Did anyone's kid skip applying to a safety?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying only to reach schools is risky. Sometimes the only ones accepted the kid are the targets and safeties.

In a typical year, kids at our school would apply to several ivies and Stanford MIT as reach, applying to Duke, JHU as targets, and applying to Northwestern, Vandy, WashU, as safties. Often times, the only schools accepted them are the safeties. So counselor's advice is to focus on the essays for target/safety schools.

Is this OP or someone really connected/hooked from a private feeder private?

I’m a DP, with DCs from a true feeder private (top 40 national ranking, sends 30% to T20); we would never consider applying to Northwestern as a safety even for the #1 kid in class. Our top 6 in class last few years got into HYP; I know all of them had safeties like Pitt or UMD bc that’s what our CC told us.

Oooh. Impressive.

[Anonymous]

This is probably more a psychological thing but I wanted my kid to apply to 2-3 safeties because I wanted them to have some excitement about their choices in March-April and not feel like they had to “settle” for a safety they weren’t happy with. It can be very disheartening for a kid who was shut out by most colleges, to be surrounded by classmates who are excited about their choices. I knew a couple people whose kids were in this situation. Fortunately their kids ended up loving their experience at their safety school but it did make for a tough March-April senior year.

[Anonymous]

My kid is too optimistic and I am too pessimistic. We compromised and he applied to one safety and 11 target and reaches. High stats and surrounded by green on the scattergrams for many targets. I think I read too much DCUM and am convinced my kid will be waitlisted everywhere.

[Anonymous]

As YCBY says, you have to respect the competition. There are thousands of amazing high stat kids across the country. There are just too many to accept everyone.
And someone always ends up with a list that didn’t include a safety they liked and they are devastated in the spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is making me nervous. My DC did not apply to a true safety either since Indiana is no longer auto-admit. I think I will have him throw in an app to an OOS flagship today. Which are the ones with no supplementals- South Carolina? Penn State? Auburn? Any other recommendations? High GPA and 35 ACT single sitting. Interested in business.

with those stats its a shoe in to iu, last year we know a lot of students who got into kelly with those stats. i would do Univ Washington. I wouldnt worry about IU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As YCBY says, you have to respect the competition. There are thousands of amazing high stat kids across the country. There are just too many to accept everyone.
And someone always ends up with a list that didn’t include a safety they liked and they are devastated in the spring.

This is the problem. There aren't enough spots at the more elite schools, so some high stats kids will be shut out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As YCBY says, you have to respect the competition. There are thousands of amazing high stat kids across the country. There are just too many to accept everyone.
And someone always ends up with a list that didn’t include a safety they liked and they are devastated in the spring.

In the DMV for the large, good publics you have to start with your own school. Ours in MD had 40 apply to Georgetown last year, 100 to UVA, and so on. If you are in the top 10 of those applications you have a shot, depending on what the specific school is seeking. If you are not, you are generally out of luck. The trouble is, you don't know who the competition will be!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter planned a few safeties, but after being accepted very early to a rolling admission target school she decided not to apply to several targets and all the safety schools she had been considering.

This is a very different scenario than OP has put forth. Congrats to your DD--she's going to college!

[Anonymous]

I told my kid I thought gap years are great and if they were prepared to take a gap year they could be as selective as they wanted, but they decided they’d rather not do a gap year and added one more school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago my kid applied to 4 Ivies, Vandy, Northwestern, BC, Notre Dame, Georgetown, UVA, & Michigan (in-state).

I tried to convince kid that a couple true safeties were necessary. I recommended places with significant automatic merit aid like Kansas, Nebraska, & Oklahoma.

But kid said he didn’t work his butt off in high school to end up at a school he could have gotten into with much less work. He was prepared to take a gap year & apply all over again if he got shut out. But he got accepted at 4 & waitlisted at 3. Everything worked out fine.

Lol, another in-stater here. You must be a diehard if you recommended Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma over MSU. And why no Indiana or Wisconsin?

My Michigan kid also applied to MSU, Pitt, and Indiana...real money only from Indiana.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is making me nervous. My DC did not apply to a true safety either since Indiana is no longer auto-admit. I think I will have him throw in an app to an OOS flagship today. Which are the ones with no supplementals- South Carolina? Penn State? Auburn? Any other recommendations? High GPA and 35 ACT single sitting. Interested in business.

with those stats its a shoe in to iu, last year we know a lot of students who got into kelly with those stats. i would do Univ Washington. I wouldnt worry about IU.

We are in DC, so UDub seems really far away. I do love Seattle and the campus. I will suggest it to him. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter planned a few safeties, but after being accepted very early to a rolling admission target school she decided not to apply to several targets and all the safety schools she had been considering.

so then did she change her strategy to only send remaining apps to reaches?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is making me nervous. My DC did not apply to a true safety either since Indiana is no longer auto-admit. I think I will have him throw in an app to an OOS flagship today. Which are the ones with no supplementals- South Carolina? Penn State? Auburn? Any other recommendations? High GPA and 35 ACT single sitting. Interested in business.

with those stats its a shoe in to iu, last year we know a lot of students who got into kelly with those stats. i would do Univ Washington. I wouldnt worry about IU.

We are in DC, so UDub seems really far away. I do love Seattle and the campus. I will suggest it to him. Thanks!

University of Washington’s application deadline has passed.

[Anonymous]

The only time you should ever do this is as a committed athlete with a positive pre-read applying ED. That is my kid's path (and even then we have a list of potential back ups if something goes awry).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:#1 Rule in college admissions should be:

Make sure your child finds a safety they LOVE.

Takes away all the anxiety, strain, and heartbreak. If you didn’t do this, you’re an idiot.

Finding a safety they LOVE may be stressful in and of itself. Finding a safety they like well enough, is affordable and can definitely get into is just fine.

It really should not be that hard. There are plenty of great schools with a good size group of really smart kids everywhere in the top 100

It's on you to help your kid realize they can thrive somewhere other than a t20 school

Don't select a safety and you might really dislike where you end up freshman year