My son applied to several schools for early action/decision and the results where ok…but we did succumb to the pressure to decide,we waited, and waited and waited until May 1st where we made our decision and a funny thing happened. As of May 6th, three of those early action/early decision schools have come back with very, very lucrative financial aid/scholarship offers that seemingly weren’t there in December/January and now result now it looks like I’ll being paying less than 5K on a 65K education. I estimate that I’ll save 240K over the next four years just by waiting three additional months and keeping that dialogue open with the admissions offices. Which is great , know we have money to travel and do what we want to do(Riviera Maya Mexico here we come again) So, I’m of the opinion that maybe locking in early isn’t much of a strategy if you don’t know fully what the playing field looks like.
Non-binding early action, or applying early to rolling admission schools, is fine, since you can wait until other admissions and financial aid packages show up before deciding. Binding early decision is not really suitable for those who want to compare financial aid packages between schools.
If a non-binding early action school does deliver an admission and affordable financial aid package early, then you have an early safety. It may not necessarily be the best one after all other offers come in, but having an early safety can make life a little less stressful for the next few months.
Early decision is best for low income students applying to top privates that really meet full need, the wealthy, and those who have saved enough for college. It’s nt really meant for the middle class.
Excellent choice. Also Costa Rica!
That was our second choice
Wow that 'a incredible. Great strategy even if it was initially unintentional. This was merit based? What were the schools?