如何选择最保底的大学？

如何选择最保底的大学？

A safety school is a college or university that a student is likely to receive an acceptance to based on their academic profile. How can high school students confidently select the right fall-back options for them? Below, two high school graduates discuss their suggestions for selecting the perfect safety schools.

保底学校是一所学生很可能会因为他们的学术背景而被录取的学院或大学。高中生如何才能自信地为自己选择正确的退路呢?下面，两位高中毕业生讨论了他们对选择保底学校的建议。

Select institutions that are truly safety schools for you. Danica Todorovic, a sophomore at North Park University in Chicago, applied and was ultimately accepted to three safety schools. Her advice to current high school students is simple: Ensure that your safety schools are truly safety schools. As Todorovic stated via email, “I chose these three safety schools because I knew that I would probably get accepted into two or three of them.” However, for individuals who are just beginning the college search process, this may raise one very important question: “How do I know if a college or university is a safety school for me?”

选择对你来说真正保底的学校。芝加哥北帕克大学(North Park University)大二学生丹妮卡·托多罗维奇(Danica Todorovic)申请了保底学校，并最终被三所保底学校录取。她给当前高中生的建议很简单:确保你的保底学校是真正的保底学校。正如托多罗维奇在电子邮件中所说，“我选择了这三所保底学校，因为我知道我可能会被其中的两到三所录取。然而，对于那些刚刚开始寻找大学的人来说，这可能会提出一个非常重要的问题:“我如何知道一所大学是否是保底学校呢?”

The answer lies in conducting research, particularly as every high school student will have a different threshold for safety schools. Review each institution’s website or contact the admissions office to determine the school’s key statistics, as well as how they relate to your own. Two great statistics to keep in mind are the average GPA of an admitted student and the average ACT/SAT score of an admitted student. Your ACT/SAT results and GPA should be higher than the numbers provided by the college or university in question.

答案在于开展研究，尤其是保底学校对每个学生的门槛都不一样。浏览每一所大学的网站，或者联系招生办公室，确定学校的主要统计数据，以及它们与你自己的数据之间的关系。要记住的两个重要数据是:一名被录取学生的平均GPA和一名被录取学生的平均ACT/SAT成绩。你的ACT/SAT成绩和GPA应该高于所申请院校提供的数字。

Create a “minimum requirements” list. It is imperative that you choose safety schools that you would genuinely be happy to attend. There are several ways to do so, one of which is attending a campus tour, but Caitlin Grove suggests another: the “minimum requirements” list. Like Todorovic, Grove applied to and was accepted to three safety schools. Via email, Grove, who ultimately attended Southern Illinois University—Edwardsville, explained that she prioritized several criteria when selecting her safety schools. These included proximity to her home as well as “a strong communications department, with a good deal of extracurriculars that would support my career goals.”

创建一个“最低要求”列表。你必须选择你真正乐意就读的安全学校。有几种方法可以做到这一点，其中之一就是参加校园参观，但凯特琳•格罗夫(Caitlin Grove)提出了另一种方法:“最低要求”清单。和托多罗维奇一样，格鲁夫申请了三所安全学校，并被接受。格罗夫最终就读于南伊利诺伊大学埃德沃兹维尔分校(Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville)，她解释在选择保底学校时优先考虑三个条件。其中包括离她家很近，以及“一个强大的沟通部门，有很多课外活动可以支持我的职业目标。”

When creating your list of minimum requirements, Grove recommends identifying what you “need out of a potential school.” Both Grove and Todorovic stress the importance of extracurricular activities, but your list should also speak to items like available majors . In short, the safety schools you are considering should satisfy most of the intangibles on your “minimum requirements” list. This list should also help you identify school strengths in the areas that interest you most – a key component in applying to safety schools that you truthfully wish to attend.

格罗夫建议，在制定最低要求清单时，要确定“你对潜在学校的需求”。格罗夫和托多罗维奇都强调课外活动的重要性，但你的清单也应该包括一些项目，比如可用的专业。简而言之，你正在考虑的保底学校应该满足你“最低要求”清单上的大部分无形要求。这份清单还应该帮助你确定学校在你最感兴趣的领域的优势——在申请你真正希望就读的保底学校时，这是一个关键的组成部分。