Dreams Happen at Target and Safety Schools as Well
The most striking reality these final weeks of April is that the majority of high school seniors are choosing between two safety schools, or if fortunate ,between a safety and a target school. I’m sure you can list on one hand the number of seniors you know who are choosing between two of their reach schools.
Yes, it is true that gaining acceptance to college is getting tougher with every passing year, and is expected to continue this trend until at earliest 2013. For the unborn child that is good news. For the rest of aspiring students past the sixth grade, we need to focus our research and reflection not on those exciting “reach” colleges that fill our dreams, but instead on the runner-up “target” schools that are almost as good but not quite. Equally important is to understand your “safety” schools–there’s no safety in a school you learn in April doesn’t have the major you want.
Though I hesitate to quote Stanford’s Dean of Admissions, a school oft cited for “wacky” admissions decisions, Richard Shaw’s message to parents and students is to “celebrate what you have. The key here is for families to rally around options and move forward.” And to parents in particular he advises them to step back and make sure they’re not more upset than their son or daughter. Upon reflection families so often report, “It was all for the best. She couldn’t have been happier.” Dreams come in many packages–yes, they happen every day at target and safety schools as well.
Make the choice. Celebrate your senior’s accomplishments in high school. Prepare for a summer when you’re all in transition to this exciting new stage in life. Frequent hugs will help to get everyone through it. Even the family dog will need extra support as he/she loses a friend to college.
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no matter what you “term” your choices, you are right, “safety”, “target” or “reach” its all relative…celebrate the opportunities you have been given and get excited, you have a lot to look forward to…
You’ll still be the same person no matter where you go!!!
Perhaps the most daunting to these seniors is that no matter where they go–reach, target or safety, what they get out of the experience will be primarily determined by what they put into it…an interesting concept as many seniors reflect on their high school years–the good, the bad, the wish I hads.
Stay focused on being at school. The college expierence is not so unique from school to school that it matters where you are that much anyway. Focus on what your interests and values are, find a set of schools that share those values and go have fun!! Getting bogged down in terms like ‘safety schools’ only deflates what should be an exciting expierence. GO LEARN…be honest about who you are what you’ve done and what you’re gonna do and college will be just what it should be.
While universities represent themselves to the public as this or that and laud high test scores and excessive admissions standards, students never know the real story until the end. As most have already said, a college experience is more than the sum of GPA’s but amounts to the direction you will head in your life. The only bad decision that can be made in the process is to deny what you know to be true.
The system really does work. I transfered from the school I was accepted by to the school of my “families” dream as a junior. I went from being a big fish in a little pond to a tiny fish in a huge roaring river headed down stream. It was the most difficult 2 years of my life. In 30 years, I am not sure changing schools help me in my business career…but it did hone my perseverances skills! There is a happy ending though…I met a pretty amazing girl