Do you need more than one true safety?

[Anonymous]

My niece is planning to apply to one school because she really likes it and it is widely considered a safety for almost everyone. Yet after reading posts this year I see there were tons of real surprises with safety schools so I hope she changes her mind. Interestingly her parents have been through the app process before but because the older sibling got into a reach, I think they are overly confident that things aren’t as dire as people state. Since the notification date is December, I suppose she will have a few weeks to apply to others RD if it doesn’t work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!

For a kid who’s truly full-pay, no.

For a kid who will need a lot of aid, it’s better to have more safeties, in case some schools are much more generous than others.

+1. My kids had 3 safeties. They didn’t love the in-state public college that was their safety but with OOS public colleges at 55-60K and up and private colleges at 80K at up, I said they needed a public in-state safety. You can’t assume merit amounts or financial aid amounts will be the same even among peer institutions because each college is making their own decisions based on the school’s priorities, resources, and the applicant pool.

[Anonymous]

Mine had a favorite safety, applied EA and got in. He would have been completely happy to go there, and getting in early took a ton of stress off.

[Anonymous]

I think you're fine, but DD might want to keep her eyes open to see if there is anything else she might want to consider.

[Anonymous]

If you can apply and get in rolling or early action and if finances will not be an issue, no need to have more than one safety.

Those are big IFs, of course, but why would you need more.

My son had one early action safety. Then he applied to a handful of targets and a large number of reaches.

[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.

Yes, if he applies in Aug, he should have acceptance in Sept and merit offer by early October. Have you visited WPI? Really nice campus and community. No app fee, I think. Mine also had Union, UVM, Drexel and Manhattan (also waived app fee after interview) as likelies. All came through with good money. Plus the ultra reach, so done early.

[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?

I do not know the rankings of these schools, but, I would encourage her to check out RPI. They are in a huge push to get more women on campus. My guess is that she could get significant merit if her stats are there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got into our easy-admission flagship through EA. Given that DS likes the flagship, it gave DS more freedom to be aggressive in seeking elite schools with elite financial aid in RD. This strategy worked out well in our particular circumstances because DS got into most of his reaches and likelies.

I think it's rarely a bad idea to apply to a few EA schools so that DC knows by mid December whether they already have 1-2 acceptable admissions. If so, great, DC can be more aggressive in RD. If not, DC should probably apply to more safeties/targets in RD.

What do you mean, "be more aggressive in RD"?
Isn't the thinking that kids need to SCEA to an Ivy (or ED to a very selective school), if they're of that caliber?

Sorry, by “aggressive,” I meant applying to several reaches, a few targets, and no additional safeties. It was a top heavy rather than a balanced list. We might’ve taken a different approach if DS didn’t like the EA flagship. DS was rejected from his ED school, but it ended up being his only rejection and he got into tree schools with slightly lower admissions rates in RD. Anyhow, in our particular circumstances, it worked out. The FA packages at his reaches was better than his targets, even with merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

I do not know the rankings of these schools, but, I would encourage her to check out RPI. They are in a huge push to get more women on campus. My guess is that she could get significant merit if her stats are there.

I think this is a category where "rank" doesn't matter or make sense. They are niche schools that appeal to kids who want a small engineering school, many of whom won't even apply to large, state engineering programs that might rank higher and won't be interested in schools that are heavy on business and preprofessional majors, etc. You still need the stats to get in, and some of these programs are notoriously rigorous (imagine having to master Calc IV in 7 weeks). I think most kids who go to these schools choose them over all others and rank doesn't factor in, since many (not all) wouldn't consider the other schools' programs. Among them the differences are really geographic and how they approach the academic program.

[Anonymous]

My DC applied pretty widely, including a few safeties early. After admitted students days in the Spring, he didn't like them in the same order as he had back in August. Kids grow a lot during Senior year, and for many the reality of what college really is does not sink in until Spring. It was great to have several options at that time, and we were all surprised by the final choice, which has been a great fit and wonderful college experience.

[Anonymous]

Excellent thread. I would definitely advise more than one, because colleges can change their admissions practices from year to year. Last season I believe yield protection was a real thing. Kid was admitted to two of HYPS and waitlisted by the safety (which high school counselor agreed was a guaranteed acceptance).

Love the safety. It will sustain everyone through the ups and downs of the process. I wish more of the threads were about this as it’s so important.

[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!

I think it depends on the timing. DC applied EA to a true safety and got in, so she was good. She also had another pretty safe school on her list that she would have wanted to attend more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, definitely.

This might change as more schools go back to SAT required (Yay!)

But many kids this year were waitlisted or outright rejected from what should have been safeties based on stats, with lower stat kids getting accepted test optional.

Apply for severral safeties until the test optional stupidity comes to an end.

You have no idea what the stats or other aspects of those kids' applications were. Your kid is not entitled to admission to *any* school.

Uh, yeah, the kids talk to each other.

Everyone knows everyone's stats. They know which kids with 1300 SATs/2-3APs/below 4.0 are getting into a school and which kids with 1500/8 APs/above 4.0 is getting rejected from that same school.

Have several safeties, even if your kid is that 1500/above 4.0 kid, or they might find themselves with no acceptances, even if lower stat kids are getting accepted to the same schools.

[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!

No, assuming you have rolling admission/will find out by Sept/Oct and your kid would be thrilled to attend. If you have to wait for Dec/Jan, then you need at least 1 more true safety/likely just in case.

But yes, If you are in by Sept/Oct and your kid would be happy to attend, then focus on targets and reaches

[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?

DP: case, RPI, Rochester are not Safeties for anyone. They can be targets for many higher stats/good students. WPI can be a safety since acceptance rate is 57%.

Those are definately a great list of Target engineering schools. My kid applied to all of those, except RPI (hated it). Case, Rochester and WPI were actually their final 3. All 3 let you switch your major, choose minors without having to "reapply/compete to get your major" so IMO they are excellent schools.
I'd personally have my kid apply to a few of them as well along with Pitt. Just so you have a few more choices