Your safety school should be the college or university on your short list that serves as a backup if your target and reach schools do not work out in your favor. It is still a safety school, though, so your choice hardly matters — right?
Perhaps not. Take Howard, for example, whose primary safety school was a large state university with affordable tuition. When his target schools failed to offer sufficient financial aid, this university became his only option.
His target campuses had been small liberal arts colleges that complemented his innate shyness with class sizes that would ensure he met other students and spoke with his professors. At the large state university, Howard drifted for five years and struggled to make friends and select a major that he loved. He graduated, but college was hardly the transformative experience he had dreamed of.
Howard’s story highlights one of the downsides of attending a safety school — it is only safe in terms of admission. A previous column addressed the disadvantages of attending a reach school, but there are real dangers in not choosing your safety school wisely. Here are key factors to consider when selecting a safety school.
— Intellectual engagement: You may have chosen your safety school because you were almost certain that you would be accepted based on your GPA and test scores. If so, you may quickly find that you are struggling because your classes are too simple for you.
Remember that your goal in college is not only to earn a degree but also to gain an education. This is a subtle distinction; however, the difference lies in intellectual engagement.
If your courses are not challenging or if they are taught in a format that does not suit you, you may find that your safety school is not so safe. In fact, boredom is one of the greatest barriers to success while in college.
One way to avoid this is to identify those schools that meet your safety criteria but that also have honors programs, independent study options or strong undergraduate research opportunities.
[Keep in mind these four tips for adding safety schools to your college short list.]
— Available majors: Another danger of attending a safety school occurs if your focus shifts. Many students ultimately choose different majors than the ones they imagined in high school. These individuals may later realize that their safety school has excellent programs in particular concentrations but that it struggles to provide an elite education across the full range of academic programs.
If your safety school was strong in physics but you later discover a love of comparative linguistics, you may wish that you had chosen a college or university with stronger international programs.
It can be hard to predict if — or how — your interests will change in college, and it is equally difficult to gain entry to schools that are excellent in all departments. However, do plan for scenarios where your interests change after a year of college.
Is your safety school only acceptable for a narrow range of disciplines? If so, consider colleges with a greater number of reputable alternative majors.
[Learn how to use out-of-school experiences to help choose a college major.]
— The intangibles: A third danger — one that Howard discovered — is that your safety school is a poor match in one or more categories. This may be school size, whether the campus is claustrophobically small or bewilderingly large. Or this may be the lack of, or the overwhelming presence of, a Greek system.
Inoculate yourself against this outcome. Treat your safety school as a true option. Research its culture, majors, financial aid and academic rigor. It will not meet all of your criteria — it would be a target school if it did — but it should satisfy most of your requirements.
Too often, students do not take safety schools seriously until it is too late. We are taught to never settle, but the reality is that nearly everyone has a plan B, C or even H.
Do not become so focused on your target and reach schools that you simply select the nearest college as your safety option. Do choose a viable option that meets your minimum needs, and look into all the elements that can make or break your college experience. Ensure, in short, that you could thrive at your safety school if you were to land there.
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Choose a Safety School Wisely originally appeared on usnews.com
