@intparent, I don’t have any questions about ED. I realize that people who post online often think they know everything, even when they’re mistaken, and that it is truly odd to see someone modestly welcome others to correct them, but, thankfully, it does happen 
That’s what you’re seeing me do. Meanwhile, while it is indeed difficult to earn big private scholarships, it does happen and ED applicants would be wise to consider the ramifications of needing to decide before spring scholarship notification dates. Also agree with your point about visiting the schools.
“Amherst was my first love, but other factors at Pomona made me put Pomona first”
Which factors?, if you want tell us.
Do you have a solid affordable option in case you don’t get the aid you need?
Yes you could apply ED, but given that you need aid, you will have to complete all of your other applications anyway so you can submit them quickly if your ED is a rejection. In your situation, I really see no advantage to an ED application.
Haverford will not cover international travel expenses, or any summer expenses.
https://www.haverford.edu/financial-aid/applying-financial-aid/international-applicants
There is a guaranteed student loan that both these colleges use, so every American student gets the student loan, and THEN, the aid kicks in. I don’t know how that works for international students. That loan is considered “aid” for American students at these two particular colleges, as we got that type of package from both of them, and surprised that the guaranteed student loan was the aid.
Son had to turn both of these fine LACS down for a cheaper school. Son was waitlisted at Pomona, so we did not know if all aid was given out by then or we just did not qualify for more than the $5000 guaranteed student loan.
Pomona has a policy that if you are waitlisted, you have to keep your cell phone on, from May 1 to May 10, continually, and answer any call from their admissions office, or they simply move to the next student on the waitlist. they do NOT leave any Voice mail or email messages, they either reach the student or if they don’t, they keep calling to find a student to take the spot. They have to fill up, so they don’t waste much time, but did circle back and called my son on about May 2, and again on May 4, as he missed the first call. If you call the number they call from, they don’t pick up either, its truly pretty annoying how the waitlist works at Pomona College. I don’t recommend getting onto Pomona’s Waitlist, if it comes to that.
I would also like to point out that the acceptance rate to Pomona last year was 6.95%, while that of Haverford was 18.1% (16.1% this year). The chances of being accepted to either are vanishingly small, especially Pomona.
ED acceptance rates for Pomona last year were 19%, while for Haverford, they were 42%. While these include categories like athletes, it still indicates that, while an ED application to Haverford brings acceptance rates to within a reasonable chance, even ED applicants for Pomona have worse than a 1 in 5 acceptance rate.
^^ and the rate for internationals is smaller again
@Coloradomama for Haverford at least (I don’t know about Pomona, but it’s likely similar) there is no loan included in aid packages for students with family income under a certain threshold. My daughter’s aid package from them has no loans, just work study.
@milgymfam Thanks, that makes sense. I did not know that. But with international students, there are different rules, perhaps. My sense is that all international students at Haverford are full pay, but I don’t know for sure. Haverford is very small and not as wealthy as the usual suspects that can give international students full rides. There are only about 30 schools that truly treat international students the same as low income US citizens and permanent residents. Some schools may have different financial aid rules for green card holders/permanent residents. These rules could change mid course, for OP, is another scary aspect of international financial aid. Also the OP needs to prove how they are paying to get into the USA at all, so if they don’t have money to live, they will not get a student visa. Also, country of origin will matter. So I bet Iran is off the table right now. I know Iranian students who got into MIT and denied visas in 1983. The political climate is bad right now for getting student visas from some countries.
I see international students on College Confidential and they believe its all going to be easy to pay for a US college. They are typically getting very bad advise from a college counselor in their home country. They are often told that American admissions offices are bleeding hearts and universites have big pocketbooks. It does work out for a very few, even at Haverford, but OP should ask more questions by calling Haverford directly and going over how much merit money is typically offered to international students.
I have the strong sense that Pomona is a bit better, but the Common Data set should be studied to find out how many international students attend each college, and then how many from the home country. All that data is available to OP.
Today my counselor said that three years ago a Haverford officer said they accept only two of the international students who apply for financial aid. She said the number might have changed over the years but it’s probably similar. I will ask the school, obviously, but does anyone know anything about this? I guess I should probably eliminate Haverford from the list. Thanks everyone :neutral:
Odds of admission are relatively low for internationals who need financial aid at any US school. Here are some ways to get at the information you can use to inform your decision. Here is Pomona’s common data set, most schools fill this form out https://pomona.app.box.com/s/vb4ql62a5yl5tzib4sgw3faxi0j44dho
Section B2 shows us that 46 international freshman matriculated, and in total there are 189 international undergrads. Section H6 shows us that 83 of the 189 international undergrads receive need based fin aid and on average, those 83 students received $59,477 in aid. Pomona’s COA for 2018/19 was $74,352, so the average international student who received aid (again, 83 of 189) still had $15K in costs…that doesn’t include travel to and from home, clothing, incidentals, etc.
So, most internationals are full pay (106/189) and not many of the 83 who receive aid received a full ride (we don’t know how many). You can do this analysis for all schools to help in your application strategy. You also should look at how many students from your country attend each school on your list.
Bottom line is that you can apply ED, but know that chances of admission for an international student with financial need is low regardless of application round. Open up your search to include schools that are need blind for internationals (not many), those who have a relatively larger share of international students (e.g., Grinnell), and where your stats are in the top 25%.
Lastly, have Plans B, C, D, etc, which should include colleges in your own country. Good luck.
Haverford’s CDS shows that it recently awarded financial assistance to 40 international students (an average of 10 per class). Since you appear to like the school based on your understanding of its general characteristics, I recommend that you do not rule it out at this stage in your search.
Note as well that Haverford would need to accept more than the above number of international students seeking aid in order to enroll at those levels.
It is likely that you will get a better financial aid package at Pomona if you were to get into both schools. If I remember correctly, a larger proportion of Pomona international students are on financial aid than Haverford’s international students. Students from different countries will have different chances of getting financial aid from colleges. If you come from a wealthy country, you will find it more difficult to get financial aid as there will be many similarly outstanding students who can afford to pay the full tuition. Pomona is getting very popular among international students (even those who can pay full) so it will be extremely competitive if you come from a wealthy country