Are they really safeties?

The starting gate for the college application season is ready to open. Rising seniors are busily fine tuning their reach, target and safety schools.  Word of caution...last year's safeties might just be this year's targets and reaches!  According to the NY Times Education Life supplement from July 29, 2007, it might be time to rethink which schools could really be considered safeties. 

"Some sure bets aren't so sure anymore.  With more students applying each year, many colleges that were traditionally considered safeties have shed that label, sending applicants scrambling to find replacements. Vanna Cairns, an upper school dean at Harvard-Westlake, a private school in Los Angeles, explains the pecking order.  'When we come up with the list, we call the schools on it 'realistic challenge,' '50-50,' 'likelies' and 'most likelies." 

Here's the link to the article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/education/edlife/guidance29.html?ex=1343275200&en=e919145af2f954cc&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

In case you don't have time to read the entire article, here's a brief summary of its important points:

1)  Don't call them safeties.  Colleges don't want to believe they were your last resort.

2)  Are you competitive?  Your SATs and ACTs might not be the only stats the college is interested in. How good are your recommendations and extracurriculars, etc.?

3)  Apply to your safeties the same way you would apply to your reach and target schools. You need them to want you as much as you want them.

Comments

[katiegate]

Great article!

My only beef is using the University of Chicago or Georgetown as a "fallback." Yikes.