<p>There are some if/then assumptions that are true; some that are mistaken for truths and some that are just plain false. Here are my contributions to this before I leave for another while to read some very funny essays from my son (none of which are likely to be sent, but they are sure great to see!!)…</p>
<p>IF/THEN truths:</p>
<p>IF you do didn’t do it; THEN you shouldn’t say you did it on your application.
IF you have major Financial Aid concerns; THEN you should not apply ED.
IF you are applying ED or EA; THEN you must read the fine print
IF your friend asks you to write a peer recommendation; THEN you should only do it if you can do it with a gracious heart and full enthusiasm.
IF you have a 1550-1590; THEN you look like a fool going for a 1600!
IF you have something special to say about yourself; THEN make sure you say it cohesively and with clarity.
IF you don’t wed yourself to the idea of one dream school; THEN you will probably find you can be happy and fulfilled at many schools and you are more likely to get into them…
IF you don’t try; THEN you will never get in!
IF 100 excellent candidates apply to Harvard(insert any other school name,and any other numbers) ; THEN only 9 or 10 will get in
IF your parents tell you they do care about prestige; THEN it is true</p>
<p>IF/THEN assumptions, not always true:</p>
<p>IF you have 1600/2400 etc; THEN you will get into HYPSM
IF you are a legacy; THEN you will get in if you are “in the range.”
IF you get deferred or rejected ED; THEN you will get into an equally desirable school and be 10 on the happiness scale the next year (sorry to burst the bubble…)
IF you get accepted to your dream school; THEN you will never have any regrets
IF you have a really long or interesting interview; THEN it means you will get in
IF your parents tell you they don’t care about prestige; THEN it is true</p>
<p>IF/THEN Falsehoods:</p>
<p>IF you amplify your achievements; THEN no one will ever know and you will “get away” with it
IF you get rejected at one school; THEN you will get rejected at all “comparable” schools
IF you retake the MATH IIC SAT and get another 800; THEN it will look more impressive than the first time you got the 800
IF 2 recommendations(or 500 words or 5 EC’s) are good; THEN 4 recommendations or 800 words or 10 EC’s are better
IF you don’t get accepted or don’t go to HYPSM or AWS; THEN you will have a less meaningful and successful life than your friends who do
IF your parents/grandparents/brothers went to HYPSM or AWS; THEN you have to do the same or a Darwinian event will take place
IF you really, really, really want to go to a given school; THEN they will be able to tell you really, really, really want to go and will look past credentials and take you
IF you are an URM/legacy/athlete and you get in; THEN it is only because you are a URM/legacy/athlete
IF USNWR says it; THEN it must be true
IF a school has a higher ranking; THEN it is a better school</p>
<p>I am sorry you’re leaving but I’m sure you know what’s best for you.</p>
<p>I have one to add; I think it goes in the always true list:</p>
<p>If you worked for good grades in high school and did particular ECs just so you could get into HYPSM, then you are going to feel as if you wasted your time if you are not accepted.</p>
<p>“IF you have major Financial Aid concerns; THEN you should not apply ED.”</p>
<p>I don’t think this should be under “always true”. There are a lot of ED acceptees on these boards who applied to full-need schools who are very happy with their packages. Others who are not. The first group made the right decision for them. So I think this is a sometimes true assumption.</p>
<p>Agree garland, in most cases robyrn is correct but there are some schools that will give great aid regardless on ED or not, you do have to do your homework though as most(many) schools will give a weaker package to ED applicants</p>
<p>Every year, there are dozens of stories like the one below. This was posted on the Middlebury board, a school which is “need-blind” (doesn’t exist) for internationals, and guarantees 100% of need:</p>
<p>“was real happy to be accepted…and then was devastated by the aid…
but to cover the remainder (minus estd grants and campus job) i need about 20% of family income + 35 % of our lifetime savings (intended for my parents’ retirement (no pension here)). is that normal? because it’s not what i had expected…”</p>
<p>He’s in a particularly awful position - he has to try to get his aid changed substantially around Christmas break, at the same time he has to prepare other applications with a January 1 deadline (he has to ship them from abroad), AND he needs to be released from his Middlebury commitment, or he’ll be blackballed at the other places he’s applying.</p>
<p>The point is you COULD get a package you could live with. If “COULD” is good enough, then ED is worth doing.</p>
<p>After countless posts and discussions on CC, I still do not understand why this issue seems to be so complicated. While it is entirely possible that a college might provide a great financial aid to an ED applicant, there is ZERO assurance of that happening. </p>
<p>When it comes to ED, it seems that a great number of people develop severe cases of selective memory. They read what they want to see and ignore what they do not want to see. Simply stated, you cannot have your cake and eat it too: you cannot enjoy the advantages of ED without facing the consequences of your decision. Claiming ignorance -like the Middlebury student- is not an excuse. There are plenty of financial calculators available, plenty of information on FAFSA and CSS, the information regarding the differences between the various methodologies is not buried very deep. At least not as deep in the sand as the head of the “ostrich” applicants seems to be! When one applies ED without weighing the pros and cons, one plays with fire and could -and should- get burned. It does not get simpler than that. </p>
<p>The biggest problem with the college application’s world is that misguided notions of entitlement are rampant. There are way too many people who erroneously believe to be entitled to be admitted and entitled to pay little to nothing for an expensive education.</p>
<p>IF you post a “here are my stats, what are my chances” question and don’t include your race/ethnicity, type of high school, and rough estimate of class rank, THEN you need to read “The Gatekeepers” and learn a lot more about the admissions game!</p>
<p>IF you hope to get merit money, THEN you should apply to schools known to be generous in that regard, that you consider safeties.</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>EVEN IF you do the above, there are no guarantees in this business, so don’t count on it!!!</p>
<p>Also, congrats to all the lucky parents of kids who got good news during these past few days, and “hang in there” to those who are still in the throws of applications. I’ve been lurking and sending good thoughts to you all. </p>
<p>We’re in both categories, having heard positively from Tulane EA but waiting on another EA app and two RD ones, which need to be finished over the break. Checked on one of them and as happened to us once already this fall, stuff that was sent isn’t where it should be. Counselors resent it all yesterday. It is getting a lot less tense around here as S nears the finish line, but the money issue is still pretty stressful for us all. </p>
<p>First, let me say that I agree with mini. A student who is concerned about being able to afford an expensive college should not apply ED. That eliminates some of your bargaining chips and prevents shopping for a better package. Most schools will, however, negotiate aid packages if the student threatens to back out of ED admission.</p>
<p>That being said, however, the cost of attending Middlebury (or most other top schools for that matter) is $160,000+ for four years. 60% of the students are paying full price–a sacrifice for most families, even those in the top tax brackets. The average financial aid package for international first year students at Middlebury last year was $35,398 per year. That’s pretty generous in my opinion. Some students, particularly international students, don’t realize that they’re going to have to sacrifice to attend college in the states, even if their family doesn’t have a lot of money. Family income doesn’t tell the whole story, as anyone who is familiar with fin aid would know. Also used in the determination is family assets. Also, just to be clear, Middlebury (and most other schools) disregards retirement assets when determining fin aid. They do, however, count the annual income that a family diverts into retirement savings as part of the family’s overall income. </p>
<p>Bottom line: whether you’re from Dallas, or Dubai, or Delhi, in most cases, attending expensive colleges involves sacrifice.</p>
<p>This had nothing to do with Middlebury in particular. I’ve seen it happen at several dozen other places, including 6 of the 8 Ivies (I don’t remember seeing one for Cornell or for Dartmouth), Williams, MIT, Pomona - those are just the ones that immediately come to mind - and almost always with domestic admissions.</p>
<p>And, no, Xiggi, the calculators do NOT help - the variation among offers, all based on the same EFC, FASFA, is HUGE - in our case, amounting to more than a full year of college costs.</p>
<p>There is no entitlement involved. A college such as my alma mater (or CMC I imagine) has already agreed to a $92,000/4-year scholarship for every student admitted. All that is in question is how much in addition is necessary to make it affordable.</p>
<p>Why I am not surprised that Mini would disagree with me. :)</p>
<p>I understand that, when it comes to financial aid, it is impossible to draw gross generalizations. Each case is independently analyzed by the school offering the aid. If you read closely what I said, I did not say that the calculators are perfect. They are, however, good indicators of what to expect from different institutions. What I said is that there is sufficient information available to avoid the nasty surprises in April. It is indeed true that a candidate cannot predict the amount that a school will “gap”. But again, a bit of effort to find out about the different methodologies used will go a long way to reduce the unknown to a minimum. The colleges do not work in a vacuum and they have conferences where they discuss the methodologies they will use. Reading the proceeds of those conferences can be most helpful to understand how they will interpret one’s finances. Financial aid offices do not use a dart board to dole out their money; they follow established guidelines. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that it is easier to pay little attention to the information available. If financial aid is critical, one should approach the school in the summer when they are not submerged in paperwork. The offices have no problem to define the methods they will use and let you know how it will work at their school. Reading the statistics of financial aid will also be helpful. But it does take a lot of time and dedication. Again, one has to go school by school to get to the bottom line. There is no secret: filing blanket applications -like to all Ivies- and not doing a lot of work is a recipe for disaster. </p>
<p>All of this is important for all applicants, but it is essential for ED candidates. If the issue of financial is unclear, there is only ONE solution: forego the advantages and apply RD. Does ED make a big difference between rich and poor applicants? Yes, absolutely yes, but those are the rules of the game. If you do not like the rules, do not play. </p>
<p>As far as the entitlement, let’s agree to disagree. From my vantage point, the notion of misguided entitlement oozes out of a huge number of posts on CC.</p>
<p>“As far as the entitlement, let’s agree to disagree. From my vantage point, the notion of misguided entitlement oozes out of a huge number of posts on CC.”</p>
<p>Well, I think you are entitled to your share, and I hope you choose to use it well!</p>
<p>Oh Mini, I am not sure I’ll use my share well -whatever that is. </p>
<p>I only know that I have been humbled by the generosity and trust of people who have -and are- helping me attend a school I enjoy and respect. I did my part but, at no point, was I “entitled” to anything. </p>
<p>I am afraid that we are not really speaking about the same issue.</p>
<p>It doesn’t seem like this is all that common, but my friend’s daughter applied ED to GWU last year and was accepted. Financial aid was a must. Prior to applying, her parents spoke (met?) with the financial aid office who basically assured them of a certain award package based upon the information that they were given. I was quite concerned that she would be accepted and the promised package would not ring true. She received everything that they assured her of, plus an iota more. She is presently a very happy freshman at GW.</p>