Reply to Applying for need based aid when you are ‘right on the edge’

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Please share which schools if you can[/quote]
Yes would be grateful if you could share for those of us with highschoolers in the 2021/2022 classes.[/quote]

Which schools?  Happy to share but need more specifics since a specific post wasn’t responded to.

1. Schools that don’t benefit from pull pay or 
2. Schools where holistic review and full pay I think helped my kid. [/quote]

#2 would be most helpful. Thanks![/quote]

It’s very simple actually.  It’s a very small number of schools that are both need blind and meet full need:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission

You can assume everywhere else it is either a benefit to be full pay or of negligible impact in admissions.[/quote]

They say that but that is not the case. My kid just went through the process. I guarantee you only ivies and top schools like a duke or Northwestern can afford to be need blind.  Top SLACs are not. They need the money. Schools also know coming from good dc area privates like Holton, Sidwell, GDS, NCS, Albans, and Potomac accounts for a lot.  Doesn’t help in every case and top 20 are still ultra competitive for unhooked kids but it makes a difference at schools like Tulane, Northeastern, William and Mary, etc.  SLACS like the Maine ones and few others, they need the money and they know coming from one of these privates a B student is strong and they take a wholistic review. Need good test scores and ECs.

If you are a B student, take challenging courses, do well on standardized tests, at some ECs.  My kid definitely punched above her weight and ended up at a top 10 SLAC. Lot of opportunity outside Ivies.  The top schools were hard even for high academic achievers that were unhooked.  It was hard during ED when hooked kids were getting in. Full pay is not a full hook because it doesn’t work everywhere. Hooked means legacy, athletes who are recruited, and black or Hispanic minorities.  [/quote]

Sorry but you are wrong.  100% wrong.  Schools that say they are need blind are need blind and you have not one scintilla of evidence they are not.  This has been discussed here ad infinitum and never has one bit of evidence been shown.  Don’t mislead this poor person into not asking for aid at need blind schools where they might need it.  [/quote]

No ma’am you are wrong. I just went through the app process for twins.   But I could give two shits if you believe me.  I am giving you my experience. [/quote]

So tell us exactly how I am wrong, and how you know.

(I know you can’t)

Don’t mislead people.  It’s wrong.  Colleges that say they are need blind are telling the truth.[/quote]

Don't need to prove to you anything.

Here is what I know.

1. My twins got into top schools (not Ivy).  [b]We[/b] got in off of waitlists.  We were full pay.  Before waitlists, they were in at top schools that many people on this board would love for their kids to go and are coveted.    
2. I talked to three outside college consultants that I paid for that told my need blind is a farce with the exception of Ivies and certain top schools-I already gave examples of those schools--Duke, Northwestern, etc.  A school like Colby or Bowdoin admits full pay kids with below academics if they are full pay under the guise of holistic admissions.  These are top top SLACs.  Yes, you need something like strong ECs, strong test scores, or something to compensate.  You can't have a 2.5 GPA unweighted but let's a 3.3 (my kids GPA) with say a 32/33 ACT, you could probably get in somewhere very well respected e.g top 20 SLAC top 40 national university.  Not in all cases but if you demonstrate interest, it helps.  You can probably get Northeastern, Tulane, William and Mary (if in state), Maine SLACs, other SLACs that are ranked, etc.   
3. It helps if you are coming from a top DC area private e.g. Sidwell, Holton, NCS/Albans, Potomac, or GDS.  It feeds the perception that you are wealthy because the majority of kids there are full pay.  
4. Make the waitlist and it is well known (read other threads), full pay becomes a huge asset. 
5. This is especially true in this economy and with Corona/COVID-19.  
6. There are numerous articles written about this like by The Atlantic about full pay hook
7. Fully pay makes early decision easier because you don't need to compare financial aid packages.  [/quote]

This is the problem. Kids, as in, the applicants themselves who need FA (stop saying we) are disadvantaged by their parents incomes. Which the kids have no control over. A tale as old as time...[/quote]

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