Safety school your child ended up loving…?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:George Mason University!

Please tell me what your kid ended up loving about it. I'm serious. I've wanted to like it for my first kid, and despite multiple visits, it just seemed half-ass'd... but that may be more a factor of they way they host their visits, and not indicative of the actual student experience. For my second kid, GMU seems like an obvious choice b/c he really doesn't care about the "traditional college/college town" experience, and it'd be quite convenient for him to be at college close by.
So, can you tell me about the good experience your kid had.

My kid had a different experience because they were an athlete, so they had built in activities and a group of friends. But I will say, having had several kids at other schools in the Northeast we were very impressed with how they have stepped things up in the past 10 years or so by building more dorms, etc. And I think if my kid was interested in STEM, that would make it an even stronger candidate. We have relatives who live in the DC area, so we knew it was considered a suitcase school. I know this thread is about safeties so full disclosure, GM was a match and they seemed to get a great education. My kid also had a great social life, that admittedly may have been due to the team aspect. They loved taking the metro in to Ballston and DC to go out to bars (pre-Covid). If your kid would like to be closer to home, and you live in VA I think it's an excellent option. I also have a friend who lives in Nova, her kid found his people there and had a great experience too. I think that's been the key for all my kids-find your group and you will have a good experience.

[Anonymous]

UNH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elon

+100

Excellent science and pre-health instruction + guidance.

I’m glad to see all the call-outs for Elon. My kid is in there and no others yet (which is not what we expected) - like many we are still surprised by the reality of the college process there days).

Elon gets dragged on here for some reason, but it truly is doing all the right things these days.

[Anonymous]

Christopher Newport University

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:George Mason University!

Please tell me what your kid ended up loving about it. I'm serious. I've wanted to like it for my first kid, and despite multiple visits, it just seemed half-ass'd... but that may be more a factor of they way they host their visits, and not indicative of the actual student experience. For my second kid, GMU seems like an obvious choice b/c he really doesn't care about the "traditional college/college town" experience, and it'd be quite convenient for him to be at college close by.
So, can you tell me about the good experience your kid had.

My kid had a different experience because they were an athlete, so they had built in activities and a group of friends. But I will say, having had several kids at other schools in the Northeast we were very impressed with how they have stepped things up in the past 10 years or so by building more dorms, etc. And I think if my kid was interested in STEM, that would make it an even stronger candidate. We have relatives who live in the DC area, so we knew it was considered a suitcase school. I know this thread is about safeties so full disclosure, GM was a match and they seemed to get a great education. My kid also had a great social life, that admittedly may have been due to the team aspect. They loved taking the metro in to Ballston and DC to go out to bars (pre-Covid). If your kid would like to be closer to home, and you live in VA I think it's an excellent option. I also have a friend who lives in Nova, her kid found his people there and had a great experience too. I think that's been the key for all my kids-find your group and you will have a good experience.

+1. My DC was a Game Design major at GMU and had a wonderful four years! (I attended the tours and accepted students day and it was well done, not “half-assed” at all. He lived in the dorms all four years. We saw him only on holidays and the weekends in which he chose to come home. He found his group of friends and loved campus life. He did a term at Mason Korea and had a number of classes and an internship at the high-tech Manassas campus. The internship opportunities were great and he was hired by Microsoft before graduation.

[Anonymous]

Safety is relative. And, if you have really high stats, you should be good at UMD (EA of course). It was a safety for my kid last year. 4.83W, 1570 SAT, lots of honors, ECs.

But, I agree generally that UMD is not a safety school. It just might fill that slot for some kids, though.


Then anybody can jump into this thread, and say bunch of T50 schools are safeties.

It defeats the purpose of the thread

NP. You are wrong and PP who said UMD can be a safety for some kids is right. It was also in the “safety “ category for my kid - and for an in-state kid with a high GPA, high test score, most rigorous classes, top of their class, time-intensive ECs who applied EA, it is reasonable to expect to get in. That makes it a safety. I’m confident that our school counselor is more knowledgeable than a random parent poster on DCUM, so will trust their guidance on this instead of yours.

[Anonymous]

Umdcp is not a safety for anyone. Acceptance rate has to be higher than 50-60% to be a safety.

Get over yourself. It is a safety for many kids. You don’t get to decide what other people define as a safety for them.

[Anonymous]

Ole Miss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I second the request for more UVM stories! It's DD's top pick right now.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elon

+100

Excellent science and pre-health instruction + guidance.

I’m glad to see all the call-outs for Elon. My kid is in there and no others yet (which is not what we expected) - like many we are still surprised by the reality of the college process there days).

One of my law firm's associates graduated from Elon about 6 years ago. She loved the experience and has stayed involved as an alum. Sounds like an amazing place!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m only asking if it was considered a true safety, not target, reach, first choice, etc.

My son’s at a target.

But Syracuse and Holy Cross are examples of schools that are out of favor here but seem to have very happy alumni.

I’ve supervised interns from Holy Cross, and they seemed to have amazing alumni network support.

[Anonymous]

SMCM loved, loved, loved it! Went to HYPSM for grad school, so it was a great launching place. Shy kid who worked hard and loved being outdoors, near the water. Beautiful campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Umdcp is not a safety for anyone. Acceptance rate has to be higher than 50-60% to be a safety.

Get over yourself. It is a safety for many kids. You don’t get to decide what other people define as a safety for them.

It's only a safety for kids aiming for Ivies, or equivalent. For kids a tier below Ivies, it's not a safety. DS didn't get in, and he went to Haverford.

[Anonymous]

Cal.

I know will say that’s not a safety, but it was for this kid. And they absolutely loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cal.

I know will say that’s not a safety, but it was for this kid. And they absolutely loved it.

What is "Cal"? ?