Anonymous wrote:DC is in the top 1-2% of her large public high school and has a 1540 SAT (school average is mid 1000) with lots of leadership. She has no interest in attending any of the schools that are considered true safeties and would rather apply to several high targets instead of adding a safety. She applied EA in state to UMD but their acceptances have been so weird lately, that I'm starting to worry that this is a bad ieaa. She's not applying for any impacted majors. Thoughts?

If UMD is her "high target" then yes it could be a very bad idea.

Find some safeties and more high targets that she actually likes and would be excited to attend.


My 1500 kid found on in the 60's and got great merit, and would have been excited to attend had they not gotten into all their targets.

Hobart and sewanee come to mind

Anonymous wrote:DC is in the top 1-2% of her large public high school and has a 1540 SAT (school average is mid 1000) with lots of leadership. She has no interest in attending any of the schools that are considered true safeties and would rather apply to several high targets instead of adding a safety. She applied EA in state to UMD but their acceptances have been so weird lately, that I'm starting to worry that this is a bad ieaa. She's not applying for any impacted majors. Thoughts?

My kid, class of 2025, was in a similar situation from a large public MD HS. We considered UMD engineering a safety and UMD + Honors/merit a target. He also applied to VT engineering as a safety. This was all based on his HS Naviance. Depending on her HS, she may wish to consider a state flagship as another safety. There may be some with EA deadlines of December 1.

My kid was rejected or WL at all reaches. He is a happy Terp with Honors & merit. He was also accepted to VT & their Honors College.

Definitely apply to some safeties. You don’t want the kid to end up at local community college due to bad luck and go down the wrong path. Nothing wrong with community college but would be a shame

UVA Wise is the best safety.

At my kid’s non-DMV private, safeties for kids with stats like OP’s kid were the state flagships, honors programs at less selective OOS flagships, and LAC’s ranked 25-50. Some T-50 to T-100 universities were still not true safeties. Find a true safety that your kid likes, because it can be very unpredictable at the top.

2018. Kid applied to 4 Ivies, OOS UVA, Berkeley, Stanford and MIT.

It worked out, but it was an awful wait. I disagreed with the approach h then, and do not recommend now. Find a good match or two and get those apps done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is considered a “safety” will be different for different kids. Given how competitive the application process is for selective schools, she should apply to a couple that are slightly less selective than her top choices.

Thank you. What are some suggestions for safeties for her at this stage of admissions?

UMBC & Towson. Option to transfer to UMD if she isn’t accepted EA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is considered a “safety” will be different for different kids. Given how competitive the application process is for selective schools, she should apply to a couple that are slightly less selective than her top choices.

Thank you. What are some suggestions for safeties for her at this stage of admissions?

If you want a relatively local safety for a kid with her stats, consider one of these:

Pitt
Penn State
Delaware

Or maybe Dickinson? A friend’s high stats kid got phenomenal merit money there and is very happy.

Or possibly Lafayette. I think their deadline is a bit later - maybe 1/15? But I’m not sure if they give merit money to bring down the cost.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe some of the Virginian schools, VCU, GMU, JMU. Miami (OH), Delaware, Michigan State, etc (just a few ideas, no need for all of them ofc).

Also Penn State, College of Charleston, UVM, SUNYs

Maybe some of the Virginian schools, VCU, GMU, JMU. Miami (OH), Delaware, Michigan State, etc (just a few ideas, no need for all of them ofc).

Yes, I’m pretty sure I remember postings where parents said they needed ideas for a gap year because their kid had no safeties and got in nowhere.

I think if you have a kid who will apply to some ED or EA or rolling schools that announce early, you can wait and see if they get into those before finding out. Be sure you don’t have a kid who will be so devastated by early rejections that they won’t be able to concentrate

Or you can have a kid like my younger kid who plans to apply to one school (a match) and if rejected work for a year and reapply.

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t there a thread on this last spring and the student was upset she only got into Pitt. I wouldn’t recommend not applying to any safeties.

Oh, interesting. Do you have the link?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is considered a “safety” will be different for different kids. Given how competitive the application process is for selective schools, she should apply to a couple that are slightly less selective than her top choices.

Thank you. What are some suggestions for safeties for her at this stage of admissions?

Pitt comes to mind

I love Pitt, however would you be willing to pay $50k+ OOS?

I went to Pitt and grad school at Michigan. I live in Michigan and my kid goes to Michigan.

If the choice was $50K Pitt vs. $85K for a non-Ivy, I'd think carefully about Pitt.

The more independent, adult, self-directed the kid, the more they can get out of being a top student at Pitt.

I believe very strongly in large state flagships vs. expensive and not-very-selective private schools.

It seems to be true that many schools have steep undisclosed discounts.