<p>You know what would be really, REALLY awful? Applying ED to the school you love, getting a financial aid package that’s not what you expected/hoped for, turning it – and, consequently, the school – down…only to find out during the RD round that all the financial aid packages for the other schools are about the same.</p>
<p>So, yes, you can turn down the ED…but you can’t say, “Let me have until May to see what the other aid packages are like.” And I believe that “negotiating” financial aid – to the extent you can do it – is that much tougher for an ED package. It’s not like you can say, “Peer Institution X looked at the same information and thought my EFC should be lots lower.” That’s an option you might have in the RD round that cannot exist in the ED round.</p>
<p>If financial aid is a big concern, and you really have your heart set on a particular school, you may very well paint yourself into a corner by applying ED.</p>
<p>While it’s true you can get out of the obligation, the goal is to matriculate, not bail out. Advising people to apply to their first choice ED because they can always bail out if the FA package isn’t good is sort of like telling someone they can fly without a navigation because there are emergency exits on the plane if you run out of fuel. The goal is to get to where you want to go most, so maybe it’s wise to wait, when you’re less likely to use the emergency exit.</p>