA before looking for safeties. Again, Georgia Tech CS is not a safety--especially not even a 50/50 shot for a non-resident.

4.0 UW GPA; weighted is 4.6+ Not sure exactly what.
1580 SAT

No class ranking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's safety, according to college vine or wise (can't remember) for CS is U of Chicago - Urbana, GA Tech, UMD.

Hard target is CMU and U of Michigan.

Reach: Cal, UCLA, MIT

800 on SAT
Taking MVC right now
5 on AP Calc test

Several 5s on other AP tests.

You need to know your student's class rank / high school GPA before looking for safeties. Again, Georgia Tech CS is not a safety--especially not even a 50/50 shot for a non-resident.

4.0 UW GPA; weighted is 4.6+ Not sure exactly what.
1580 SAT

No class ranking.

Penn State

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's safety, according to college vine or wise (can't remember) for CS is U of Chicago - Urbana, GA Tech, UMD.

Hard target is CMU and U of Michigan.

Reach: Cal, UCLA, MIT

800 on SAT
Taking MVC right now
5 on AP Calc test

Several 5s on other AP tests.

How is Georgia Tech CS a safety for a non-resident of Georgia ?

No such school as "U of Chicago-Urbana".

that's what it said. DC has very strong stats.

And yea, I mixed up U of I and U of C.

It might be what the website said, but no school with an admissions rate in the single digits is a safety — regardless of stats. Naviance says every top school, including MIT, Stanford, and Princeton are matches based on DC’s stats. But these schools have roughly a 5% acceptance rate. So they are reaches regardless of what Naviance says.
Your DC might have very strong stats, but is applying to one of the most in demand majors. The schools you are looking at are not safeties for CS, regardless of his strong stats. UMD is the closest if you are in state. Even then, there is a chance he could be admitted to the university but not directly into CS.

so, then how are people determining "safeties" if not by what a website shows, whether that's naviance or some other website?

DC is in a magnet, and our school doesn't do rankings.

Also, someone told me that naviance is not reliable, either, especially for magnet students.

You determine “safeties” based on acceptance rate. Some people say over 75%. I would say over 50%. If you are in MD, UMD is likely a safety. But a direct admit to CS is not.