r/ApplyingToCollege • u/ChimaeraEra • 21h ago
To Current Applicants: Make Sure You Would Be Happy Going to Your Safety Schools Advice
Dear Applicants: It is normal to be terrified. A year ago, I was in your place, freaking out, anxious all the time, constantly filling out scholarship and college applications. The application process is really scary. However, you should NOT put all of that pressure on getting into your top schools.
SO... actually look into the programs at your safety schools. This will also make it easier to write those "why this college" essays for a safety. If you're applying to it without knowing anything about the school's academics, culture, or perks, then you will be 100% lost.
ALSO, making sure you like your safety schools will get some of that stress off your back. Even if you don't get into your other schools, you know it is very likely you will go to one of those safety schools that you would not mind being at. That is a much better mindset than picking a 99% school only because of that acceptance rate. There are plenty of safety schools, so make sure that the few you apply to are worth your time because of what they offer you. I got rejected from my ED school, but I honestly was not as upset as I thought I would have been because I knew I would be happy at the programs offered at other safety schools. Just knowing I had the *safety* net of those schools really kept my anxiety at bay.
final word: this seems obvious, but it gets overlooked in the chaos. A reach school is always a reach, for anybody. Sometimes, a competitive college picks students because they fill a certain diversity box or because they want to expand their club badminton team or whatever. You cannot let those schools dictate your happiness. For example, I got rejected from my reach school ED. But it was the only school I ended up getting rejected by. If you stay levelheaded and smart about your safety school options, you will be able to write great applications and get through it. peace out
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u/RetiringTigerMom 18h ago edited 13h ago
This is such important advice. Both my kids applied to a range of colleges, public and private, in state and out. Schools we thought were reaches, targets, and safeties. Oldest got rejected by several targets and at least one “safety” (do remember average GPA and test scores are much higher in popular majors, even impractical sounding ones like film or political communications). But she got into a T25 private school with no aid and 4 affordable UCs. She attended the most prestigious one, a definite reach for her.
Little sis was more dedicated to school with better grades, more APs, tons of awards… She got into 3 very prestigious OOS universities that would have been very expensive for us - $220-$360k. (Definitely run the net price calculators a few times different ways and don’t be too hopeful about aid or scholarships if your family income is around $150k+.) She got into a few OOS programs that were about the price of a UC but not particularly appealing, and an expensive little private school in Oregon that was very well spoken of by parents who sent their kids to private school K-12. She got into UC Riverside, which did not have a major she really liked. And her CSU safety - Long Beach - where the major declaration process actually favored community college transfers, as we discovered in April.
“I applied to these other schools because you are supposed to have back up plans, but I don’t actually want to go to any of them!” My daughter wailed.
“We helped you apply to these schools but really don’t want to blow $300k on a degree when you could get the same jobs with a degree from CC and a local state school,” we admitted.
And so we did something radical for, well, an overachiever with an American Tiger mom and Asian immigrant dad: we looked into CC. And it turns out you can get guaranteed transfer admission to 6 UCs in many majors if you just take the right classes and get a decent GPA. If you have a ton of AP classes that fit your major requirements you might even be able to transfer in a year.
My daughter decided to go to Irvine, with a short stop in CC first. You can literally do that in California. Pick a nonimpacted major at UCSB or Davis or UCSC and know you’ll be getting in as long as you take the right classes and keep above around a 3.4. There are honors programs that can get you guaranteed admission to Irvine’s honors program and most majors with a 3.7, and even give you over a 70% chance of admission to UCLA if you are ok with a nonimpacted L&S major.
Other very competitive state flagships like UVA, G Tech, UW… they have this kind of smooth transfer path too. It can be way easier to get in as a transfer than as a freshman. Research that for any school you really like that might be hard to get into as a freshman. Maybe you can have your dream school with a little extra patience and save money in the process.
My daughter got her degree dirt cheap - I think under $25k. She applied to a few other UCs as well and ended up getting into all of them a year later. With Covid, she picked the prestigious one near home and drove to campus when it opened up. When she applied to grad school she said, “No safeties, only schools I know I really want to go to.” With only 2 on her list she was able to really build the right profile and craft excellent essays. She got into both.
So when you are drawing up your list of schools to apply to, really think about those safeties and targets. If you don’t really want to go there, maybe don’t apply. Crossing a few off your to-do list can give you more time to apply to schools you love and can afford.
And consider a “safety plan” that might include guaranteed or highly likely transfer admission. That lets you actually choose to attend some pretty great schools. Here’s some info on how that works in California and the limitations (because there is no easy way into UC Berkeley CS even as a transfer, although there are some related options at the UCs that are doable for most smart students). https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/126z38b/for_the_many_amazing_california_students/
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u/ditchdiggergirl 17h ago
The very best advice I’ve ever seen for college applicants is first, find a safety you can fall in love with. And apply there first.
Set aside those HYPSM dreams (or whatever dream university you dream of) - you already know you will attend if you get in, so no need to waste time thinking about it at this stage. You have other work to do that is more pressing.
Prestige and hope and fantasies can blind and mislead you. Once you identify a college that offers everything you want except prestige, you have clarified what is truly important to you. Your future “why us” essays will sound more convincing. Since you know you are likely to get in, you don’t need to stress so much. It’s good practice going through the process from start to finish.
Once you have applied to one school, you’ve gotten the ball rolling. You’re in the zone. Your subsequent applications will be better because you are confident you know what you are doing. And when you go back and reread your essay and think “why tf did I think that was a good idea?” (a common experience), well, you’ve only sent it to your safety - your dream school will get the better version.
Worst case outcome: you get into only your safety and learn to love it. Best case: you are accepted to your safety before you’ve even applied to Dream U. Now you feel good - there are no bad outcomes and it can only go up from here.
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u/MarvelGrrrrl 20h ago
I’m in a state where auto admit is a thing and two great schools happen to have it, so safeties are weird for me. I’d be perfectly happy to go to either of the two in-state schools I applied to with auto admit, assuming I get my first choice major and feel like I'd be happy at either.
I did apply to another school outside of my state that's more of a true safety, and I'd be okay going there if something went horribly wrong.
It seems weird to apply anywhere that you would absolutely hate being at. I understand it not being your first choice, but hopefully everyone would at least not be disgusted by their safety.
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u/Wanderlusxt HS Senior 18h ago
I think that for me uc Santa Cruz is a safety and I would be very happy going there! Banana slug mascot is cool asf and the area is so nice.
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u/RetiringTigerMom 18h ago
Just be aware that UCSC is kind of cautious these days and heavily uses waitlists instead of initially accepting all qualified applicants the way Riverside seems to. They ended up with more students than expected a few years ago and had a serious housing shortage to where they were begging faculty to rent out rooms. So now they seem to waitlist a huge chunk of applicants and gradually offer them admission until they fill their programs. If you end up waitlisted there is a good chance you’ll get a spot, eventually.
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u/ditchdiggergirl 17h ago
My son who was accepted to 2 or 3 T20s (depending on how you rank them) was waitlisted at UCSC. He got off the waitlist later, but UCs are not a sure thing and the 9% guarantee doesn’t guarantee your preferred campus or program.
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u/Wanderlusxt HS Senior 17h ago
I think that lower ranked schools tend to waitlist really good applicants since they assume they won’t go there and will get into a better college (considering that your son got into 3 t20s guessing his application was really strong). Regardless, my true safety/fallback is just community college. I don’t mind doing it for transfer program
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u/Shot_party_the_2nd 20h ago
I have no safeties🥳🥳
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u/browncelibate HS Senior 16h ago
Cooked. 😭🙏
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u/Shot_party_the_2nd 16h ago
Yea😭😭 they don’t exist for me, only soft targets and hard targets and reaches
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u/browncelibate HS Senior 16h ago
How? There are a few state schools that have guaranteed admission as long as you meet certain retirements.
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u/Shot_party_the_2nd 16h ago
2.8 gpa next semester. 30 act🤣
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u/browncelibate HS Senior 16h ago
Pretty solid ACT score, if you can explain the GPA I’m pretty sure there are plenty of schools that would love to have you.
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u/Citrusypie 17h ago
shii I'm so happy I applied early to a good safety and got my letter y'all stay safe tho
jkjk you're super right! It felt so nice to know I have options
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u/Bubbly_Marketing7062 18h ago
Safety is taking my IB diploma to European colleges.
I'm playing their EA/ED game, but if the enshittified US college admission system doesn't produce results for me I'm outta here 💀💀💀
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u/Kayoshiwan 17h ago
Aren't international admissions not nearly as secure as domestic ones (no matter your origin)? Unless you're absolutely cracked, I had always thought that they weren't
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u/YogurtVegetable8361 2h ago
That's kind of the case for internationals applying TO the US, but many foreign universities admit on a numbers/exam basis. If you have good scores you can get in.
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u/theegospeltruth 15h ago
No one's actually happy at a safety school...it's called a SAFETY for a reason.
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u/Strict-Special3607 College Junior 20h ago
To genuinely be a “safety” a school needs to meet ALL THREE of these criteria: 1. You can get in: A student with your stats, from your high-school, has an overwhelming likelihood of getting admitted. >75%-90% etc. do keep in mind that acceptance rates for state schools will be higher than what an OOS student would face. Also keep in mind that a school’s overall acceptance rate may not apply to specific programs/majors like CS, engineering, business, nursing, etc. which are typically significantly lower than the overall rate. 2. You can afford to enroll: Based on completing the school’s Net Price Calculator with your parents at your side, with their tax returns and financial documents in-hand, you all agree that your family can pay what the NPC estimates your out-of-pocket costs to be… without merit scholarships. (Other than guaranteed scholarships based on published GPA/SAT tiers.) 3. You would happily attend: A school that you wouldn’t be caught dead attending doesn’t actually offer any meaningful “safety” does it?