Safety Schools are schools you apply to as your back up plan. These are schools that you have higher chances of getting into so that you won’t be rejected from college totally.
Sometimes students refer these schools as the “Last hope of a common man”, because they feel that if any other school doesn’t admit them, one of the safety school will. So in this article, I will explain in detail all about safety schools and how to find them.
Definition of Safety Schools
A safety school is a school that you have a better chance of gaining admission. Your CGPA should be way above average, and your SAT AND ACT scores should be very high too.
These safety schools are mostly public schools or interstate colleges. They must have a higher acceptance rate and a low tuition fee because you wouldn’t want to get admitted into a school you can’t afford. Some small private colleges can also qualify for a safety school, but this depends on what you want to study.
You can apply to three schools at most, so you could have very high chances of getting admitted. Processing your applications can take lots of your time and might be expensive, so apply to at most three colleges so you can give it your best shot.
Read this: How many Colleges should I apply to? (Quick answer)
How to Find or Identify Safety Schools
- They are usually interstate colleges or public colleges.
- Acceptance rate is usually at or above 50%.
- Your SAT and ACT scores must be high enough to give you an edge over others.
- Your GPA must be high too.
- They ought to have a low tuition fee.
- You must provide your applications your best.
- Your extracurricular activities must be impressive.
According to Forbes, these are the lists of high schools on the list of safety schools.
- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
It’s the 56th on the rank and has a 62% acceptance rate.
- DePauw University
98th on the rank with an acceptance rate of 67%.
- Yeshiva University
It is 99th on the rank and has an acceptance rate of 63%.
- Indiana University, Bloomington
This university is 132nd on the rank and has a 76% acceptance rate.
Read this: CACREP Accreditation (Everything you need to know)
- University of Colorado, Boulder
This university is 131st on the Safety Schools rank and has an acceptance rate of 76%.
- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
It has an acceptance rate of 61% and is 116th on the rank.
- Furman University
The acceptance rate is 61% and is 113 on the rank.
- Wheaton College
The acceptance rate is 85% and is 112th on the rank.
- Virginia Tech
The acceptance rate is 70% and is 110th on the rank of safety schools.
- Texas A&M University, College Station
The acceptance rate is 71% and is 108th on the rank.
Read this: CACREP Accreditation (Everything you need to know)
Final tips:
Have it in mind that any school with an acceptance rate less than 20% is not considered a safety school no matter you GPA. However, one of the major criteria for these schools is that your academic qualifications should exceed their requirements for admission.
Awesome one, I hope this article on “Safety Schools” answered your question.