Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 10:41     Subject: Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:UMBC. Picked it during the pandemic so limited visits etc. DD lucked into a great group of suitemates. Awesome teaching. Seems to do fun things on campus. Is really happy there. Was definitely a true safety for her, heard back early from them with their biggest scholarship, didn’t really consider it until she started thinking about it more in comparison to other her other schools. She likes that it’s diverse socioeconomically and ethnically- feels like MCPS in that way. Friendly. Helpful administration. Nice dorm. Terrible food though.


This is really helpful. Thanks for sharing.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 10:38     Subject: Re:Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:If your child ends up having to attend their "safety" school, doesn't that by definition mean that it was in fact the most appropriate fit from the beginning?


Not at all:

We read and hear about students with amazing stats who were rejected to schools that they have the stats for, and thus end up going to a safety. That’s part of the arbitrariness. It also means that some kids go to safeties with amazing stats.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 10:19     Subject: Re:Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:If your child ends up having to attend their "safety" school, doesn't that by definition mean that it was in fact the most appropriate fit from the beginning?


No, there are too many factors involved, including but not limited to ED/EA ramifications.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 10:16     Subject: Re:Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Could we please stop arguing about whether UMD -College Park is a safety school?

Personally, I would love to hear more from those who said their kids wound up loving the other MD public schools, especially Towson and Salisbury, two schools we don't hear much about in this forum.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 10:13     Subject: Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:UMD-CP! My child (soph) loves it

? UMDCP is a safety for most kids? I know a few magnet kids in MCPS who didn't get in.


Not a safety. Anyone who lives in MD wants to go their b/c of the tuition. Highly selective just because of the number of applicants.


Safety is relative. And, if you have really high stats, you should be good at UMD (EA of course). It was a safety for my kid last year. 4.83W, 1570 SAT, lots of honors, ECs.

But, I agree generally that UMD is not a safety school. It just might fill that slot for some kids, though.


You might have considered UMD a safety, and it turned out OK because your child got in. My kid had similar stats this year, and got in, as we expected. But I wouldn't call it a safety school, even for our high stats kids. (And I think referring to UMD as a safety school is likely to lead astray other people whose kids may not get in, now or in the future.)


PP here. No one is calling it a "safety school " the question was about what safeties your kids were happy about -- for THEM. This was one for mine and a few others. In this case, safety is relative to the student, but not one person who identified it as a safety for their kid suggested it was a "safety school " overall. I even went so far as to say that I agree it is not a safety for most. So why try to pick a fight here? So annoying.


Umdcp is not a safety for anyone. Acceptance rate has to be higher than 50-60% to be a safety.


Says who?
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 10:12     Subject: Re:Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I know kids who went to the following schools that were their safeties and they ended up really liking them:

Pitt
St. Olaf
Muhlenburg

And to the person who said some schools are not safeties...different kids have different safeties.


Nothing with an acceptance rate under 50% is a safety for anyone—does not matter their stats.


That is simply not true.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 09:55     Subject: Re:Safety school your child ended up loving…?
St Mary's College of Maryland
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 09:52     Subject: Re:Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:UMD a State flagship ranked #55 nationally is not considered a safety.



OP asked about what people considered. While it isn't a safety for most, it is for some. Let it go....


But it’s this mentality that something is a safety when it’s not why some people end up screwed come april. Safeties must have 50-60% acceptance rates.
Otherwise, it’s more of a high target.


So while it “works out for some” they are not at a safety. They just got lucky and got into their high target
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 09:49     Subject: Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:UMD-CP! My child (soph) loves it

? UMDCP is a safety for most kids? I know a few magnet kids in MCPS who didn't get in.


Not a safety. Anyone who lives in MD wants to go their b/c of the tuition. Highly selective just because of the number of applicants.


Safety is relative. And, if you have really high stats, you should be good at UMD (EA of course). It was a safety for my kid last year. 4.83W, 1570 SAT, lots of honors, ECs.

But, I agree generally that UMD is not a safety school. It just might fill that slot for some kids, though.


You might have considered UMD a safety, and it turned out OK because your child got in. My kid had similar stats this year, and got in, as we expected. But I wouldn't call it a safety school, even for our high stats kids. (And I think referring to UMD as a safety school is likely to lead astray other people whose kids may not get in, now or in the future.)


PP here. No one is calling it a "safety school " the question was about what safeties your kids were happy about -- for THEM. This was one for mine and a few others. In this case, safety is relative to the student, but not one person who identified it as a safety for their kid suggested it was a "safety school " overall. I even went so far as to say that I agree it is not a safety for most. So why try to pick a fight here? So annoying.


Umdcp is not a safety for anyone. Acceptance rate has to be higher than 50-60% to be a safety.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 09:48     Subject: Re:Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:If your child ends up having to attend their "safety" school, doesn't that by definition mean that it was in fact the most appropriate fit from the beginning?


It does suggest that the kid decided that, unless the decision was made for purely financial decisions (i.e. big merit aid vs full pay/loans required).
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 09:46     Subject: Re:Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:I know kids who went to the following schools that were their safeties and they ended up really liking them:

Pitt
St. Olaf
Muhlenburg

And to the person who said some schools are not safeties...different kids have different safeties.


Nothing with an acceptance rate under 50% is a safety for anyone—does not matter their stats.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 09:46     Subject: Safety school your child ended up loving…?
UMBC. Picked it during the pandemic so limited visits etc. DD lucked into a great group of suitemates. Awesome teaching. Seems to do fun things on campus. Is really happy there. Was definitely a true safety for her, heard back early from them with their biggest scholarship, didn’t really consider it until she started thinking about it more in comparison to other her other schools. She likes that it’s diverse socioeconomically and ethnically- feels like MCPS in that way. Friendly. Helpful administration. Nice dorm. Terrible food though.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 09:45     Subject: Re:Safety school your child ended up loving…?
If your child ends up having to attend their "safety" school, doesn't that by definition mean that it was in fact the most appropriate fit from the beginning?
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 09:45     Subject: Re:Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:

OP asked about what people considered. While it isn't a safety for most, it is for some. Let it go....


+1


Anonymous
Post 02/21/2023 09:37     Subject: Safety school your child ended up loving…?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Towson! My dd has loved it.


Can you tell me more? DD is looking very closely at going there (and I think it would be a good fit for her), but would love to hear any specifics about peoples' current/recent experiences.


Same!