<p>“You can get out of ED for financial reasons but it seems like the risk of holding up other applications would be more stress than I would want to deal with.”</p>
<p>What does “holding up other applications” mean?</p>
<p>ED should be used only for the number one choice, the “dream” school, where you’re prepared to say “yes” or “no” to the financial aid offered. If it’s “no” then you apply RD elsewhere as if ED had never happened.</p>
<p>We personally also felt like we did not want to “hold up” any applications. My S applied ED, but of the 10 schools on his list, he also applied RD to @4 or 5 others just to have them done and into the schools in case for whatever reason the ED did not work out. It was worth paying the app. fees as well as sending the test scores to have that insurance. When he found out on Dec. 10 that he was accepted ED, he stopped working on the rest of his apps. and then sent emails to all schools he had already applied to.</p>
<p>A little extra work, time, effort and $$, but …it was worth it.</p>
<p>RVM: We’ll have the same situation. A senior and freshman in college…one year overlap.</p>
<p>The only thing I would caution you about is to make sure the school he wants is not a big reach. I personally think a match or slightly higher than a match would be perfect. No sense in having the child frustrated that he’s now IN at the college but finds the work way too difficult.</p>
<p>In our case, the school my S picked was a match, but because it’s under 2 hours from our home, and it’s a top school, many, many students from our h.s. apply there. My S LOVED it way above any other school he looked at and wanted to be sure to secure a spot before the competition from so many other kids from our h.s. took over. Also, the school’s acceptance percentage keeps falling each year, and he knew this was the school for him. ED was definitely the way to go as long as we were comfortable ahead of time with the FA info. It definitely pays to talk to the school’s FA office before making that decision.</p>
<p>Hi Spectrum!</p>
<p>I meant to ask you: how’s your son doing now? :)</p>
<p>Ah, thanks ccc, I see what it can mean, but I don’t see why anyone would hold them up. They must indeed be readied!</p>
<p>vrosson: It could be that I don’t completely understand the ED process but from what I understand, after an ED acceptance the school must release the student from it if it turns out that for financial reasons he cannot attend. I was concerned about the amount of time it could take from the time the ED was received, declined and the school released the student from the obligation. It seems that ED decisions often come out close to RD deadlines, and it seemed there is potential to miss RD deadlines while the student is waiting to be freed to apply to other schools. That’s what I meant by “held up”.</p>
<p>It seem’s that choc’s reccommendation to check with FA could alleviate a lot of that angst. I agree, that if the school was absolutely the best choice, I had a strong indication from the school’s FA dept that the FA would work out and I felt that ED would increase chances for admission to the school, I would apply ED. I did try to speak with FA at S1’s first choice school but either I didn’t ask the right questions or they weren’t willing to discuss our specific situation in advance. </p>
<p>Choc: Thanks for asking. He’s doing well, still afraid to get behind the wheel, very humbled and very thankful that he, his friend and the other driver are all not hurt. This weekend he was forced into a job he didn’t want. His answer to this was, “I’m not going to lie this is annoying but it doesn’t make me angry, how bad can it be, I’m alive.” :)</p>
<p>Spectrum, I see your concern, but you release yourself by saying thanks but no thanks to the school; you don’t wait for them to release you. They may not even respond to your notice. You usually have about a month to decide, during which RD apps can be sent. It’s only when you decide to accept an ED offer that you then notify the RD schools that you are withdrawing your apps to them. But all seems to be working out. :)</p>
<p>The ED question is a good one. If applying ED gives you an edge in admission, this is great for a school that is clearly your #1 choice. I’ve been told that when you apply ED, it has absolutely no bearing on FA. On the other hand, if you are signing a binding agreement, what’s the incentive of a school giving you the best FA package it can, if you have to attend no matter what? Maybe they would give you some FA so that you can’t claim that there’s no way it would work. If you are clearly at the very tip-top of the applicant pool, you will get merit $ anyway, I assume. But what if you are a definite admit stat-wise, but not at the very top? Will be mulling this over for the next year and half before DS applies. </p>
<p>Am I over-thinking this?</p>
<p>LINYMOM - you are not overthinking it at all, and your analysis is spot on, at least in our experience. D was offered significant merit aid at a comparable EA school, but her ED school offered $0. when we inquired, we were told exactly that: we love your D and we’re thrilled she will be coming here, but she is not at the tippy-top of our ED pool. merit aid is a recruiting tool, so why would any school offer significant merit aid to their “captive audience”, ED applicants?</p>
<p>My understanding is that what you think your financial need is and what a school can think it is, is quite different. The fin-aid packages from different colleges proved to be quite interesting with my older son. All schools acknowledged the FAFSA EFC but the state colleges (in and OOS) filled the gap with loans. For instance, my son was accepted to both Allegheny and Towson. Allegheny offered him something like $10,000 a year in merit aid while Towson offered him a work study for maybe $500 and then $10,000/year in loans. He chose another school that offered even more merit. Now the merit aid is supposed to be for good grades,and not financial needs, but since the final amount offered comes out after filing the FAFSA and maybe a Profile too, I think it’s a bit of both.</p>
<p>RVM- You probably already saw this but on the ED thread the OP posted a link to a Baltimore Sun article about the acceptance rate boost for early applicants. Elon was on there with a substantial difference in percentages - 80% for ED, 47% for RD. </p>
<p>Food for thought if you are comfortable with FA info.</p>
<p>In our case, the school gives FA based on need only, no merit. So the formula is probably very basic. This is how much we can afford, this is how much we need. The school gives you what you need. If we were looking at schools with merit money (as will be the case for S2), then the formula for FA would be much more involved.</p>
<p>RVM: If the FA office doesn’t help you out, just do the math (over & over again! :)) and see if you can guess-timate how much aid you will receive…have no idea how merit money is calculated…maybe the director of your gc office can help you out?</p>
<p>dwhite - yup - that’s what I am thinking.</p>
<p>vossron - I have mentioned a number of times that S1’s process was a disaster - leading me to start so much earlier this time around. One of the absolute biggest mistakes we made - he sent out his ED app and an EA safety school app - and that was it. Horrible error - don’t do that. As chocchip wrote - it’s better to spend the time and money to do a few more - just in case. S1 was deferred at his reach ED school, accepted at the EA safety school but way less than thrilled with it, and then we had a mad scramble to get a few more submitted by month-end. Not fun - don’t do it.</p>
<p>S2 does not have any reaches on his list - I agree with other posters that for a “B” student who does not push himself too hard - there’s just no point in getting into a college where he finds himself at the low end of the freshman class and over his head. I think he has a few matches and I’m assuming Towson is a true safety.</p>
<p>We have been thinking about ED for D1. After we finish the spring break trip, we will head back to that school to see if it is still her “dream” school. In that case, I would have a discussion with the FA office and get a pre-read (is what I have heard it referred to) on what we could expect. If that makes sense then she can go for it. If we go through the ED process it will be with our eyes wide open. I can’t imagine the heartbreak of being accepted but not being able to go.</p>
<p>It does seem that for a bunch of schools ED has higher acceptance rates, so if you love it and can swing it, why not.</p>
<p>mdmomfromli, I’m guessing you’ve been reading the ED threads from this year? Some pretty sad stories. I think that looking at FA and applying ED means that the family has to consider that the end result might be heartbreaking (meaning being accepted and not being able to go). 
My two cents (doesn’t help much with COA 
) would be to start a new thread early this coming fall asking about recent experiences with FA during the ED round at your D’s possible ED school. Between the FA forum, the parents forum, and the school forum, you should be able to get great additional advice.</p>
<p>D2 (9th grade) told me that I couldn’t think about schools for her until D1 was off to college, but now that D1 is set D2 is starting to talk about the process. This go-round is going to be Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride :)</p>
<p>LINYMOM:</p>
<p>“I’ve been told that when you apply ED, it has absolutely no bearing on FA.”</p>
<p>No bearing at need-blind schools; at need-aware schools it might cause deferral to RD if the school’s ED FA budget has been tapped, but schools say ED does not influence the amount of FA offered.</p>
<p>“On the other hand, if you are signing a binding agreement, what’s the incentive of a school giving you the best FA package it can, if you have to attend no matter what?”</p>
<p>You don’t have to attend if the ED FA offered is insufficient, so the school’s incentive is to offer enough to convince the student to accept the offer. But for schools without merit $, it’s done by formula, based on FAFSA/PROFILE.</p>
<p>“Maybe they would give you some FA so that you can’t claim that there’s no way it would work.”</p>
<p>That’s not why they give FA.</p>
<p>“If you are clearly at the very tip-top of the applicant pool, you will get merit $ anyway, I assume.”</p>
<p>Only from schools that give merit $; not all do.</p>
<p>“But what if you are a definite admit stat-wise, but not at the very top?”</p>
<p>Stats can count for as little as 20% of admission criteria; courses taken in HS, essays, recommendations, interview and ECs make up the rest, so it’s hard to guarantee admission based on stats alone.</p>
<p>Slithey - I agree with you conceptually - but I think we have heard enough anecdotal evidence to know that even at the same school with the same EFC - packages will vary. (Preferential packaging). But I agree that if you could get a few posters with EFCs close to yours to share their package - at least you will have a range to compare to.</p>
<p>I agree that if you choose to do ED/FA - you either have to be prepared for a less than stellar FA pkg and be ok with that - you can swing it if you wanted to OR be prepared to walk away and not be crushed. It is absolutely a proceed with caution event.</p>
<p>In other news - we have a snow day today - so I suggested to S2 that this would be a great day for some ACT practice. Much groaning and eye rolling.</p>
<p>RVM, we’re in agreement. The anecdotes are “just” anecdotes, but they’re worthwhile ones because they give a flavor to what’s happening with ED FA packages. For example, I think anyone dreaming of NYU who needs significant FA should be applying RD. If they apply ED, well, they’ve not been doing their due diligence. </p>
<p>Merit aid and ED is another touchy matter that varies from school to school. Muhlenberg is one of the rareties in wanting to give merit $$ to EDers, but many many other schools will save merit aid for the RD round.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg is my absolute favorite school in terms of FA clarity. Very transparent - will do early read for possible ED candidates - great website on FA. Even if you are not applying there - I often recommend their website to newbies as it explains the process so clearly. Muhlenberg is still a school that I think is a match for my son and I would love to take him to see it - but so far - he is not interested. No idea why - other than his preference to head south. I have dropped it for the moment - would still like to try and visit at some point.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the good insights/opinions/information. Will go into this with my eyes wide open. When it gets down to it (next spring), I will likely get back to all of you about this before we meet with FA at a school DS would want to do ED. I like to be armed with specific questions… many on this thread will be going through this in the Fall; I hope to learn more from you (and the excellent suggestion to check the ED board on any school DS would apply to ED).</p>
<p>Snowing since 8 am here, but at least DS got his chem mid-term done.</p>
<p>This is a great question about ED. There is absolutely no dispute that it gives an admissions advantage. We came to our decision about ED in a sort of roundabout way - once we realized that S2’s locally funded scholarship nixed our chances of FA for D2. We tried to get her to like schools where she would be above the pool and get offered merit - but she really felt that this was not the way to go for her. She was balking somewhat at the state flagship, saying that she preferred to go to school in Canada (same cost). It came down to the fact that we know that she will work harder if she is surrounded by very hardworking students. This is the other side of the coin from what some of you are saying (that they shouldn’t go for too much of a stretch) - but I think it depends on the kid. For example, we know that our D1 and our S2 will work hard no matter what; our S1 and D2 tend to be more susceptible to what their peers are doing. We knew that we had a “Plan B” - which is that I am a bit underemployed right now, but will not have to be on a “mommy track” anymore once D2 graduates - so I will just have to work more and get paid more and unfortunately give up some of my volunteering, which is for the school district where I will no longer be a parent. Fortunately, I am very confident that I can find work that will fit the bill.</p>