Middlebury ED filled most of class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of SLAC's fill their classes up in ED (if they have it). Since they are so small, there just aren't a lot of spots left for RD. It's a numbers game. If your kid really wants a SLAC, they should apply ED.

I don’t think that’s fiscally responsible for most families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[
Looks like you pick Sept only, Feb only, or either. First two would be binding for the chosen start. I wonder if choosing either is binding for both?

curious about that too...

It’s binding for all three in ED. You can designate September, February, or either-college will decide. And sometimes, you get Feb. and that’s not what you wanted. Feb starts are very appealing to some. A nice break if you’ve been working your tail off in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of SLAC's fill their classes up in ED (if they have it). Since they are so small, there just aren't a lot of spots left for RD. It's a numbers game. If your kid really wants a SLAC, they should apply ED.

I don’t think that’s fiscally responsible for most families.

That's the point. ED allows the schools to be need blind and still skew wealthy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of SLAC's fill their classes up in ED (if they have it). Since they are so small, there just aren't a lot of spots left for RD. It's a numbers game. If your kid really wants a SLAC, they should apply ED.

But 80%? That seems higher than most (other than Tulane)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of SLAC's fill their classes up in ED (if they have it). Since they are so small, there just aren't a lot of spots left for RD. It's a numbers game. If your kid really wants a SLAC, they should apply ED.

When comparing SLAC ED to larger schools, you also have to figure that recruited athletes are a larger percentage of the student body and they come in ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of SLAC's fill their classes up in ED (if they have it). Since they are so small, there just aren't a lot of spots left for RD. It's a numbers game. If your kid really wants a SLAC, they should apply ED.

But 80%? That seems higher than most (other than Tulane)

What Midd did this year seems unusually high. I would bet however that Midd will still have the same very high percentage of kids on need based aid when all is said and done. They are probably finding a lot of low income students and getting them to apply ED. I am sure within that 70% of the class they just filled ED, there is a large chunk that will be receiving very generous aid. It also includes Questbridge.

[Anonymous]

this could be a reaction to overenrollment in last two years and not having the ability this year to take lots of extra kids if they've guessed RD wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of SLAC's fill their classes up in ED (if they have it). Since they are so small, there just aren't a lot of spots left for RD. It's a numbers game. If your kid really wants a SLAC, they should apply ED.

I don’t think that’s fiscally responsible for most families.

It’s very unfortunate that college cost are so high and that many families can’t afford colleges their kids can get admitted to. It’s borderline tragic actually.

But,

If you run the net price calculator and can afford the school then you can apply ED. If you can’t afford the school, there’s no reason to apply either round. If you are seeking merit aid, you probably don’t need the boost ED offered at competitive schools anyway.

[Anonymous]

Wow. Mine applied to Midd last year RD and was waitlisted despite being offered an interview w/ a Dept Chair that went really well w/ him trying to sell her on the college and follow up and telling her she earned his & collegues' highest marks on her portfolio (& having top stats, nat'l awards etc). We did not realize how much ED played into some of these colleges. I know it is more this year, but wondering if that was part of what happened w/ her last year. After the great connection w/ the chair, we thought it was going to happen, but then she was waitlisted. (Happy ending though, she got into her dream Ivy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this could be a reaction to overenrollment in last two years and not having the ability this year to take lots of extra kids if they've guessed RD wrong.

Any idea by how much they’re overenrolled?

For Feb starts, my understanding is that you can’t do a semester of classes anywhere in the fall, which you can for most schools’ spring starts. So you graduate in winter after 4 years. To me, that’s a negative if my kid wants to do classes somewhere in fall. Am I understanding the Feb start correctly? Is there any fall program that the Febs tend to do together? My kid would prefer a fall abroad with the spring start cohort to get to know people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Mine applied to Midd last year RD and was waitlisted despite being offered an interview w/ a Dept Chair that went really well w/ him trying to sell her on the college and follow up and telling her she earned his & collegues' highest marks on her portfolio (& having top stats, nat'l awards etc). We did not realize how much ED played into some of these colleges. I know it is more this year, but wondering if that was part of what happened w/ her last year. After the great connection w/ the chair, we thought it was going to happen, but then she was waitlisted. (Happy ending though, she got into her dream Ivy).

I imagine she would have been accepted ED. But she may also be the reason for their ED approach - sounds like your DD was an extremely strong candidate who was not a good bet for yield (as shown by Ivy acceptance). Congratulations!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's like K-12 private schools, PP. A majority are quite wealthy, and a handful are low-income on financial aid. The middle class is entirely squeezed out.

No it's not the same at all. the k-12 let everyone apply in one round and when they see which kids they want, then they determine aid.

This process only allows people who can afford to apply in rounds in which 80% of slots are filled. Then when there are 20% spots left - they open it to everyone. These are very different. (Parent who has no financial need and recognizes the inequity)

ED actually also works for those that need financial aid as they have an out if financial aid is other than the school’s website predicted. It hurts families that need to compare merit aid offers, which would be the upper middle class.

+1
You definitely don't need to be full pay to apply ED. Good college counselors should be making that clear! I hear about that early application misconception a lot though.

You need to be poor or full pay. If the EFC is more than you can actually afford (which is the case for many MC/UMC who have not saved), then you cannot do ED. If you need to find the school that is most affordable for you, you cannot do ED. Very different than someone whose EFC is $0 or less than $5k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's like K-12 private schools, PP. A majority are quite wealthy, and a handful are low-income on financial aid. The middle class is entirely squeezed out.

No it's not the same at all. the k-12 let everyone apply in one round and when they see which kids they want, then they determine aid.

This process only allows people who can afford to apply in rounds in which 80% of slots are filled. Then when there are 20% spots left - they open it to everyone. These are very different. (Parent who has no financial need and recognizes the inequity)

ED actually also works for those that need financial aid as they have an out if financial aid is other than the school’s website predicted. It hurts families that need to compare merit aid offers, which would be the upper middle class.

+1
You definitely don't need to be full pay to apply ED. Good college counselors should be making that clear! I hear about that early application misconception a lot though.

You need to be poor or full pay. If the EFC is more than you can actually afford (which is the case for many MC/UMC who have not saved), then you cannot do ED. If you need to find the school that is most affordable for you, you cannot do ED. Very different than someone whose EFC is $0 or less than $5k.

Middle class families qualify for financial aid, upper middle class do not. In any case, if Middlebury does not offer merit aid, as someone claimed upthread, there is no advantage to waiting for RD, as there will be no merit aid to compare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's like K-12 private schools, PP. A majority are quite wealthy, and a handful are low-income on financial aid. The middle class is entirely squeezed out.

No it's not the same at all. the k-12 let everyone apply in one round and when they see which kids they want, then they determine aid.

This process only allows people who can afford to apply in rounds in which 80% of slots are filled. Then when there are 20% spots left - they open it to everyone. These are very different. (Parent who has no financial need and recognizes the inequity)

ED actually also works for those that need financial aid as they have an out if financial aid is other than the school’s website predicted. It hurts families that need to compare merit aid offers, which would be the upper middle class.

+1
You definitely don't need to be full pay to apply ED. Good college counselors should be making that clear! I hear about that early application misconception a lot though.

You need to be poor or full pay. If the EFC is more than you can actually afford (which is the case for many MC/UMC who have not saved), then you cannot do ED. If you need to find the school that is most affordable for you, you cannot do ED. Very different than someone whose EFC is $0 or less than $5k.

Middle class families qualify for financial aid, upper middle class do not. In any case, if Middlebury does not offer merit aid, as someone claimed upthread, there is no advantage to waiting for RD, as there will be no merit aid to compare.

I don't think anyone claimed that. They want to compare possible merit aid offers coming from OTHER schools versus need based packages of Midd or versus full pay at Midd. The reason you wait until RD is to see what all of your options are including merit awards from schools that provide them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's like K-12 private schools, PP. A majority are quite wealthy, and a handful are low-income on financial aid. The middle class is entirely squeezed out.

No it's not the same at all. the k-12 let everyone apply in one round and when they see which kids they want, then they determine aid.

This process only allows people who can afford to apply in rounds in which 80% of slots are filled. Then when there are 20% spots left - they open it to everyone. These are very different. (Parent who has no financial need and recognizes the inequity)

ED actually also works for those that need financial aid as they have an out if financial aid is other than the school’s website predicted. It hurts families that need to compare merit aid offers, which would be the upper middle class.

+1
You definitely don't need to be full pay to apply ED. Good college counselors should be making that clear! I hear about that early application misconception a lot though.

You need to be poor or full pay. If the EFC is more than you can actually afford (which is the case for many MC/UMC who have not saved), then you cannot do ED. If you need to find the school that is most affordable for you, you cannot do ED. Very different than someone whose EFC is $0 or less than $5k.

Correct. There is a misperception that a definitively low income student should be hesitant to apply ED. A school like Midd is going to give them the best possible need based package they can hope for anywhere, probably a full ride or close to it. And if it is less than 100%, they can always back out. The applicants who need to worry about ED are the ones where there is some ambiguity as to how much aid they will receive and the ones who might get merit aid at other good schools which could tempt them. These are the students in the middle-not low income, not very high income.