# Your "safety" and "reach" schools **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 17, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475 "2013-08-17T05:20:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/21 "2013-08-17T20:50:31Z")
Reach: Carleton College. Didn’t get in. Safety: UNC-Asheville. Ended up going to Guilford College, where I was very happy. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/22 "2013-08-17T21:05:48Z")
In NY 45 years ago you were only allowed to apply to 3 colleges and CUNY. This was because of the immense size of our class. CUNY and RPI were my safety schools, and MIT was my kind of reach school, since I figured no one actually got in. I did though. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/23 "2013-08-17T21:16:09Z")
I only applied one place, got in, got full ride. Go me. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/24 "2013-08-18T15:04:42Z")
My reach schools were Cal Tech and Stanford. My safety schools were Brown and Georgia Tech. I ended up going to Colorado school of mines side they would let me do football and track when the DI schools wanted me to pick one and I was soundly rejected by my academic choices due to not graduating in the top half of my class. ---
**Author:** ![NotDeadYet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotDeadYet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotDeadYet)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/25 "2013-08-18T22:59:29Z")
Had the choice of any state school I wanted to go to. Family finances precluded any private college. Graduate school was a different story. Applied to an was accepted to any I wanted to go to. Chose the one that gave me the largest scholarship. Second grad school was Harvard, my dream school. I started but didn’t quite finish my PhD. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/26 "2013-08-18T23:37:28Z")
I only applied to NCSU. It was where I wanted to go, I knew I would be accepted and there was no sense in sending application fees to schools I wasn’t interested in attending. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/27 "2013-08-18T23:42:57Z")
Applying this fall/winter: Reach-UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego Match-Brandeis, UCSB, UC Irvine, UC Davis, USC Safety-UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, CSU Long Beach, Ohio State I’d actually like to go to Ohio State if I didn’t get into UCLA or UC Berkeley but OOS tuitions are a big problem… Hoping to get in to at least UCSB ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/28 "2013-08-18T23:45:43Z")
> [@2ManyTacos](#): > > I applied to a bunch of schools in the UC system, and got into every one of them. 😃 > > The thing is, I couldn’t afford to actually _go_ to any one of them, so for the past few years I’ve been attending the local CC and am planning to transfer to the nearest CSU next year. > > I’d WAG that many high school/cc students are in exactly the same situation. School is fuckin’ expensive. UC prices aren’t that bad (especially if you did two years of CC) after aid and grants. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/29 "2013-08-19T00:25:14Z")
When did these terms come in to vogue, because I don’t remember them being used back in my day, which was the mid-70’s. My sister went to Kent State, and I liked it there, and I knew I could get in, and we could afford it (back in those days few of us had student debt after 4 years…I paid tuition and books, my parents paid room and board, I didn’t owe a penny after college and only one quarter did my books cost more than $75). So Kent State was the only college I applied to. My parents didn’t see the point of wasting money applying to colleges I couldn’t afford. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/30 "2013-08-19T00:35:25Z")
Reach: Cornell, UCLA, UNC-Chapel Hill Safety: Virginia Tech, Illinois Attended: William and Mary ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/31 "2013-08-19T00:38:21Z")
Those terms were definitely in use by 1984, when I graduated from high school. I’ve been going through the archives of The New York Times, and the first mentions I found of that term were from articles in 1980-81. (BTW, I attended an ECAC championship at the old Boston Garden. The fans of one of the schools taunted another group by chanting “safety school” at them.) ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/32 "2013-08-19T00:56:41Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Applying this fall/winter: > > Reach-UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego > > Match-Brandeis, UCSB, UC Irvine, UC Davis, USC > > Safety-UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, CSU Long Beach, Ohio State > > I’d actually like to go to Ohio State if I didn’t get into UCLA or UC Berkeley but OOS tuitions are a big problem… Hoping to get in to at least UCSB I was under the impression that USC was a good school - on par with UCLA. I guess with the elevated tuition compared to the UC schools, it’s less competitive than Berkely or UCLA? Also, why OSU as opposed to say… Michigan? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/33 "2013-08-19T01:09:58Z")
Reach – Harvard. Hey, if you’re going to reach, reach high. Besides they charged less to apply (Only $10; most schools asked for twice that) and sent me a very nice rejection letter along the lines of, “We may be making a mistake in turning you down.” Safety – Dickinson College in Carlise, PA. I ended up going to Union. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/34 "2013-08-19T01:37:12Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > Also, why OSU as opposed to say… Michigan? Can’t really answer for him, but Michigan is stunningly expensive for out of state students. That’s why I didn’t apply there, back in the day, and it continues to cost on-par with elite private universities. Michigan charges 20,000+housing/food+fees+books _per semester_; OSU is 25,000 for the year (and that includes fees). ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/35 "2013-08-19T01:54:19Z")
Got in everywhere I applied. Maybe it was ~4 small colleges, Rice, and the honors program (plan 2 or something like that) at UT Austin, which was my safety. Guess I could have applied to some Ivies, but I wasn’t interested. Swarthmore and Harvey Mudd were probably the two most reachy that I applied to. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/36 "2013-08-19T01:58:03Z")
This was for MBA. Penn and Columbia were my reaches. University of Virginia was my “safety” but I was rejected by them as well. Next year I got into Tulane and Vandy, but decided to take the full ride at Virginia Tech, rather than borrow $40k, which seemed like a huge amount at the time. Looking back 25 years later, I probably would have better off financially with the bigger “brand” school. But four years after getting my MBA I was faced with having to risk my job to take down a crooked boss, or going along with it. Not having a big debt payment hanging over me made my decision a lot easier. Still it was a big adjustment going from thinking I could go to an Ivy or eqivalent to settling for Virginia Tech. I had a perfect GMAT, but my undergrad from Pakistan and essays probably weren’t as impressive as I thought they would be. ---
**Author:** ![NotDeadYet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotDeadYet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotDeadYet)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/37 "2013-08-19T02:16:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Only commenting here because many folks don’t realize that private schools often have more financial aid to offer than state schools. We could only afford state tuition too, but the expensive private school actually did better with grants and other forms of aid than the state did. When I attended U of Mass tuition was $125.00 per semester for as many credits as you wanted to take. 40+ years later, tuition at the college where I taught was over $400 a credit hr. I have no idea how much elite schools are today. Sure they give lots of scholarships but one book can cost more than I paid for an entire semester. Lord, I’m feeling old just thinking about it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/38 "2013-08-19T02:43:52Z")
Reach: St Olaf. Not smart enough. Applied to U of M. Like a dummy, instead of starting in General School, I auditioned for the School of Music. Rejected. Decided I hated the U, ended up at my safety school, Augsburg, last minute. I’m glad I went there, though. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/39 "2013-08-19T02:44:28Z")
I applied early decision to Agnes Scott. So sorry, neither safety nor reach. ETA - I had several offers to schools I didn’t apply to because of National Merit. I suppose my true safety would have been the local University of South Carolina, or one of those (I know one was Alabama and one was University of Florida.) But I just wanted to go to the school I went to, and there wasn’t another one I really wanted. ETAA - this was mid-late 90’s. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475/40 "2013-08-19T02:55:35Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > I was under the impression that USC was a good school - on par with UCLA. I guess with the elevated tuition compared to the UC schools, it’s less competitive than Berkely or UCLA? I think this was dependent on my planned major because while USC, for example, has a great business program its history department (where my planned major lines) is more on par with UCSB or UCI. > [@](#): > > Also, why OSU as opposed to say… Michigan? Ohio State’s the only one offering remotely affordable rates for out of state according to their financial calculators (16k after grants as opposed to 27k for U Michigan). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-safety-and-reach-schools/666475.md?page=3)