Your opinion on EARLY DECISION

Belizeme
Mon, 30 Jun 2014 17:04:00 +0000

Yes, I know the statistics. Around 30% are accepted when applying Early Decision and 10% are accepted during Regular Decision. Even the Duke website says there is an advantage in applying early.

Duke is my number one choice, but I do not want to pay $60,000 a year! There are a ton of schools out there that I could potentially get 20k-full tuition scholarships (U of Miami, Tulane maybe, U of Puget Sound, U of San Diego). I want to explore those options too. But I can’t if I apply early decision to Duke. Plus, what if Duke accepts me but offers me no money (I definitely do not qualify for financial aid, but I don’t want to pay 240k).

So I want your opinions. What would you do? (Not what you think I should do.) Would you take the chance and apply early decision, or would you go after the chance of receiving scholarship money at other schools?