Where "full pay" really helps?

[Anonymous]

in your personal experience, where do you think full pay made a true plus difference in college admissions for your "on-the-border" stats kid?

[Anonymous]

ED

[Anonymous]

Any need aware school ED it should help

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any need aware school ED it should help

^ or not ED

[Anonymous]

none of the T15. Won’t even give a lift at top tier elite colleges outside of T15, like Georgetown, CMU, or Cornell. Probably starts making a difference after T50 national universities and T30 LACs

[Anonymous]

Early Decision at Northwestern U

[Anonymous]

Nope, not at the top 20, or maybe even top 30 anymore. So many are able and willing to pay full price, and with test optional, it still won't matter

[Anonymous]

Being able to afford to apply ED where there is a clear admission advantage in the acceptance rate. The school itself could be need blind admission but if there is a bump for being willing to commit to them in a binding decision, indirectly there is a financial advantage to being full-pay and being able to be in that ED pool. Look at the acceptance rate between ED and the RD without EA/ED to evaluate where and to what extent https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/early-vs-regular-decision-admission-rates/

The other is if it’s a need aware school but IMO it is a much smaller advantage. https://blog.prepscholar.com/need-aware-colleges. I think of it more that they might look to put you in the accept pile, then realize it’s high need/this is what left in the budget and not offer admissions versus necessarily having someone in a maybe pile and pulling up because they are full pay - but overall the school knows collectively how much total tuition they need and how much aid they can offer so depending on the other applicants and the overall situation full pay could make a difference but maybe not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope, not at the top 20, or maybe even top 30 anymore. So many are able and willing to pay full price, and with test optional, it still won't matter

What do you mean nope? There are many many schools where it does help even if they are not up to your standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being able to afford to apply ED where there is a clear admission advantage in the acceptance rate. The school itself could be need blind admission but if there is a bump for being willing to commit to them in a binding decision, indirectly there is a financial advantage to being full-pay and being able to be in that ED pool. Look at the acceptance rate between ED and the RD without EA/ED to evaluate where and to what extent https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/early-vs-regular-decision-admission-rates/

The other is if it’s a need aware school but IMO it is a much smaller advantage. https://blog.prepscholar.com/need-aware-colleges. I think of it more that they might look to put you in the accept pile, then realize it’s high need/this is what left in the budget and not offer admissions versus necessarily having someone in a maybe pile and pulling up because they are full pay - but overall the school knows collectively how much total tuition they need and how much aid they can offer so depending on the other applicants and the overall situation full pay could make a difference but maybe not.

I think the degree of impact it has at need aware schools varies a lot. At some, say Haverford, it’s really just on the margins. Per the Selingo book, I wouldn’t want to be a high need student applying to Lafayette.

[Anonymous]

Many of the top 30 LACs are need aware. It’s not going to hurt there, at all. Put it differently- imagine you are applying for aid, you need a lot, you are not URM or otherwise well hooked, and you are marginal. You think you’re getting in? Honestly if you are white and Asian and need a lot of aid, I suspect it’s very difficult to get into these schools. Will being full pay get a really below standard kid though the door? No. But it has to help on the margin. Whatever the schools say about the impact publicly, assume it’s 5x more important

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any need aware school ED it should help

^ or not ED

My full pay kid was rejected at several schools where she was 75% (or very slightly below) stats wise. Applied EA, deferred then wait-listed. Didn't seem to help her even a bit.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s a huge advantage that you can put yourself in the ED pool. We need in state or merit aid so can only apply ED in state. Full pay is an advantage at every school that has ED. It won’t help you over the other ED applicants. But it will over the other kids who can’t put themselves in the ED pool for financial reasons.

[Anonymous]

Full pay here, but my very high stats (but otherwise unhooked) kid was rejected both ED1 and ED2 this cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any need aware school ED it should help

^ or not ED

My full pay kid was rejected at several schools where she was 75% (or very slightly below) stats wise. Applied EA, deferred then wait-listed. Didn't seem to help her even a bit.

Both can be true. If full pay raises the odds for an unhooked student from 10% to 20%, that means FA students are at a huge disadvantage, and yet most full-pay students won’t see any benefit.