<p>Interesting discussion of the potential for something of a boost with ED. Thinking about timing of visits, our students would need to visit potential ED schools far enough ahead of time to be able to make the decision to apply ED with assurance that it is the ‘right’ school should the ED application pan out. I would guess this means visiting (ideally) by the summer after junior year, if not sooner, and if possible allow time for a second visit. For juniors who are just starting standardized testing this winter/spring, this poses a timing issue. We wouldn’t want our students to fall in love with a potential ED school where their scores would not put them within range. This argues in favor of the approaches of some your students: start standardized testing in the fall of junior year. My D2 took the SAT for the first time last Saturday, and will take the ACT for the first time in Feb. She has one vacation during the second half of the school year in March - really her only time to visit before next summer. So she may end up visiting a few ‘potential’ ED schools without having enough hard data (about herself) to know whether ED is realistic. Of course, there are many other factors besides standardized testing, but that does continue to an important benchmark that college admissions websites generally list in their “fast fasts”.</p>
<p>peonies - that is why I am glad we started the process early - we are at least 6 months ahead of the schedule we were on with S1. We started visiting schools fall of junior year with S2 and he took the ACT back in September - which gave us a baseline. Now - trying to improve the ACT score - but we will live with the existing 27 if need be - and finishing up visits. I know our timetable is ahead of what many recommend - but this feels good to me. I am speaking with so many other parents of juniors in our community who are just freaking out - testing for the first time - trying to schedule visits for spring break - and I don’t mean to sound smug but I feel so much better and so much more relaxed. </p>
<p>Obviously every family has to construct their own timeline and do what is best for them - but having done it both ways - I like earlier better. It also leaves time for 2nd visits if you so desire - which I think is advisable if you are considering ED.</p>
<p>Both of my daughters applied ED with good results. They both had clearly defined top choices and didn’t want to risk waiting for RD. D1’s school also gives legacy advantage only for ED, and usually only accepts 1 or 2 kids from her HS each year. D2 chose a match school and probably would have been accepted RD, but she was worried because a lot of the top kids in her class were applying to her dream school as a safety. It is amazing how much the stress level goes down after that December acceptance. I did make sure that each of them had at least one EA acceptance also. I think that ED is a great option if the finances are workable.</p>
<p>^^and if your child agrees to it, an overnight can be very valuable; there is actually an old thread about the pros and cons of overnight visits, but if you go in with “eyes wide open”, it can be beneficial…
it’s not for every kid though; D1 totally refused to ever do an overnight anywhere (and also refused to apply ED anywhere), D2 would not have applied ANYWHERE ED without an overnight (we made a special trip to her ED school just so she could stay over with someone she had met previously)…</p>
<p>again, that overnight visit is not always a good idea…but with preparation and discussion of pitfalls, it could really help…</p>
<p>FA reads: I think the schools (like Muhlenberg) who are willing to do early reads before ED are really doing an amazing service…a little surprised that everyone hasn’t caught on to this yet…</p>
<p>momjr: great point about match schools and ED/RD…one does need to consider if others in their school are using the match school as a safety…at my daughter’s school, a girl with better stats than my daughter applied EA v ED to Elon and was deferred…why? because there were at least 5 stronger students that applied to Elon as a safety that were admitted…</p>
<p>Twice mentioned - you don’t have to accept the early decision - I thought ED was a binding contract with application? Am I missing something?</p>
<p>Yes, great point about whether others in the same school are using the match school as a safety. This could become relevant for D2 who attends a school with (broadly speaking) an exceptionally talented student body. Her high reaches might be reaches for many other students. But low reaches/matches for her could be likelies for others who might take the ‘allotted’ spaces from her school (not that there necessarily are ‘allotted’ spaces, but students from the same school must necessarily be compared against one another to some degree). The school context (who else is applying and how do they stack up) is another factor in evaluating the prospects for an individual student in a particular college’s admissions pool.</p>
<p>ED is binding unless financial aid is requested. From the Common Application ED agreement:
<a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf</a></p>
<p>Try to imagine it any other way, that attendance could somehow be compelled, and then the student be expelled when the bill couldn’t be paid (perhaps because loans couldn’t be obtained). It doesn’t happen.</p>
<p>peonies, your D2’s situation is precisely my D1’s, and one of the big reasons she decided to apply ED.</p>
<p>cherryhill - and if it is not a Common App school - just read the ED agreement clearly. As far as I am aware - every school has an “out clause” allowing the applicant to be released from the binding ED if you applied for FA and it is not sufficient. </p>
<p>I think where people get very messed up is when they apply ED and get just a PRELIMINARY award letter with the FA acceptance and they won’t get the full award letter until April - after they have filed FAFSA and so forth. So - they are sitting there on 12/15 with an ED acceptance - but still not sure if they can afford the school or not. But - the ED school will want a deposit paid within a few weeks. So - this is the type of scenario that gets very messy. If the preliminary package looks ok - then you pay the deposit and you withdraw your other apps and you are done. If the preliminary package is awful - you back out of the ED agreement and you are done. It’s the middle ground that would get very complicated. </p>
<p>I have seen scenarios where people have an ED acceptance and the FA package is iffy - so they want to apply to more schools. Most high schools will not send out more transcripts while you have an ED acceptance in hand - you have to cancel it before they ethically feel they can send out more transcripts. But maybe you don’t want to cancel the ED acceptance because you still hope that the final award letter in April will be doable. Very, very sticky and another reason to send out several EA or rolling apps along with the ED app just in case.</p>
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<p>VERY sticky–in fact, you’re stuck. You have to either accept the ED offer and withdraw all other apps, or turn down the ED offer. No middle ground. If you have EA or rolling acceptances in hand, the ED rules say that you must reject those as well if you accept the ED offer.</p>
<p>I agree completely with rvm and ST. I’ll just add that at our D’s LAC (and I have no reason to think their FA policies are significantly different than elsewhere) there has never been a case (I asked) of a student not being able to attend solely because the final FA award differed from the estimate. There have been plenty of cases of the final award being less than the estimate, but the decrease was typically due to higher income than estimated, and the conversion factor is realistic (something like a 40 cent award decrease for every dollar of income increase, but don’t quote me on the exact formula).</p>
<h1>5142 LINYMON re: RIT - sorry to be replying so late (was off the boards for a while, decided to see what was up w this thread). My brother attended RIT in photography A LONG TIME AGO. He loved it. A college friend of mine is a physics professor there and I am trying to recall if one of my S’s USY friends is a student there now. My impression they have a strong reputation in several fields, optics in particular. I have no info on the Jewish community at either RIT or UoR. You must like winter - they get a lot of lake effect snow.</h1>
<p>I’ve been off the boards…catching up I’d just like to give a shout-out to slitheytove re: the shabbos blessing. Made me cry. I’ll have to remember to bless my dogs this Friday (my furry little blessings).
I don’t have much to offer re: ED/FA. I will add that if a school says it is need-blind, then I think you can take them at their word. My dad always used to say that sometimes the most expensive is the least expensive. Often the schools that are “reach” have good endowments that allow them to give ample grant money. Someone earlier suggested calling the school and trying to get a sense of how they package aid. I think that’s a great idea.</p>
<p>Herewego: From what I can tell, U of R has a larger Jewish community than RIT. However, I think the snow is going to be a bigger issue. DS would more likely apply to Tulane than a school in Rochester. I was reading on another thread about a family that tried to visit these schools this winter and had to cancel three trips because of the weather. I think that’s a sign.</p>
<p>So - while S2 is doing a practice ACT test - I’m surfing and came across this:</p>
<p>[Jewish</a> moms taking offense to ‘Tiger Mother’ | JTA - Jewish & Israel News](<a href=“http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/01/25/2742698/jewish-moms-respond-to-tiger-mom]Jewish”>http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/01/25/2742698/jewish-moms-respond-to-tiger-mom)</p>
<p>“So it’s little surprise that prominent among her critics are another group famous – infamous, some might say – for what they have to say about how best to be a parent: Jewish mothers.”</p>
<p>I’ve read some of the Tiger Mom thread - have not read the book. Thought this comparison to Jewish Moms was interesting. I know I have definitely found this year that I am getting better results from S2 by backing off - and we are happier and more peaceful as a result.</p>
<p>^^thanks for posting…</p>
<p>^^ I haven’t read the book either, but I heard an hour-long interview with the author. My impression is that those who are criticizing her haven’t read the book.</p>
<p>I’ve been looking at these for many of the colleges we are hoping to visit. I am a little frustrated. The OOS percentages, the boy to girl ratio - not enough for us not to consider but I am thankful that I know these %.</p>
<p>I have not been able to navigate the #'s for schools that have more boys apply then girls. Does the CDS breakdown, specifically by gender, the average gpa and sat scores?</p>
<p>I also can not find the CDS for Stevens Institute for Technology? Anyone?</p>
<p>^^^^I have seen the CDS give information about gender, GPA and SAT scores but not a breakdown of stats between genders. I would think that if they did this could be grounds for gender discrimination so I would be surprised if those numbers would be posted. Keep in mind that the male to female ratio for admission may be different from the actual ratio of the students attending.</p>
<p>OHIO UNIVERSITY</p>
<p>Hello again, my helpful new friends.
What do you know about Ohio University in Athens. I understand it is easier for a true b Student to get into than Miami U. I know it has a reputation of a party school. What is the school really like? Do any of you have a perspective? What is like life for a jewish kid? While I think Miami would be great for my D, I have concerns if she can get in. As always, thanks in advance.</p>