Is ED almost mandatory these days to get into a competitive school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that you need to be careful about applying ED if financial aid is very important to you. You commit to the school, and can't easily get out of that commitment if the financial aid package isn't what you need. Technically, the school offers you the financial aid package they think your income supports, but the school's opinion about that may be very different from your own.

You absolutely can. And you should receive whatever your net price calculator estimates and you can further negotiate from there if you need. This is what we did this past year. Admissions and financial aid are supposed to be separate.

You cannot, if you don't qualify for FA and need merit aid. If the EFC thinks you can pay full price, and the school gives you insufficient merit aid (or no merit aid), you are stuck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So do all colleges send a FA package with an ED acceptance?

Yes you are told what your FA package will be. It will always match the EFC amount, although a few lucky people will get more IF the school does merit aid and they really want your kid for whatever reason.

That's why it is binding. Only in cases where the FA package doesn't match the EFC does the child / parent have the option to decline an ED offer.

To avoid confusion, it may be important to distinguish between FAFSA EFC and the expected family contribution spit out by the NPC, since many ED schools consider the CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA. That is, FAFSA EFC is incomplete and not really relevant to what a particular school may expect a family to pay. Families need to run the NPC.

What happens if you run the NPC to get the EFC and apply ED based on that EFF but the college comes up with a different EFC? I feel like I have seen numerous posts over the years from people saying the NPC was not always consistent with the FA package offered by the school.

If the bolded happens then you are not bound by your ED agreement. Keep a copy of the NPC/EFC you ran before applying ED just in case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that you need to be careful about applying ED if financial aid is very important to you. You commit to the school, and can't easily get out of that commitment if the financial aid package isn't what you need. Technically, the school offers you the financial aid package they think your income supports, but the school's opinion about that may be very different from your own.

You absolutely can. And you should receive whatever your net price calculator estimates and you can further negotiate from there if you need. This is what we did this past year. Admissions and financial aid are supposed to be separate.

You cannot, if you don't qualify for FA and need merit aid. If the EFC thinks you can pay full price, and the school gives you insufficient merit aid (or no merit aid), you are stuck.

Stuck as in, the school sues you or somehow otherwise forces you to attend and pay? No, they don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you all say SCEA has a much higher chance of acceptance at Ivy League schools (Yale, Harvard, Princeton, particularly). Thanks!

Not for unhooked candidates. Arguably/in some cases for legacies (especially if applying from the same HS as other legacies with strong credentials).

DD is not legacy but has a hook -- theatre. Biggest achievements were at a young age -- do they ask for dates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you all say SCEA has a much higher chance of acceptance at Ivy League schools (Yale, Harvard, Princeton, particularly). Thanks!

Not for unhooked candidates. Arguably/in some cases for legacies (especially if applying from the same HS as other legacies with strong credentials).

DD is not legacy but has a hook -- theatre. Biggest achievements were at a young age -- do they ask for dates?

Only ECs/activities during HS years are typically listed on the Common App.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So do all colleges send a FA package with an ED acceptance?

Yes you are told what your FA package will be. It will always match the EFC amount, although a few lucky people will get more IF the school does merit aid and they really want your kid for whatever reason.

That's why it is binding. Only in cases where the FA package doesn't match the EFC does the child / parent have the option to decline an ED offer.

To avoid confusion, it may be important to distinguish between FAFSA EFC and the expected family contribution spit out by the NPC, since many ED schools consider the CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA. That is, FAFSA EFC is incomplete and not really relevant to what a particular school may expect a family to pay. Families need to run the NPC.

What happens if you run the NPC to get the EFC and apply ED based on that EFF but the college comes up with a different EFC? I feel like I have seen numerous posts over the years from people saying the NPC was not always consistent with the FA package offered by the school.

If the bolded happens then you are not bound by your ED agreement. Keep a copy of the NPC/EFC you ran before applying ED just in case.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you all say SCEA has a much higher chance of acceptance at Ivy League schools (Yale, Harvard, Princeton, particularly). Thanks!

Not for unhooked candidates. Arguably/in some cases for legacies (especially if applying from the same HS as other legacies with strong credentials).

DD is not legacy but has a hook -- theatre. Biggest achievements were at a young age -- do they ask for dates?

Only ECs/activities during HS years are typically listed on the Common App.

But do they ask for dates? These are nat'l/state level credits (B'way & major regional). HS largely won't get cast in pro theatre b/c small adults play them to save money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you all say SCEA has a much higher chance of acceptance at Ivy League schools (Yale, Harvard, Princeton, particularly). Thanks!

Not for unhooked candidates. Arguably/in some cases for legacies (especially if applying from the same HS as other legacies with strong credentials).

DD is not legacy but has a hook -- theatre. Biggest achievements were at a young age -- do they ask for dates?

Only ECs/activities during HS years are typically listed on the Common App.

But do they ask for dates? These are nat'l/state level credits (B'way & major regional). HS largely won't get cast in pro theatre b/c small adults play them to save money.

They do accept dates but you're not actually limited to things that happened during high school and if we're talking about roles/awards that are a really big deal nationally, you might as well put them down.

[Anonymous]

Giant advantage for VA in-staters who apply ED to William and Mary. Many students won't do this, because they want to apply to both William and Mary and UVA, so that gives those who do a better shot.

[Anonymous]

OP, encourage your kid to apply ED. My kid was down to two schools, either one of which would have been fine. He ended up applying ED to a SLAC that fills at least half of its freshman class with ED kids, and admits less than 20% of applicants overall. I have my doubts about whether he would have been admitted regular decision.

[Anonymous]

From the perspective of the applicant, ED can give the opportunity to show a true preference (vs. telling all schools that you love them most in your application) and can improve admission odds. From the perspective of the school ED can help increase yield and lock down a qualified class earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS cannot decide which of 3 schools is his favorite...it's his personality. I've been told that if you don't apply ED, you are at a distinct advantage. Is that true?

ED is a distinct advantage - it gives you the opportunity to focus on school instead of on "getting lucky."


Oh wait... you're talking about a different ED, aren't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you all say SCEA has a much higher chance of acceptance at Ivy League schools (Yale, Harvard, Princeton, particularly). Thanks!

Not for unhooked candidates. Arguably/in some cases for legacies (especially if applying from the same HS as other legacies with strong credentials).

DD is not legacy but has a hook -- theatre. Biggest achievements were at a young age -- do they ask for dates?

Only ECs/activities during HS years are typically listed on the Common App.

But do they ask for dates? These are nat'l/state level credits (B'way & major regional). HS largely won't get cast in pro theatre b/c small adults play them to save money.

They do accept dates but you're not actually limited to things that happened during high school and if we're talking about roles/awards that are a really big deal nationally, you might as well put them down.

I think more likely your DD could write about them in an essay, if she tied them to things she wants to do in the future. For ECs, the schools my kid applied to asked for hours/week, and he did not list major regional theatre credits from his childhood because they were so long ago. If he'd wanted to pursue a theatre major, he likely would have written about them in one of the essays, but since he was planning a different major, he didn't include them at all. He did include theatre accomplishments/ECs from HS.

[Anonymous]

" But do they ask for dates? These are nat'l/state level credits (B'way & major regional). HS largely won't get cast in pro theatre b/c small adults play them to save money."

A hook is something the student has done that the college wants in their student body.

If the school wants theatre credits of this type they will know all about when students would likely have gotten whatever castings.

Not putting the dates will not allow you to hide anything.