Reply to Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, ED is an admission boost for kids from families who will pay the full amount. It is AA for white kids, or those with $$.

Been saying this for years, and why so many people falsely assume certain TT private high schools are so great with ex missions. Yes, the kids are smart (and prepped) but most of them will also have the $$ ED admission boost, it’s not just the school  [/quote]

ED is an option for EVERYONE!  Run the NPC.  If you are WILLING to pay that number, then you can apply ED.  If not, then ED is not for you.

The fact people cannot understand this is astounding.  A T25 is typically not giving your kid merit.  It's FA or nothing.  NPC will tell you how much.  And if you are "donut hole" then you made the choice to not save, so focus your energies on finding the best school you can afford for your kid.  Because Brown/Harvard/ETc is not giving you merit in RD either.  [/quote]

Did you even read your own post?  Not everyone is willing to pay 80K/year, even if the NPC has decided the family can afford it.  Maybe that family wants to blow their money on expensive cars, maybe they're older parents who didn't save enough for their own retirement or are supporting elderly parents of their own.  Ergo, ED is not an option for EVERYONE! (even if you add in all CAPS to try to make it so).[/quote]

No, it actually an option for everyone.  You are just making the Choice not to pay what the NPC states you owe.  Yes, we all make choices in life.  You are entitled to make whatever financial choices are best for your family.  But fact remains that you could choose to do ED if you are willing to pay what the NPC states.  If you are not, then don't do it.  You can choose how to spend your money.  However, note, at T25 schools (where ED matters), the NPC isn't changing for RD/EA.  So you unfortunately still wont be able to afford the school even if you get in during RD.

So the difference is you want to have all the options of exploring merit and still the perks of committing early.  That's not how ED works.  ED means you are willing to commit to a school.  It benefits both the student and the school.  If however, you are stating "I might be willing to pay $90K for school X, but only if they don't get into a decent school with good merit" then you are not willing to do ED.  That is a choice.  And if you truly cannot afford the $90K, well then nothing is changing in RD/EA, so why the hell are you annoyed you cannot ED to a school your kid could never afford to attend?

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How is it possible that a person can understand all this, and still not understand that ED is an advantage for the wealthy?

How can you acknowledge that there are some schools some kids “could never afford to attend,” and not recognize that this means that many of the kids who do attend bought their way into a shallower admissions pool?

And just for the record, many T25 schools (including Duke, Hopkins, Notre Dame, UVA, and UNC) have merit-based full rides. This idea that every T25 charges every student the full NPC price is far from the truth. [/quote]

How can you not understand that even if your kid was admitted (via ED/RD/EA), the NPC would still be the exact same result.  Those schools don't give merit.  So if you cannot afford to pay $90K and commit in Dec, nothing changes in April.  Those schools are not giving you merit.

Duke, hopkins etc may have a few merit based scholarships, but not many at all (I don't consider 15-25 for a class of 1800+ to be merit really---odds are your kid is not earning that).  Fact remains admission even in ED is still very slim to none.  And getting one of the "merit scholarships" is even less likely.

Also, for most T25, ED only gives a slight advantage once you take away the athletic/specialized admits and legacy admits.  At Duke, it's estimated that 40%+ of the ED admits are Athletics/legacy admits.  Those kids were gaining admission no matter what.  Another 15% of the ED are Questbridge kids (lower income/top students/highly qualified).  So the "advantages of ED" as not nearly as high as you seem to think they are.  So 55%+ of the ED slots are easily going to someone that is not a donut hole family.  Once you run the numbers, the advantages of ED are only slight versus RD/EA.

But yes, ED at any school might give your kid a slight advantage.  As it should!  you are committing to that school (Be it Duke or something ranked 50 or 100+), signaling that they have a guaranteed yield spot with you.  Colleges are a business.  They want X students to enroll as freshman each fall.  Not X-Y or X+Z, but X.  Either of the other causes major issues (from financial to overcrowding in classes and dorms, etc).  ED allows them to ensure they hit the X number as close as possible.

Nobody is guaranteed admission to any college.  Or to have merit at any college.

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