Questions for the Dean?

JHS
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:03:51 +0000

Metrical, you don’t need to ask the Dean those questions; they have been answered time and again. (Well, the SCEA question hasn’t been answered in the past few years, because they went four years without SCEA. But the official answer is not in doubt.):

SCEA does not help one’s chances of getting in. People admitted SCEA are those who were certain to be admitted if they applied RD. Some athletes, legacies, and URMs may be included in EA admits, but they are not the majority, and they meet the same standard. (Whether or not that’s completely true is another question. But that’s what the official answer would be, and it’s certainly not a complete lie.)

Financial aid for SCEA admits is exactly the same as for RD admits. (At some ED schools, there is a suspicion that financial aid packages and especially merit scholarships may not be as “generous” – rich – because ED admittees are bound to accept admission, and cannot solicit competing FA offers. SCEA admittees are not bound to accept admission to Harvard, and are perfectly free to solicit other FA offers from other colleges. And if those colleges are Yale, Stanford, or Princeton, Harvard may even match them if their FA offer is meaningfully better. Otherwise Harvard will call your bluff if you threaten to go elsewhere for more aid. But for most families Harvard aid will be among their best offers, absent winning a very competitive full-ride scholarship.)