Do you need more than one true safety?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

Some of these are part of a group of schools that are sort of like the LACs of engineering schools: they are small, mostly undergrad focused (some are only undergrad), engineering-only schools. Given that niche, they are self-selecting and so some, but not all, are a little easier to get into by percentages (but not by grades, etc.), than the big universities that also have engineering programs. Some of them include: Olin, RPI, WPI, Rose Hulman, Stevens, Colorado School of Mines, Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union.

ok thanks-this really makes sense, my DD is getting tons of mail from these schools based on Ap comp princ she took as a freshman--which ones would you consider the better in the group?

PS I have not heard of any of these until i started going into the college board on dcum LOL

[Anonymous]

My DD applied to a few safeties because she wasn't 100% sure which of them was her first choice and we also wanted to see how the merit aid worked out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

Some of these are part of a group of schools that are sort of like the LACs of engineering schools: they are small, mostly undergrad focused (some are only undergrad), engineering-only schools. Given that niche, they are self-selecting and so some, but not all, are a little easier to get into by percentages (but not by grades, etc.), than the big universities that also have engineering programs. Some of them include: Olin, RPI, WPI, Rose Hulman, Stevens, Colorado School of Mines, Harvey Mudd, Cooper Union.

ok thanks-this really makes sense, my DD is getting tons of mail from these schools based on Ap comp princ she took as a freshman--which ones would you consider the better in the group?

Can't go wrong with any of them. They are really spread all over the country, so geography might be a good way to narrow that down. Also since engineering programs tend to be male-heavy, she may want to compare the M/F ratio (haven't compared recently, but I think WPI has a reputation for being balanced in that regard, as they have had female Presidents for quite a while.) Harvey Mudd is 50/50 but it is a reach for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Two or more is better because even if they only get into their safeties as anticipated, it will make the student feel like they still had choices rather than one single safety being their default school. I think that does a lot of the psyche and gives a better mindset about ending up at a safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

My ds applied to Pitt at the end of August and got in three weeks later. It was awesome!

[Anonymous]

3 reaches
3 matches
3 safeties

[Anonymous]

My kid wound up choosing her safety, even though she got into several higher ranked schools.

Your goal should be for them to have options to choose from, and then support their decision.,

[Anonymous]

This is why we need to have ED available at all schools. Students who ED are showing very clearly that they will commit to that school and aren't just using it as a backup/safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

Many strong students use Pitt this way, and it's helping to make it quite the hot school. Smart marketing to get kids started on making connections to the school early.

[Anonymous]

Well my daughter had 3 safeties, 4 targets and 3 reaches. She got in to all three safeties and 3 targets. In the end after visits and more research, two of the three safeties became her top two choices! You just never know how it’s going to work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a safety on your list you love, and you'd be happy to go there, do you really need more? Especially if they have rolling or early action. If for some reason, you are rejected, you would still have time to apply to other safeties if necessary. But assuming you do get in, you could save your efforts for targets and reaches..
.No? Tell me what you think if you've BTDT. Thanks!

If it were my DC, I would have 3 genuine safeties. Admissions are so weird right now that one really cannot take anything for granted.

[Anonymous]

I agree with some PPs that if DC wants either CS or Engineering, then there are no 100% safety schools, other than maybe NoVA (which still will require min GPA in the required courses plus a transfer elsewhere to finish).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

Many strong students use Pitt this way, and it's helping to make it quite the hot school. Smart marketing to get kids started on making connections to the school early.

It's been a "hot" school for at least the past 5 years. It's been reducing merit offers the past two cycles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS LOVES Pitt engineering. He is planning to apply in August. It’s a safety for him - he’ll also apply to Purdue, Michigan, GT. But he has mixed applying to Case, WPI, RPI, Rochester bc he prefers Pitt to any other place. I figure that we’ll know about $$ and honors college before he the deadlines for other safeties.

are those the usual safeties for engineering?

I do not think any of those would be safeties in Engineering. ODU’s Engineering School might be a safety for a very solid applicant if applying from OOS and full-pay. I know of a case where an in-state VA student was accepted by and attended VT Engineering, but same student was rejected by ODU’s Engineering School.

[Anonymous]

I would absolutely do more than 1 safety. Your DC could only get into safeties - that happened to mine and a number of other kids in their friends group. Also, they can change their mind often from October to April regarding what type of school they like.