Anonymous
06/11/2026 15:18
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:From a couple of years ago...NOVA public 3.98/4.5, 1560, CS (Engineering). MAX BUDGET $55k/yr. So even if admitted, merit for OOS public and private will be needed. NO SAFETIES. Bunch of targets.
Harvard, Penn (denied)
UVA, NEU (WL)
WM, UMD, Lehigh, Pitt, BU, CWRU, Ohio St., UMN (accepted-most with merit)
Can I ask what type of merit you received?
Sure.
WM ($0, Monroe Scholar)
UMD ($10k/yr)
Lehigh (50% tuition/yr)
Pitt ($0)
BU ($25k/yr)
CWRU ($30k/yr)
Ohio St. ($16.5k/yr)
UMN ($25k/yr)
UVA WL and no money from Pitt was most disappointing, but thats life! Happily attending UMD.
Was UMN cheaper for you? I know UMD is not that hard to get into, but UMD for CS is harder to get into that non-CS majors.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 13:11
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Some students who go into this process thinking of Emory as a safety/target may be setting themselves up for disappointment. While Emory is not a lottery school, it has become selective enough to be unpredictable for most “average excellent” students .
Anonymous
06/11/2026 13:04
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Premed. Currently
Reaches: Duke, Brown,
Target: WashU, Vanderbilt
Safeties: Emory, Case Western
My kid was accepted to 4 Ivies RD (this year) and outright rejected from Vanderbilt and Emory RD.
They are not safeties or targets for anyone RD.
Emory is absolutely a safety and target
Anonymous
06/11/2026 10:06
Subject: Re:For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you wonder over to the BC thread, a bunch of people there are saying BC is a safety. Maybe take a look.
BC is often seen as a safety for students shooting for Notre Dame, Duke and Vanderbilt.
But safeties vary so much depending on someone’s major and interests. A STEM kid is going to have a very different list of reaches and safeties than a liberal arts kid.
I don't think you understand fully what a safety is.
BC is more like a target, and ND, duke and Vanderbilt are reaches. Places like Fairfield, PC, ad Fordham are safeties, if you will. Some might argue Villanova, but that is no guarantee by any means. BC had an acceptance rate of 13% this year. That is not a safety.
BC 100% yield protects in RD from some privates (and maybe publics too--I don't have experience). From our private they will get 25/100 applicants who apply. They have room for 5 from this private (clearly they're not going to enroll 25 kids from one school). So they defer or deny the Ivy level kids who they know won't say yes and take the 3.7 kids who they know will accept.
This happens each year at our school. It's not a safety for high stats kids.
They accepted my 3.95 UW GPA (4.3 weighted) and 35 ACT kid regular decision. Private Catholic high school.
It’s my impression that Catholic high schools are far less reliant on ED than independent high schools. So it’s possible that BC projects yield differently depending on the type of high school (or even the specific high school).
Yes. BC knows with 110% certainty that the 3.95/35 Sidwell RD kid is not going to matriculate to BC. Therefore they yield protect him/her.
The 3.95/35 Catholic school kid may very well go to BC.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 09:37
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Safeties: CU Boulder, Pitt, Clark
Targets: UW Madison, UMD (in state), Lehigh, UW
Try having a conversation with AI about your kids preferences (location, major, ecs, general vibe) and ask for suggestions for safeties and targets given their stats. That will get you a more meaningful place to start than other people’s lists. Just be aware that AI can be overly optimistic.
Targets: UW Madison, UMD (in state), Lehigh, UW
Try having a conversation with AI about your kids preferences (location, major, ecs, general vibe) and ask for suggestions for safeties and targets given their stats. That will get you a more meaningful place to start than other people’s lists. Just be aware that AI can be overly optimistic.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 09:36
Subject: Re:For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you wonder over to the BC thread, a bunch of people there are saying BC is a safety. Maybe take a look.
BC is often seen as a safety for students shooting for Notre Dame, Duke and Vanderbilt.
But safeties vary so much depending on someone’s major and interests. A STEM kid is going to have a very different list of reaches and safeties than a liberal arts kid.
I don't think you understand fully what a safety is.
BC is more like a target, and ND, duke and Vanderbilt are reaches. Places like Fairfield, PC, ad Fordham are safeties, if you will. Some might argue Villanova, but that is no guarantee by any means. BC had an acceptance rate of 13% this year. That is not a safety.
BC 100% yield protects in RD from some privates (and maybe publics too--I don't have experience). From our private they will get 25/100 applicants who apply. They have room for 5 from this private (clearly they're not going to enroll 25 kids from one school). So they defer or deny the Ivy level kids who they know won't say yes and take the 3.7 kids who they know will accept.
This happens each year at our school. It's not a safety for high stats kids.
They accepted my 3.95 UW GPA (4.3 weighted) and 35 ACT kid regular decision. Private Catholic high school.
It’s my impression that Catholic high schools are far less reliant on ED than independent high schools. So it’s possible that BC projects yield differently depending on the type of high school (or even the specific high school).
Anonymous
06/11/2026 09:17
Subject: Re:For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you wonder over to the BC thread, a bunch of people there are saying BC is a safety. Maybe take a look.
BC is often seen as a safety for students shooting for Notre Dame, Duke and Vanderbilt.
But safeties vary so much depending on someone’s major and interests. A STEM kid is going to have a very different list of reaches and safeties than a liberal arts kid.
I don't think you understand fully what a safety is.
BC is more like a target, and ND, duke and Vanderbilt are reaches. Places like Fairfield, PC, ad Fordham are safeties, if you will. Some might argue Villanova, but that is no guarantee by any means. BC had an acceptance rate of 13% this year. That is not a safety.
BC 100% yield protects in RD from some privates (and maybe publics too--I don't have experience). From our private they will get 25/100 applicants who apply. They have room for 5 from this private (clearly they're not going to enroll 25 kids from one school). So they defer or deny the Ivy level kids who they know won't say yes and take the 3.7 kids who they know will accept.
This happens each year at our school. It's not a safety for high stats kids.
They accepted my 3.95 UW GPA (4.3 weighted) and 35 ACT kid regular decision. Private Catholic high school.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 09:00
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:From a couple of years ago...NOVA public 3.98/4.5, 1560, CS (Engineering). MAX BUDGET $55k/yr. So even if admitted, merit for OOS public and private will be needed. NO SAFETIES. Bunch of targets.
Harvard, Penn (denied)
UVA, NEU (WL)
WM, UMD, Lehigh, Pitt, BU, CWRU, Ohio St., UMN (accepted-most with merit)
Can I ask what type of merit you received?
Sure.
WM ($0, Monroe Scholar)
UMD ($10k/yr)
Lehigh (50% tuition/yr)
Pitt ($0)
BU ($25k/yr)
CWRU ($30k/yr)
Ohio St. ($16.5k/yr)
UMN ($25k/yr)
UVA WL and no money from Pitt was most disappointing, but thats life! Happily attending UMD.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 08:48
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Anonymous wrote:From a couple of years ago...NOVA public 3.98/4.5, 1560, CS (Engineering). MAX BUDGET $55k/yr. So even if admitted, merit for OOS public and private will be needed. NO SAFETIES. Bunch of targets.
Harvard, Penn (denied)
UVA, NEU (WL)
WM, UMD, Lehigh, Pitt, BU, CWRU, Ohio St., UMN (accepted-most with merit)
Can I ask what type of merit you received?
Anonymous
06/11/2026 08:47
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Premed. Currently
Reaches: Duke, Brown,
Target: WashU, Vanderbilt
Safeties: Emory, Case Western
Good luck with this. Your targets and safeties are all ED-or-bust yield protection schools. And your reaches require major hooks. Let me guess, this is your first child?
I know high stats kids who made the mistake of treating Case and Emory as safeties/targets and were disappointed. They were safeties 35 years ago. Times have changed.
Emory is a backup
Anonymous
06/11/2026 08:39
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Anonymous wrote:ASU was my city loving kid’s safety. Was admitted to their Honors college which is the best in the country.
ASU was one of our high stats DC’s safeties as well. Part of our calculus was, if this kid strikes out everywhere else, by spring they might be ready to say “shove it” to the establishment and all its rankings. Also (and I do realize this cuts the other way re the establishment), grandpa had met the ASU president at a few think-tank type events and was impressed.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 08:37
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
For Case, demonstrated interest is important. Take the time to visit if possible and if not, stay engaged by attending virtual events, keeping in touch by email, etc.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 08:37
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Targets: Richmond, W&M, Lehigh
Safeties: Mary Washington, Muhlenberg
Safeties: Mary Washington, Muhlenberg
Anonymous
06/11/2026 08:35
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
Anonymous wrote:Premed. Currently
Reaches: Duke, Brown,
Target: WashU, Vanderbilt
Safeties: Emory, Case Western
My kid was accepted to 4 Ivies RD (this year) and outright rejected from Vanderbilt and Emory RD.
They are not safeties or targets for anyone RD.
Anonymous
06/11/2026 08:34
Subject: For strong students (grades, tests, ECs), what are your child's safeties and targets?
From a couple of years ago...NOVA public 3.98/4.5, 1560, CS (Engineering). MAX BUDGET $55k/yr. So even if admitted, merit for OOS public and private will be needed. NO SAFETIES. Bunch of targets.
Harvard, Penn (denied)
UVA, NEU (WL)
WM, UMD, Lehigh, Pitt, BU, CWRU, Ohio St., UMN (accepted-most with merit)
Harvard, Penn (denied)
UVA, NEU (WL)
WM, UMD, Lehigh, Pitt, BU, CWRU, Ohio St., UMN (accepted-most with merit)