GW: On The Fence

_rentof2
Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:17:57 +0000

I don’t agree that a student should never apply ED if money is an issue, especially a student with a very low EFC and high academic stats. However, personally I’d never advise anyone to do when applying to a school that packages loans with their financial aid. It’s true that at a no-loans school, in your case, you may end up taking out some loans anyway based on your plans, but at a school that does include loans in your FA award that would then be loans upon loans. You could end up way too deep in debt.

Since you’re probably a shoe-in for GW anyway, why not apply in RD? It’s not like it will cost a whole bunch more, because you wouldn’t have to apply to a lot of other schools. Just make sure one is a financial safety as well as an admissions safety, and then throw in a couple reach-y no-loans schools, then GW and whatever else you want to do.

Applying ED with high need can actually be a good strategy in certain limited cases, but not to GW, in my opinion.