Early Decision and Financial Aid.

carmen617
Wed, 03 Jul 2013 21:23:17 +0000

The schools love ED and push it because it gives them a really nice pool of guaranteed applicants and makes their yield look higher than it actually is. They try to push people towards ED by telling them that they will have a much better chance of acceptance in the ED pool. It’s been 4 years since I was on this end of the process so forgive me if my numbers are way off, but the admissions officers will tell you that something like 60% of the ED applicants are accepted while only 20% of the RD applications get in, or some such proportion.

What they don’t disclose is that: 1. 100% of recruited athletes apply through the ED pool. The bulk of their applications are hand walked through the admissions process by the coaches who want them on their team, and they will be accepted unless their application has terrible flaws, and 2. All the private/boarding schools recommend that their students apply ED at their top choice. These kids usually have a huge financial advantage in that many are full pay AND have indicated they will accept the admissions offer from the school - the schools would be nuts to turn them down, again, unless their application is terribly flawed.

So - the schools make ED sound great - your chances of acceptance seem much better than in the regular decision pool, and they will tell you that (if they meet full need) your financial aid won’t be affected at all. But they leave out the fact that many of the ED applicants are pretty much guaranteed to get in and the deck is actually badly stacked against the “normal” kid who falls for the ED trap. There is no need for ED kids to be offered merit scholarships as they have already guaranteed that they will go to the school if their “need” (as defined by the school) is met. And that kid may be leaving a lot of money on the table by not examining offers from other schools.

Rant over :)