You should only apply to seven or so schools so that you can demonstrate true interest in each of them. Schools like BC aren’t going to waste an admission on a kid they know is bound for HYP.

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Anonymous wrote:DD deferred by a target. Just heard her friend got in so waiting for a rejection :( it says by April 1st, admitted student day is April 6 so I think they would have told us by now if in. Bummer

What school?!?!

Wondering too

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Anonymous wrote:My kids are not there yet. I thought Penn state would be the safety for one kid and UVA the safety for another. I have learned that these are both not safeties.

UVA was not a safety for anyone when I graduated high school in 1993.

Right?!?
Nether was Penn State!
After Jerry Sandusky's rape/molestation charges came to light, applications dropped by a lot for a number of years afterward (who could blame students/parents for not wanting to attend?). JoPa & the school administration handled it just about as poorly as they could have and allowed it to go on for many years, even after being made aware.

Although, UVA has ALWAYS been difficult to get into.
I graduated from high school in 1993 and UVA was a reach school for me even back then, and I had a 3.5 GPA, and an 1185 on the SATs. 🤷‍♀️

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Anonymous wrote:Is GW considered a safety? DH is convinced DD is a shoo in but I lean toward the side of caution.

GW is not a safety.

James Madison and George Mason are more so considered safeties.

GW is NOT.

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Anonymous wrote:Of the three safeties that DC applied to, was accepted by 2 - Gettysburg & Clark, however was waitlisted by St Olaf.

ST Olaf acceptance rate is less than 50%. So technically not a safety, more like a "likely target" or whatever you want to call it (a target that you are more likely to get into than a High target)

What is a likely target for one kid could be a reach for another and a safety for yet another (or a very very likely)
Using percentage without the stats and specific data about kid and school is meaningless after a point

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Anonymous wrote:Clemson was really tough this year.

It accepted 43% of students the previous year. Not a safety.

But wouldn’t it be a safety if the kid has a 35 act and a very high gpa?
Most kids applying there do not for instance. Ave score is 30.
I think likely schools are kid dependent

The averages don't mean too much at state schools if you're applying OOS because they will accept in state students with lower stats, especially if they are URM or first gen. That's why people are saying you need to be well above 75% if you're OOS.

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Anonymous wrote:Is it a school that used to be considered a safety, but now has so many applications it’s getting more difficult to get in? Like maybe Auburn or Alabama?

I graduated from Auburn and was recently looking at admissions data that went from 1992 to 2022. The acceptance rate dropped 28 percent just between 2021 and 2022 and I am sure has fallen a few more points since then. I knew it had gotten harder anecdotally but seeing the hard numbers was fascinating.

Auburn shows how fast it can change. For Fall '24, Auburn got 55,000 applications, only 12,000 of which were from in state. The acceptance rate was 39% overall, with 34% of accepted students from Alabama (which were only 22% of the applicant pool, so the OOS acceptance rate was lower). Meanwhile, Niche still shows Auburn's acceptance rate as 71% for 27,000 applicants.

It sounds like Tennessee may be seeing a surge this year, and other SEC schools have increases, even if not as dramatic.

If you're looking at numbers just a couple of years old, it can be very misleading.

Anonymous wrote:DS was deferred EA from what we thought was a safety. I don't believe safeties exist anymore.

We should not consider most of these places safeties anymore; instead, they are likelies.

Anonymous wrote:DD deferred by a target. Just heard her friend got in so waiting for a rejection it says by April 1st, admitted student day is April 6 so I think they would have told us by now if in. Bummer

What school?!?!

Anonymous wrote:I heard from a friend today that this happened to her son. Does this happen more often than we think? I remember some stories from last year, but I didn't come across any examples until today. Now her son thinks he won't get in anywhere.

Yes it happens. We are at a Big 3 and yes kids with high high stats that were admitted to Ivies often will get rejected from lower ranked schools. You can see and the counselor said it is because of a variety of reasons. Usually the schools don't think you will attend and know it is their safety. Also kids in the past from your school admitted did not attend.

Tell her to reassure them. He will get in somewhere.

DD deferred by a target. Just heard her friend got in so waiting for a rejection it says by April 1st, admitted student day is April 6 so I think they would have told us by now if in. Bummer

DS was deferred EA from what we thought was a safety. I don't believe safeties exist anymore.

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Anonymous wrote:Also, there isn’t a stipulated definition on DCUM of what constitutes a safety.

Yeah, this board is full of folks who describe likelies and then call them "safeties."

Because DCUM is the new Lake Wobegon.

+1

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Anonymous wrote:Also, there isn’t a stipulated definition on DCUM of what constitutes a safety.

Yeah, this board is full of folks who describe likelies and then call them "safeties."

Aren’t likelies and safeties the same thing?

DD was deferred from a likely-kids with lower stats and less on their resume were admitted so think it was some sort of yield protection. Admitted to second and still waiting on third. Admitted to a target so unlikely she will attend any of the Likelies.

DP: I don't consider likelies and safeties the same thing. Safeties are schools that admit 80+% of applicants, and your child's stats are in the top 75%. A likely is a school with an overall admissions rate of 50-74% and your child is at or above 75%. However, a likely can become a target if your child is applying to a competitive major.

My definition of "safeties" is stricter. They're schools where either (1) you've already been accepted (usually an early rolling acceptance) or (2) acceptance decisions are made strictly "by the numbers" (e.g., Iowa/Iowa State, Kansas) and you have the necessary numbers. Anything less certain is a "likely."

Aside from a competitive major (business, CS, engineering none of this applies), can you tell me about a kid who actually was rejected from a school that admits 80+% and the kid is at/above the 75 percentile? Oh, and the kid showed some interest in the school (visit, communication with AO, online "visit", etc).

If you need to carve out 30% of applicants and put additional requirements on the ones who remain, your definition is worthless.

No it is not. If you are applying for a direct admit major, you should look at the admit rate for that major, not the overall admit rate for a school. Because they are not applying for an Art history or English major at a school with 80% acceptance rate. They are applying for CS which has a 15% acceptance rate (not 80%).

do colleges show admit rates by major? I haven't seen that in the CDS.

May not be in the CDS, but it's online for most schools that direct admit to majors.

Our state flagship is "Direct admit"/"impacted majors" for majority of majors most kids want (anything STEM/business and many of the popular humanities/social sciences---for example: psychology is impacted). It is easy to search and find the admission rates for most of them.

NP. Most schools that admit by major do not publish rates by major. A few do. And some publish for the school within the university but not specific major.

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Anonymous wrote:Also, there isn’t a stipulated definition on DCUM of what constitutes a safety.

Yeah, this board is full of folks who describe likelies and then call them "safeties."

Aren’t likelies and safeties the same thing?

DD was deferred from a likely-kids with lower stats and less on their resume were admitted so think it was some sort of yield protection. Admitted to second and still waiting on third. Admitted to a target so unlikely she will attend any of the Likelies.

DP: I don't consider likelies and safeties the same thing. Safeties are schools that admit 80+% of applicants, and your child's stats are in the top 75%. A likely is a school with an overall admissions rate of 50-74% and your child is at or above 75%. However, a likely can become a target if your child is applying to a competitive major.

My definition of "safeties" is stricter. They're schools where either (1) you've already been accepted (usually an early rolling acceptance) or (2) acceptance decisions are made strictly "by the numbers" (e.g., Iowa/Iowa State, Kansas) and you have the necessary numbers. Anything less certain is a "likely."

Aside from a competitive major (business, CS, engineering none of this applies), can you tell me about a kid who actually was rejected from a school that admits 80+% and the kid is at/above the 75 percentile? Oh, and the kid showed some interest in the school (visit, communication with AO, online "visit", etc).

If you need to carve out 30% of applicants and put additional requirements on the ones who remain, your definition is worthless.

No it is not. If you are applying for a direct admit major, you should look at the admit rate for that major, not the overall admit rate for a school. Because they are not applying for an Art history or English major at a school with 80% acceptance rate. They are applying for CS which has a 15% acceptance rate (not 80%).

do colleges show admit rates by major? I haven't seen that in the CDS.

May not be in the CDS, but it's online for most schools that direct admit to majors.

Our state flagship is "Direct admit"/"impacted majors" for majority of majors most kids want (anything STEM/business and many of the popular humanities/social sciences---for example: psychology is impacted). It is easy to search and find the admission rates for most of them.