Applying to different colleges

[Mwfan1921]

@tsbna44

The schools do this in a non-threatening way. It’s just common sense - you can read many student horror stories through the CC.

Who should apply early decision?
Students should select the early decision option only if they have identified the College of Charleston as their first choice and will not use scholarships and financial aid as a primary factor in their decision.

It should be noted that Occidental offers very few merit-based scholarships; the vast majority of our institutional funding is set aside for need-based assistance . Families who need to compare financial aid and/or merit packages between institutions would be unable to do so in Early Decision.

Students should select the early decision option only if they have identified the College of Charleston as their first choice and will not use scholarships and financial aid as a primary factor in their decision.

Because of its binding nature, submitting an Early Decision application requires careful consideration. We recommend you confer with your parents and secondary school counselor, in addition to our admissions and financial aid staff, before choosing this option.

Institutions like Swarthmore have less of an incentive to offer robust financial aid packages to early decision applicants since the students have already decided to attend the institution. By ensuring that students apply to only one school, they eliminate competition between schools over prospective students.
The Dean of Amherst College said in 2016 that she shares a list of students accepted through the early decision process with a group of 30 other colleges that offer early decision admission. The list sharing is designed to prevent students from applying early decision to multiple colleges at the same time, violating the contract. US News reported that sharing this data is a generally accepted practice.

Reduced financial aid opportunities : Students who apply under ED plans receive offers of admission and financial aid simultaneously and so will not be able to compare financial aid offers from other colleges. For students who absolutely need financial aid, applying early may be a risky option.

Schools are not going to flat out put out - don’t apply - they say you’ll get consideration for same aid as others…but each aid decision is independent so it’s easy to say. There were some my daughter applied to that listed - don’t apply if require certain aid.

Generally, applicants can run each school’s NPC, and if it looks affordable it is 100% acceptable to apply ED. If the FA offer doesn’t match the NPC results, making the school unaffordable, the ED agreement can be broken. I am not going to address each of the comments made in the post above, but suffice it to say that the Amherst situation isn’t happening anymore due to the ongoing DOJ investigation.

The rub for OP is that NPCs often aren’t accurate for international students…there’s currency conversion issues, tax law/definition issues, and more. With that said, OP could try to run the NPCs by converting currency and making their best judgement as to what their family’s corresponding AGI is. If OP’s parents are divorced, they need to include all income and assets of both parents (and new spouses, as appropriate). If NPCs don’t work for OP, it is still acceptable that they apply ED.

IMO OP’s larger issue is a relatively low GPA (many students who have faced significant challenges don’t see such a dramatic GPA drop) and high level of need, as all but five US schools are need aware for internationals.