For need blind:
- “The central point: is it true is that if the ad comm PERCEIVES that you may need aid then your application could end up in the reject pile?” NO, not for being lower income.
- "The well endowed schools presumably do not care if an individual admit is needy or not, as long as the entire admission class matches up approximately to the target level of financial need." Close. The reality is the wealthier colleges are annually setting aside more financial aid than they reasonably expect to dole out.
When my school says need blind, that’s exactly what they mean. Yes, a school with a hefty endowment.
Don’t get all worked up about need blind. As T26E4 suggested, you can only control what you can control. And that’s the quality of your app/supp. (And your choices of which colleges to apply to, in the first place.) Put your brain cells into that. Know your target colleges well enough to do that.
Btw, most of the huge endowments are just sitting there, growing. And only a percent of interest is dedicated to various needs.