Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird thread with op arguing with anyone who claims UMD as a safety. Whether op agrees or not, there are plenty of kids who are competitive for a T25 and wind up at UMD, which they considered a safety for them.

OP here. Most posts were not me. I do agree that a spot in a top20 computer science program is not a safety for anyone. It may not be a local kid's top choice or dream school but I don't think it's a safety. It's a super competitive admit. Again, I consider a "safety" to be an 80%+ chance. And if by chance a strong Blair kid does have an 80% chance of being admitted to UMD Comp Sci, 95% of regular strong students in the DMV do not have the same odds and this is a privilege unique to Blair kids.

Huh? What is magic Blair privilege? Blair magnet ids do better in apps because Blair magnet pre filters for stronger students.

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Anonymous wrote:Yes, ended up at UMD for CS major, with merit.

They applied to 4 reaches, and 2 targets, and the one UMD safety.

1580 sat
4.0 uwgpa, 4.92 wgpa from a magnet program

They seem happy there and will do a 3+1 masters program. They are also a dual math major. So, they will graduate with 2 bachelors and 1 masters in four years, all for under $120K. Not too bad.

I know of another magnet student who also ended up in the same boat as my DC.

CS major is just tough.

I wouldn't call a computer science major at the #44 university with a top20 computer science program "true safety" by any definition of the phrase. Isn't that a reach for everyone?
i'm glad it worked out.

What makes you think the safeties and reaches are the same for everyone? Are you assuming the college application process is a true lottery? Your understanding is totally wrong.

Unless the acceptance rate into UMD (or anywhere) is 50%+, then it simply cannot be a "Safety" for anyone. The CS acceptance rate at UMD is around 16-20%. That makes it a REACH for literally everyone. Doesn't matter your stats. There will be plenty of Top stats kids who are rejected because they reject 80%+

Wrong. You either don’t know what a safety is or you don’t understand how college admissions work.

Nope, I completely understand. And the acceptance rate is a KEY part of what makes something a Reach, Target, Safety or Likely. Something with a 16% acceptance rate is NOT a safety for anyone. Just like Harvard is not a Safety for anyone (unless your family name is on a building there, and then that's a completely different story), UMD CS is not either.

But people who think like you are precisely why there will be kids who "applied to 15+ T30 schools and didn't get acceptances to any" It happens. Because when acceptance rates are sub 20% it's a reach for everyone unhooked. Vast majority in the 80%+ rejected will also have "a resume highly qualified for the school" yet they got rejected.
And applying to more Reaches doesn't increase your acceptance chances at any one school

My kid applied to UVA, UMich and GTech as safeties (all with CS/engineering) and they got in all of them.

Troll elsewhere

DP: They may not be trolling. UVA in state, Mich, GTech are all likelies (prep school defines that as 75-95% chance) for the top few stem kids in each class our of 170 students. Almost all end up choosing ivy/+ for Engineering/CS (The last 3 super stars went to Stanford, Penn Viper, MIT) but these very top kids almost always get in all 3 of the likely ones. We get detailed scoir reports and it is easy to figure out who is who since you can select by years.

Again, it is not the fact that they were accepted. It is the misunderstanding of what is meant by "safety."

The misunderstanding is on you, not others. A college could be a safety for some but a reach for others. You got it now?

+1 my MIT kid had UVA and Michigan as safeties.

I'm the PP with a kid who only got into UMD for CS with high stats in a magnet program.

UMD is a safety for kids in DC's peer group. These are super high achieving, high stats kids. They all see UMD as a safety, including for CS.

Now, of course, there are one offs from that peer group who don't get into UMD for CS, but that's a one off. For the vast majority in the magnet programs, UMD CP is a safety. I know of only one kid in the magnet program who didn't get into UMD for CS, and this was 3 years ago, and this kid didn't have a great GPA.

If one-offs happen every year, then it's not a safety.

Safety doesn't mean guaranteed. By that logic, there are not safety schools these days for anyone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird thread with op arguing with anyone who claims UMD as a safety. Whether op agrees or not, there are plenty of kids who are competitive for a T25 and wind up at UMD, which they considered a safety for them.

OP here. Most posts were not me. I do agree that a spot in a top20 computer science program is not a safety for anyone. It may not be a local kid's top choice or dream school but I don't think it's a safety. It's a super competitive admit. Again, I consider a "safety" to be an 80%+ chance. And if by chance a strong Blair kid does have an 80% chance of being admitted to UMD Comp Sci, 95% of regular strong students in the DMV do not have the same odds and this is a privilege unique to Blair kids.

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Anonymous wrote:Yes. Friend was NMSF, 1590, top 5%, tons of rigor including AP Stat and BC Calc. Applied nursing to UVA and UNC from oos. Thought scores were good enough so didn't try elsewhere. Ended up at state university but not even in nursing program.
Now....mistake was only having two reaches. And nursing makes everything unsafe.

OOS is always a crapshoot, sure, but instate, Nursing

If she's not getting into nursing instate, who is?!

Is she permanently blocked from nursing, or just has to apply after first year?

Direct entry nursing is VERY competitive. I am in another state with our flagship acceptance rate of 65% but the BSN has 6% acceptance rate. I am sure UVA nursing is even more difficult to get into. I don't know who actually get in. People on DCUM don't really talk about nursing programs.

This is really interesting to me. I thought nursing was like teaching. Isn't there a shortage of well-trained nurses? Why aren't the programs expanding?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Friend was NMSF, 1590, top 5%, tons of rigor including AP Stat and BC Calc. Applied nursing to UVA and UNC from oos. Thought scores were good enough so didn't try elsewhere. Ended up at state university but not even in nursing program.
Now....mistake was only having two reaches. And nursing makes everything unsafe.

OOS is always a crapshoot, sure, but instate, Nursing

If she's not getting into nursing instate, who is?!

Is she permanently blocked from nursing, or just has to apply after first year?

She has a 4.0 in Chemistry and will either do PA or a separate nursing program or NP after graduation.

She should consider med school with a 4.0 in Chemistry. My wife had a friend who switched from Pharmacy to a med school track when he was crushing it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Friend was NMSF, 1590, top 5%, tons of rigor including AP Stat and BC Calc. Applied nursing to UVA and UNC from oos. Thought scores were good enough so didn't try elsewhere. Ended up at state university but not even in nursing program.
Now....mistake was only having two reaches. And nursing makes everything unsafe.

OOS is always a crapshoot, sure, but instate, Nursing

If she's not getting into nursing instate, who is?!

Is she permanently blocked from nursing, or just has to apply after first year?

Direct entry nursing is VERY competitive. I am in another state with our flagship acceptance rate of 65% but the BSN has 6% acceptance rate. I am sure UVA nursing is even more difficult to get into. I don't know who actually get in. People on DCUM don't really talk about nursing programs.

This is really interesting to me. I thought nursing was like teaching. Isn't there a shortage of well-trained nurses? Why aren't the programs expanding?

I likewise thought the same and had my eyes opened when DC went thru the application process this past cycle. Direct admit is indeed difficult and some schools don’t even offer it.

It’s just one of the reasons DC took a direct slot at a lower-ranked school (that still has a Level 1 trauma teaching hospital on campus). While it’s “direct,” it is still dependent on a 3.0 in certain prescribed classes like chemistry and biology. Didn’t want to have to “apply” yet again next Spring.

After much conversation with family and friends who are RNs, we’re still unsure it’s worthy of a $100K+ (total) degree when, as has also been pointed out here on DCUM, that the undergrad diploma location is largely a shoulder-shrug. DC has aspirations of NP or PA so it’s as much of a “see how it goes” as the actual degree. Plus, DC worked their a$$ off to have good enough grades, scores and ECs to get enough merit to keep the cost <= any other STEM (where the “M” could mean Medical) degree that has a lot of post-grad and occupational options.

So we are their biggest cheering section, atm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Friend was NMSF, 1590, top 5%, tons of rigor including AP Stat and BC Calc. Applied nursing to UVA and UNC from oos. Thought scores were good enough so didn't try elsewhere. Ended up at state university but not even in nursing program.
Now....mistake was only having two reaches. And nursing makes everything unsafe.

OOS is always a crapshoot, sure, but instate, Nursing

If she's not getting into nursing instate, who is?!

Is she permanently blocked from nursing, or just has to apply after first year?

Direct entry nursing is VERY competitive. I am in another state with our flagship acceptance rate of 65% but the BSN has 6% acceptance rate. I am sure UVA nursing is even more difficult to get into. I don't know who actually get in. People on DCUM don't really talk about nursing programs.

This is really interesting to me. I thought nursing was like teaching. Isn't there a shortage of well-trained nurses? Why aren't the programs expanding?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Friend was NMSF, 1590, top 5%, tons of rigor including AP Stat and BC Calc. Applied nursing to UVA and UNC from oos. Thought scores were good enough so didn't try elsewhere. Ended up at state university but not even in nursing program.
Now....mistake was only having two reaches. And nursing makes everything unsafe.

OOS is always a crapshoot, sure, but instate, Nursing

If she's not getting into nursing instate, who is?!

Is she permanently blocked from nursing, or just has to apply after first year?

She has a 4.0 in Chemistry and will either do PA or a separate nursing program or NP after graduation.

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird thread with op arguing with anyone who claims UMD as a safety. Whether op agrees or not, there are plenty of kids who are competitive for a T25 and wind up at UMD, which they considered a safety for them.

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird thread with op arguing with anyone who claims UMD as a safety. Whether op agrees or not, there are plenty of kids who are competitive for a T25 and wind up at UMD, which they considered a safety for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Friend was NMSF, 1590, top 5%, tons of rigor including AP Stat and BC Calc. Applied nursing to UVA and UNC from oos. Thought scores were good enough so didn't try elsewhere. Ended up at state university but not even in nursing program.
Now....mistake was only having two reaches. And nursing makes everything unsafe.

OOS is always a crapshoot, sure, but instate, Nursing

If she's not getting into nursing instate, who is?!

Is she permanently blocked from nursing, or just has to apply after first year?

Direct entry nursing is VERY competitive. I am in another state with our flagship acceptance rate of 65% but the BSN has 6% acceptance rate. I am sure UVA nursing is even more difficult to get into. I don't know who actually get in. People on DCUM don't really talk about nursing programs.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, ended up at UMD for CS major, with merit.

They applied to 4 reaches, and 2 targets, and the one UMD safety.

1580 sat
4.0 uwgpa, 4.92 wgpa from a magnet program

They seem happy there and will do a 3+1 masters program. They are also a dual math major. So, they will graduate with 2 bachelors and 1 masters in four years, all for under $120K. Not too bad.

I know of another magnet student who also ended up in the same boat as my DC.

CS major is just tough.

I wouldn't call a computer science major at the #44 university with a top20 computer science program "true safety" by any definition of the phrase. Isn't that a reach for everyone?
i'm glad it worked out.

What makes you think the safeties and reaches are the same for everyone? Are you assuming the college application process is a true lottery? Your understanding is totally wrong.

Unless the acceptance rate into UMD (or anywhere) is 50%+, then it simply cannot be a "Safety" for anyone. The CS acceptance rate at UMD is around 16-20%. That makes it a REACH for literally everyone. Doesn't matter your stats. There will be plenty of Top stats kids who are rejected because they reject 80%+

Wrong. You either don’t know what a safety is or you don’t understand how college admissions work.

Nope, I completely understand. And the acceptance rate is a KEY part of what makes something a Reach, Target, Safety or Likely. Something with a 16% acceptance rate is NOT a safety for anyone. Just like Harvard is not a Safety for anyone (unless your family name is on a building there, and then that's a completely different story), UMD CS is not either.

But people who think like you are precisely why there will be kids who "applied to 15+ T30 schools and didn't get acceptances to any" It happens. Because when acceptance rates are sub 20% it's a reach for everyone unhooked. Vast majority in the 80%+ rejected will also have "a resume highly qualified for the school" yet they got rejected.
And applying to more Reaches doesn't increase your acceptance chances at any one school

My kid applied to UVA, UMich and GTech as safeties (all with CS/engineering) and they got in all of them.

Troll elsewhere

DP: They may not be trolling. UVA in state, Mich, GTech are all likelies (prep school defines that as 75-95% chance) for the top few stem kids in each class our of 170 students. Almost all end up choosing ivy/+ for Engineering/CS (The last 3 super stars went to Stanford, Penn Viper, MIT) but these very top kids almost always get in all 3 of the likely ones. We get detailed scoir reports and it is easy to figure out who is who since you can select by years.

Again, it is not the fact that they were accepted. It is the misunderstanding of what is meant by "safety."

The misunderstanding is on you, not others. A college could be a safety for some but a reach for others. You got it now?

+1 my MIT kid had UVA and Michigan as safeties.

I'm the PP with a kid who only got into UMD for CS with high stats in a magnet program.

UMD is a safety for kids in DC's peer group. These are super high achieving, high stats kids. They all see UMD as a safety, including for CS.

Now, of course, there are one offs from that peer group who don't get into UMD for CS, but that's a one off. For the vast majority in the magnet programs, UMD CP is a safety. I know of only one kid in the magnet program who didn't get into UMD for CS, and this was 3 years ago, and this kid didn't have a great GPA.

If one-offs happen every year, then it's not a safety.

Safety doesn't mean guaranteed. By that logic, there are not safety schools these days for anyone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, ended up at UMD for CS major, with merit.

They applied to 4 reaches, and 2 targets, and the one UMD safety.

1580 sat
4.0 uwgpa, 4.92 wgpa from a magnet program

They seem happy there and will do a 3+1 masters program. They are also a dual math major. So, they will graduate with 2 bachelors and 1 masters in four years, all for under $120K. Not too bad.

I know of another magnet student who also ended up in the same boat as my DC.

CS major is just tough.

I wouldn't call a computer science major at the #44 university with a top20 computer science program "true safety" by any definition of the phrase. Isn't that a reach for everyone?
i'm glad it worked out.

What makes you think the safeties and reaches are the same for everyone? Are you assuming the college application process is a true lottery? Your understanding is totally wrong.

Unless the acceptance rate into UMD (or anywhere) is 50%+, then it simply cannot be a "Safety" for anyone. The CS acceptance rate at UMD is around 16-20%. That makes it a REACH for literally everyone. Doesn't matter your stats. There will be plenty of Top stats kids who are rejected because they reject 80%+

Wrong. You either don’t know what a safety is or you don’t understand how college admissions work.

Nope, I completely understand. And the acceptance rate is a KEY part of what makes something a Reach, Target, Safety or Likely. Something with a 16% acceptance rate is NOT a safety for anyone. Just like Harvard is not a Safety for anyone (unless your family name is on a building there, and then that's a completely different story), UMD CS is not either.

But people who think like you are precisely why there will be kids who "applied to 15+ T30 schools and didn't get acceptances to any" It happens. Because when acceptance rates are sub 20% it's a reach for everyone unhooked. Vast majority in the 80%+ rejected will also have "a resume highly qualified for the school" yet they got rejected.
And applying to more Reaches doesn't increase your acceptance chances at any one school

My kid applied to UVA, UMich and GTech as safeties (all with CS/engineering) and they got in all of them.

Troll elsewhere

DP: They may not be trolling. UVA in state, Mich, GTech are all likelies (prep school defines that as 75-95% chance) for the top few stem kids in each class our of 170 students. Almost all end up choosing ivy/+ for Engineering/CS (The last 3 super stars went to Stanford, Penn Viper, MIT) but these very top kids almost always get in all 3 of the likely ones. We get detailed scoir reports and it is easy to figure out who is who since you can select by years.

Again, it is not the fact that they were accepted. It is the misunderstanding of what is meant by "safety."

The misunderstanding is on you, not others. A college could be a safety for some but a reach for others. You got it now?

There is a floor, where it doesn't matter how high the student's stats are.

High stats and high achieving (think significant national awards) can take UVA/UMich etc as safeties.

Disagree. They're not a sure thing for any kid. Our school's (top private) data shows random denials with high stats kids.

What school is a sure thing for anyone? Are those kids high achieving as well?