Rose-Hulman for my engineering kid.

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?

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.

I did the same thing. My kid loved all the schools not one talks about, and they have some really amazing programs and access to tenured professors. The job placement results are also great, and I feel bad for people who mistakenly assume that if you aren't at a "top school" you will never have success in life. It's such a sad and ridiculous mindset.

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.

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

Holy Cross, Lafayette, Tulane

Pitt

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Juniata
Wooster
Washington College
Allegheny
Mary Washington
JMU

All great schools but I feel like I need to play that Sesame Street song “One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just isn’t the same!

Last one mentioned is for a different kid than the first 5. That is a fair point. I expect the younger kid will prioritize midsize schools with climbing walls on the east coast. 🤣

Anonymous wrote:Alabama is NOT a safety if you are relying on merit.

Yes it is. They post a merit chart on their website. As long as you submit test scores (no superscore) and GPA that meet the req — or are NMF. Full ride.

Now if you’re trying to get merit without test scores that might be a different story….

Anonymous wrote:My ds is thrilled about UCF. I know many here would look down on it, but it's a very well-liked school.

Go Knights! Congrats!

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Anonymous wrote:I have a high stats NMSF. So far, he’s gotten into all his safeties


Alabama
Arizona
Arizona State
Iowa
Michigan State
Oklahoma
Penn State
U of Central Florida
U of Minnesota
U Texas at Dallas
VCU

Why so many?
My kid has 3 safeties. 5 targets. and 12 reaches.

Not to send the thread in an off-topic direction but I like this ratio. I get so confused when I hear people say you should have more than three safeties. Logically, these are the schools you are most likely to get into so why would you waste limited CommonApp slots on sure things?

To compare merit aid. Mine is in at two likelies so far, and there is a 10K difference between them in merit aid. 12 reaches is a ridiculous waste of money.

we know a high states male (white, CS major) who should have applied to more reaches. Full pay/loaded family. No aid. Ended up at safety but had the craziest stats and ECs. Should have maxed out that common app. Think kid applied to 10 schools (3/4/3).

What is wrong with that? It's what most normal people do. The 4 targets means you should get into 2 of them, and you should get into 2 or 3 of the safeties. Applying to more Reaches does not really increase your chances of admission.

This is a top of the class kid with no financial limitations.
Reaches were Stanford; Yale; MIT.
Just a poorly executed app strategy.

Why would you say that? Very likely their targets were well liked and top choices for the kid.

IMO, I don't get the "let's apply to 15 of the T25 schools and hope one sticks" attitude. Because there is no way that any 15 of the T25 can actually be schools someone is completely excited about (other than they are highly ranked). Sound like that kid picked their top 3 choices and then focused on the essays for the Targets (and possibly safeties for a kid like that). It's not a "failure" in life to not get into any reaches, even for a top stats kid. When admission rates are sub 10%, odds are you are not getting in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA

UVa is never a safety for anyone. Nice joke.

Oh you’d be shocked how many kids can treat it as such

It really depends on the school and the kid. At DD’s school, the UVA acceptance rate for EA with certain stats (GPA>96 and ACT>=35) is 100 percent. That’s over 20 kids over the past four years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA

UVa is never a safety for anyone. Nice joke.

Oh you’d be shocked how many kids can treat it as such

UVA can be and is a safety for many.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA

UVa is never a safety for anyone. Nice joke.

Oh you’d be shocked how many kids can treat it as such

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a high stats NMSF. So far, he’s gotten into all his safeties


Alabama
Arizona
Arizona State
Iowa
Michigan State
Oklahoma
Penn State
U of Central Florida
U of Minnesota
U Texas at Dallas
VCU

Why so many?
My kid has 3 safeties. 5 targets. and 12 reaches.

Not to send the thread in an off-topic direction but I like this ratio. I get so confused when I hear people say you should have more than three safeties. Logically, these are the schools you are most likely to get into so why would you waste limited CommonApp slots on sure things?

To compare merit aid. Mine is in at two likelies so far, and there is a 10K difference between them in merit aid. 12 reaches is a ridiculous waste of money.

we know a high states male (white, CS major) who should have applied to more reaches. Full pay/loaded family. No aid. Ended up at safety but had the craziest stats and ECs. Should have maxed out that common app. Think kid applied to 10 schools (3/4/3).

What is wrong with that? It's what most normal people do. The 4 targets means you should get into 2 of them, and you should get into 2 or 3 of the safeties. Applying to more Reaches does not really increase your chances of admission.

This is a top of the class kid with no financial limitations.
Reaches were Stanford; Yale; MIT.
Just a poorly executed app strategy.