I thought you could apply early to privates with merit scholarships that require early application (in addition to REA/SCEA) like USC with their November 1st deadline for anyone interested in merit.
FAFSA question. We submitted earlier this week, but both my child and I received an email that stated the child started the FAFSA but it has not been submitted. Yet when we both log on to FAFSA, it shows as submitted and being under review on both our login accounts. UGH. Has anyone else seen this?
Only Stanford (and I think one other school) allow that exception AFAIK. Others do not.
Right, but if the ED schools that you like most are potentially unaffordable, any admissions boost gotten through applying early is not that useful âthat is if you think that you may end up backing out of your commitment due to $.
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I guess Iâm still confused about why this isnât a good idea, since I can see the advantages to applying SCEA/REA to hopefully get an early answer from a strong choice without having to commit financially/academically.
Again, it seems like the most likely admits SCEA/REA would also still be highly competitive in the RD rounds so giving up the ED advantage at some of the other schools isnât such a disadvantage to those applicants.
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I agree. Having financial constraints changes the ED calculus. I was speaking in general.
Iâm not saying REA/SCEA isnât a good idea. But at schools like UChicago and Northeastern, etc that heavily prefer ED and fill a large portion of their class through the early round, RD is far reachier. So if youâre willing to take your chances in RD because you want to apply to an REA/SCEA school, then that school must be your top choice (because if not, then youâd just apply ED to the other school).
Or, you donât have a top choice and want an early decision on one of your reaches without having to make a firm commitment. I can easily see a student wanting a decision from a reach before Christmas who also doesnât want to commit before May. REA/SCEA is perfect for that applicant.
The only âproblemâ seems to be those complaining that it is unfair for someone who gets a âyesâ from a SCEA/REA to continue to apply in the RD round. I donât think that is unfair.
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D24 got some good news this evening. She has an in-person meeting next week with her senior project placement site. Sheâs pretty excited. 
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By 12/1, D24 had done 7 apps and was absolutely burned out (she also did 2 scholarship applications with one requiring 4 essays). 2 were safeties, 2 were low reaches and 3 high reaches. At that point, I told her that if she wanted to recharge and take a break until her ED decision two weeks later, I thought that was a good idea. She was lucky and got into her ED. Had things not gone her way, she would likely have done 4 more apps over winter break.
D22 applied to 10- 3 safeties, 2 low reaches and 5 high reaches. She got into all but 3 of the high reaches. She did not ED because she had not visited all the schools so didnât know which one was her favorite. She did visit one safety that she loved but no reason to ED since she knew she would get in barring something crazy. This is where she ended up and she loves it. This school remained favorite even after visiting the reaches on admitted student days.
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Out of pure curiosity, would you mind sharing the schools that D22 considered and what she chose? Glad to hear she loves it!
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Itâs funny how it just works out. My D21 applied to our state flagship, 3 UCs and REA at a high reach/lottery-type school. She only really visited the campuses for about an hour each while we drove though (Covid) on a road trip, no tours, no info sessions, there werenât even students on campus. She ended up getting into the REA school and decided she was done applying to any more at that point. She is a junior there now, and also couldnât be happier. I do think most kids land where they are meant to be, and am hoping thatâs the case for D24 too.
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Even Iâm wondering when this conversation can turn back to cocktails and bitters and popcorn brands, and I donât even drink alcohol.
Can we just agree to disagree on the impact of declining offers? :).
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She chose between Marquette, Gonzaga, Saint Louis University, Tulane, William & Mary, UVA and Michigan (she was rejected from Rice, Cornell and Harvard).
The winner was Saint Louis University. It got on her radar because it has a 6 year direct admit Doctorate of Physical Therapy program. It was the first school we visited and pretty soon into our tour we all had the feeling she had found her school. She just liked everything about it. It was great to find a school where we were pretty confident she would get in no problem and that she liked so much
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Iâd suggest it really depends.
Letâs say you are in the scenario where your #1 if money was no object is only ED, and you cannot do ED because you need to see your financial aid package first. OK, so you decide to apply early somewhere else. Your #2 is REA/SCEA, so you decide to apply there early. You plan to apply to your #1 RD.
OK, now you not only get into your REA/SCEA school, you get a great financial aid offer from them (this is based on a scenario discussed above).
Does this mean you should not still apply to your #1 RD, and see if they can be competitive financially? Of course not, this is your plan, keep going.
But what if you also apply to like 10 more schools? What is that about? You are already into your #2 with a great financial aid package, so what is the point of applying to more than your #1?
This of course is just one of many possible scenarios. But I think realistically, because of the restrictions, your REA/SCEA school is most likely your #1, and if not that most likely your #2, and if not that most likely your #3, and so on. And so the more other schools you apply to RD, the odder it becomes.
And of course there are specific examples that donât make much sense. A certain collection of colleges are all REA/SCEA, and so you have to pick one. Presumably most people pick their favorite. Again, if you get in with as good a need-based financial aid package you can reasonably expect (which is often the case given those schools), you might well still apply somewhere else in pursuit of a rare but attainable merit scholarship. So, I can see applying REA to Harvard, not applying for aid because you are full pay, getting admitted, but still applying to Vanderbilt RD in pursuit of a full ride.
But what if you also apply RD to Princeton? Princeton does not have merit, and if you would prefer Princeton to Harvard, why did you pick Harvard for REA?
Again, there might actually be a good answer to that question in some cases, but naturally they would be rare.
So personally, I think if, say, a friend is doing something like that, it is not unfair to ask why. And maybe they have a good answer. But maybe they do not. At which point maybe you could start justifiably feeling like that friend was not behaving in an ideal way.
But I am an adult and I know not to spend a lot of time worrying about this sort of thing. So I donât. But I do understand why sometimes, some behavior like this invites questioning and perhaps criticism from peers.
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I would bet a bag of popcorn AND a cocktail that looking back, S24 will realize he did not need to apply to 15 schools, not even close. Like, it will be clear wherever he ends up would have been on a shorter list.
But I get it, they donât feel confident at the moment it is worth making a bet like that themselves, not when the stakes feel so high. I donât really believe they are, but I understand why they feel that way, and I donât believe in trying to interfere with their process on the conviction I know better.
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By the way, if anyone is wondering why I am posting in what for me is the middle of the nightâso as I mentioned we are at a cabin in a state park, and we got a cabin that will take dogs, and our COVID/rescue dog loves these trips. However, they really throw off her routine. We bring her crate but in a fit of madness we decided to try out letting her sleep outside her crate. And it worked for like 3.5 hours.
Unfortunately, she interpreted a human getting up for a glass of water (who can now say who it was? it is lost to the mists of time) as FUNFUNPARTYPLAYTIME!!! Fast forwarding, my wife and D30 are finally back asleep, and I am wide awake on the sofa. With a dog back asleep next to me.
And I would microwave a bag of popcorn, but the dog is definitely going to wake up if I do that . . . .
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The restrictive / single choice schools have such high yields - so for them itâs a power play. We donât need to show desperation like those others who have ED!!
USC is the ultimate power play. No games except for merit.
@NiceUnparticularMan i think most are in the situation of over applying. Even those who chase merit can look back, knowing they kind of knew who theyâd choose up front.
But not everyone is at every campus b4 they choose. So sometimes they need time.
And some kids love the adrenaline of getting decisions - especially when they hear it continually from friends.
But in the end, as kids can only go to one, it makes sense. If he has 15 yesâs or close, the rest were wasted in some ways.
Once my daughter had all her acceptances, a few came right off. Some due to cost - either you had a budget (we did) that wasnât met or even though you said you could pay, the reality of a big check 2x per year could bring a new reality. Some due to visits - what seemed great up front on paper wasnât. In our case Miami Ohio was too rural. UGA, which she had seen, was just too big in reality. Some due it do to parental pressure - for my son (first kid), we are guilty as charged. For my daughter, she chose to apply to a ton.
But for many looking back, theyâll think why did I crush myself on this projectâŠit wasnât necessary.
And it usually isnât.
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This is definitely a case of differing viewpoints.
I truly believe that every admission decision made by AOs is distinct. Student Aâs application getting a âyesâ isnât the reason Student Bâs application gets a ânoâ. If the school thought both applications were a good match, both would get a yes. Student A applying or not applying doesnât effect Student Bâs application read.
Therefor, worrying about whether Student A decides to apply to every highly selective school after receiving a yes from a REA/SCEA not only isnât anyone elseâs business - it also completely misses the point that Student B, C, D, etc getting a ânoâ has nothing to do with any other applicant. Each personâs application is it own thing and gets a yes or no based on what is in their application, not what was in other peopleâs.
So, it doesnât matter if what reason Student A has for their decision, it doesnât need to be âgoodâ or ârareâ. They get to apply the way they want toâŠand if all they want to do is collect as many admits as they desireâŠwelp, they put the work into being the kind of desirable candidate that can make that happen. Let them make their choice around May 1st the same way another student having 10 admits from schools in the Top 50-150 by the end of this process will make their choice around the same time (without any questioning and judgement from his/her peers).
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I think you and I messaged a while back about the 3-3! My kiddo got a TON of merit from SLU and he is visiting soon. I hope he has the same feeling your kiddo did of feeling at home, because they made it to where it was cheaper than our Texas publics! Marquette is still number one⊠Anyway, nice running into you âhere.â
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S24 scheduled an interview today, it was a mass interview with time slots. Location is on a college campus of a school he also applied to. Seems funny and a little awkward, picturing them all sitting around like in that documentary Try Harder.
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