UNC, Duke, or Northwestern

alwaysleah
Sun, 15 Jul 2012 01:55:13 +0000

Should Northwestern not match the financial packages offered by other schools, the OP can turn them down on those grounds.



Absolutely wrong. After being accepted to a school ED, one must either accept or decline the offer of admission (though they can only rightfully decline for financial reasons). A person * cannot * apply to other schools after accepting an ED offer. There is no way the OP would see financial awards from other schools before having to decide about accepting/declining ED at Northwestern.

OP, you * should not * rely on getting a full ride from Duke/UNC. Both are * extremely * competitive, and even though with stats that get HYP usually do not get full rides from Duke/UNC, especially Duke.

If you cannot afford Northwestern (it sounds like you can’t if your parents will only give 10k), then you should apply RD to Duke and UNC. You should also make sure to apply to several financial safeties - i.e. schools that will guarantee you a full tuition scholarship.