What is considered a safety?

[Anonymous]

And how do you go about finding them?

If for example, my son got a 30 on the ACT and a college's 25-75 range is 27-31, could that be considered a safety?

[Anonymous]

I really can't answer because everything has become such a crapshoot. Is the 30 cumulative? My DC fell in love with a VA in-state (hooray!) so we did only one application, early action and were done. I'm a huge fan of EA or ED. Now I'm facing it again w/ no. 2, which won't be as easy. I suspect what he'll do is go for some real stretches where we have legacy status for early action and then fall back in January, reassess and apply state. Hope that's of some help. Your school's own Naviance chart should help (but I really think some of these elite schools just throw the 30,000 applications down the stairs and pick those that land on their edges).

[Anonymous]

I am thinking safety is above the 75th percentile and in range is more of a match. But maybe I am too conservative? I am going through this with two rising seniors now. Obviously the GPA and ECs also matter, and probably also the school's selectivity. I would be less sanguine about DC's chances below the 75th percentile at a school with a selectivity rate below 30%. But these are all hunches. We are likely to do ED also and hope to be one and done (or in our case, two and done!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am thinking safety is above the 75th percentile and in range is more of a match. But maybe I am too conservative? I am going through this with two rising seniors now. Obviously the GPA and ECs also matter, and probably also the school's selectivity. I would be less sanguine about DC's chances below the 75th percentile at a school with a selectivity rate below 30%. But these are all hunches. We are likely to do ED also and hope to be one and done (or in our case, two and done!).

That's what I thought as well. That your scores put you above the range so it was kind of a guaranteed in. That said, GPA and other things are also important and depending on the school, can be just as important. My niece is at a school that puts a big emphasis on serving the community. She was pretty average in regards to grades and test scores but heavily involved in 2 volunteer organizations. She was accepted with a half tuition scholarship, so something set her apart.

[Anonymous]

OP, the more specific you're willing to be, the more helpful we can be. You have 3 posters who have gone through this. You will likely have many others.

[Anonymous]

^^ that's true. I'm 19:55 back. I just read (as most of us did) the piece written by an academic who spend some time in Yale's admissions office and described the order of importance. It would be helpful if you gave us more info. GPA, class rank, test scores, depth of study (how many honors and AP courses), legacy, URM, how your school usually places, unique passions, will you DS have glowing references? Eagle Scout? Community Service? two foreign languages, etc. But I still think it's all a crapshoot.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the tips!

We are being absolutely inundated with info and are just trying to narrow things down, which is why I didn't give much info. Just more along the lines of, what is considered a "safety" school and not a match or reach? I'm probably showing my naïveté, but the ACT/SAT ranges seem like they're a good way to see if it's a school your kid should consider. For example, we've ruled out some of the schools that have scores in the 21-25 range. Maybe that's not such a smart strategy? Thanks again.

No Naviance at our school, unfortunately

[Anonymous]

A safety is a school you won't have to worry about. In other words, a school you are almost certain your child will get into -- but also a school he will want to attend. You can't go by numbers alone. And sometimes schools that seem attainable will have an unusually competitive year. So a safety really has to be safe.

[Anonymous]

Most high school counselors are very, very careful nowadays not to call anything a "safety". Rather, they call it a "likely". Too many kids bank on getting into "easy school" or "safety" only to find they don't get in.

[Anonymous]

A side note: the "easier" the schools were, the more merit aid they offered to my kids.

[Anonymous]

A safety was a known safety once the "admit" decision was received. Several had rolling notification (public u's, not too selective). Once DD and DS had a couple of these acceptances - Oct & Nov, they moved on to applications to match, and reach schools. If you can find a good public school choice, in or out of state with rolling notification, it works very well as a safety - as long as that's the type of school being considered.

[Anonymous]

I'd pay attention to a combination of GPA and SAT/ACT scores, rather than just the scores; GPA counts for a lot in admissions.

Naviance is a great way to see which schools your child is likely to gain admission to, but remember that with college admissions, there are no guarantees.

[Anonymous]

And the more selective a school is, the less it can be said to be a safety for any applicant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am thinking safety is above the 75th percentile and in range is more of a match. But maybe I am too conservative? I am going through this with two rising seniors now. Obviously the GPA and ECs also matter, and probably also the school's selectivity. I would be less sanguine about DC's chances below the 75th percentile at a school with a selectivity rate below 30%. But these are all hunches. We are likely to do ED also and hope to be one and done (or in our case, two and done!).

That's what I thought as well. That your scores put you above the range so it was kind of a guaranteed in. That said, GPA and other things are also important and depending on the school, can be just as important. My niece is at a school that puts a big emphasis on serving the community. She was pretty average in regards to grades and test scores but heavily involved in 2 volunteer organizations. She was accepted with a half tuition scholarship, so something set her apart.

+2. Also, this definition (accepts 75% with these scores) pretty much rules out the most highly selective colleges. No college or university that accepts less than 10% (maybe even less than 20%) of applicants is going to be a "safety" for almost any kid. You routinely hear of kids with perfect SATs and GPAs being turned down by the most selective colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A safety was a known safety once the "admit" decision was received. Several had rolling notification (public u's, not too selective). Once DD and DS had a couple of these acceptances - Oct & Nov, they moved on to applications to match, and reach schools. If you can find a good public school choice, in or out of state with rolling notification, it works very well as a safety - as long as that's the type of school being considered.

There are lots of decent schools, many of them public, that offer early admissions without too much in the way of required essays beyond the Common App, and which will give you an answer by October or November. Be sure to apply early admissions not early decision, because ED locks you in for that school. I highly recommend doing this, because it gave DC a lot of comfort ("some schools like me!") before the ED results from a tougher college arrived in December.