Should I apply ED to Smith?

photodad
Tue, 05 Aug 2014 13:12:37 +0000

I think most people would recommend applying RD in a situation like yours. When the financial picture is complex or nonstandard, you can get fairly different FA offers from different schools. If you apply ED, you definitely can decline the offer of admission if the FA isn’t enough, but if the FA is borderline it will be a hard decision because you won’t know if other schools would have offered a significantly better package.

Most people assume that you’re more likely to get a merit scholarship from Smith by applying RD, but no one (outside of the admissions office) knows for sure.