Name the safeties your kids love

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sadly I think that true safeties are probably not appealing to many kids from this area. Lots of good schools out there.

I did a ton of the research for my daughter and found any number of very interesting options across the entire country. There were several non-flagship public universities on the west coast that we liked quite a bit. She wound up applying to one of the directional MI schools sight unseen. In the end, she went to a tiny lac no one on this board has ever heard of.

Schools do exist outside the T50. Lots of them. This process really opened my eyes to some really cool opportunities. I have a second child who is quite a bit younger and i can’t wait to discover even more schools no one here has heard of.

The thing that makes me nervous about these kinds of schools is how do I know how financially secure they are? Big public schools are unlikely to close due to financial issues and enrollment cliff. Same goes for popular privates. How do I feel comfortable with small unknown school?

Um, research? Information is available

[Anonymous]

We used Santa Clara as a safety.

[Anonymous]

Syracuse (recognizing it would not be a safety for all).

[Anonymous]

St. Mary's College of Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Syracuse (recognizing it would not be a safety for all).

Some of these safeties are super expensive, like Syracuse.

[Anonymous]

UVA Wise (Top safety), VCU, James Madison, Rutgers, Michigan, Central Florida

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Syracuse (recognizing it would not be a safety for all).

Some of these safeties are super expensive, like Syracuse.

For our family price is a factor. When we were creating a list, we really only picked in state schools or schools we felt confident about getting merit. This is not say that we expected every school to be the same price as our in-state option. Thinking that way isn't realistic. Out in state option is about 38,000. We tried to make sure the schools came in under 45,000. We had some exceptions which would only come in play if our kid didn't get in anywhere.

Most of the time you are going to get some merit. But you have be understand and accept that not every school is the same cost as an in-state school.

[Anonymous]

Utah
Pitt
UVM

[Anonymous]

Clemson
Georgia
Pitt

Into all with merit aid. Hoping it means that she'll get into one of her top25 reaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Clemson
Georgia
Pitt

Into all with merit aid. Hoping it means that she'll get into one of her top25 reaches.

Were those safeties? Probably will, if into all with merit must have great stats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sadly I think that true safeties are probably not appealing to many kids from this area. Lots of good schools out there.

I did a ton of the research for my daughter and found any number of very interesting options across the entire country. There were several non-flagship public universities on the west coast that we liked quite a bit. She wound up applying to one of the directional MI schools sight unseen. In the end, she went to a tiny lac no one on this board has ever heard of.

Schools do exist outside the T50. Lots of them. This process really opened my eyes to some really cool opportunities. I have a second child who is quite a bit younger and i can’t wait to discover even more schools no one here has heard of.

The thing that makes me nervous about these kinds of schools is how do I know how financially secure they are? Big public schools are unlikely to close due to financial issues and enrollment cliff. Same goes for popular privates. How do I feel comfortable with small unknown school?

Check the Forbes Financial Grade- I think their methodology is solid. It has a firewall but someone posted the full list here:

https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/forbes-2024-financial-grades/3672040/2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sadly I think that true safeties are probably not appealing to many kids from this area. Lots of good schools out there.

I did a ton of the research for my daughter and found any number of very interesting options across the entire country. There were several non-flagship public universities on the west coast that we liked quite a bit. She wound up applying to one of the directional MI schools sight unseen. In the end, she went to a tiny lac no one on this board has ever heard of.

Schools do exist outside the T50. Lots of them. This process really opened my eyes to some really cool opportunities. I have a second child who is quite a bit younger and i can’t wait to discover even more schools no one here has heard of.

The thing that makes me nervous about these kinds of schools is how do I know how financially secure they are? Big public schools are unlikely to close due to financial issues and enrollment cliff. Same goes for popular privates. How do I feel comfortable with small unknown school?

Check the Forbes Financial Grade- I think their methodology is solid. It has a firewall but someone posted the full list here:

https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/forbes-2024-financial-grades/3672040/2

How reliable is that list?

[Anonymous]

University of Denver

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Syracuse (recognizing it would not be a safety for all).

It's a safety for my DC.

[Anonymous]

My DD is considering UMW as her top safety. We know people who went there and were very happy. If your kid prefers smaller schools over big state U’s, it’s a good one to add to the list.