Hi. Does applying ED impact the likelihood of receiving merit aid from the school? Do they no longer think they need to entice you? Thanks
Schools will deny it to be the case - but of course it’s the case. Maybe not at all - but at many.
Why would they? The Johnson Scholarship at W&L is a prime example…it’s mostly from RD. Why give away the world to ED?
Depends on the school. Do admissions sessions and ask this question. Tulane, for example, directly states they give less merit to accepted ED students than in other rounds, because they don’t have to. Not all schools are as transparent as that, but you should still ask the question.
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In many cases, schools use merit awards to entice highly qualified applicants who would be accepted to “better” schools to attend. If you apply ED, you lose the ability to see where else you would be accepted and schools don’t feel they need to sweeten the deal. I think the only exception would be any merit awards that are automatically given if you meet a certain threshold.
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Exactly. My daughter is going free to Charleston. While not a high ranking school, they do offer ED. Had she applied ED, would her tuition OOS be free ? I’ll never know.
Others disagree but I personally see little upside to ED. Yes the admit rates are higher but in some ways it’s disgusting. These are educational institutions….and force shouldn’t be a part of that. I also would get no aid. Oh And I kid. These are large businesses who prey on the consumer’s emotions like any other business.
My daughter still got into the colleges we expected and did not the ones we thought would reject. The one we missed was W&L which is ranked high for hard to get into. Alas we got no merit aid and they offer a huge amount of merit. So she was probably borderline.
If the NPC showed high aid I might consider ED but I’d also ask the school for a pre check. Many fill out the NPCs incorrectly. So don’t trust the NPC. But at least make sure your parents, not you fill it out of u want to trust it.
I know I’m in the minority here but I believe if a school wants you, they’ll take you. Many ED are athletes and other recruits which artificially increase the take rate.
One caveat if money is no issue and you are applying to a need based aid only school like the Ivies, Gtown, bowdoin etc then ED is fine. You’re already willing to pay $80k a year by applying ED or otherwise. Good luck.
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My DS got an increase in a merit award after the initial admission decision. Would he have received the initial merit award if he applied ED? I don’t know. But I think it is safe to say he wouldn’t have received the additional amount.
I agree. In a perfect world (for me) ED wouldn’t exist. Middle class and even upper-middle class who see the cost/benefit of ED are at a disadvantage. I am glad my D20 did not ED anywhere- she got merit at a Top 25 school.
The school may be able to provide you a financial aid/merit pre-read. It will be school dependent and if you really have a top choice that depends on getting merit - just ask your admission rep if it is possible to have a pre-read to access the financial side of your application.
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Depends on the school, so ask. Denison has said that it does not distinguish between ED and RD for merit. My kid applied ED and was told a predicted merit award and he actually got a higher tier award than predicted. We also know families who were told what predicted merit was if they applied ED, who then waited for RD because they thought they’d be leaving money on the table if they applied ED and boxed themselves in, even though Denison was their student’s first choice. Their merit award with RD was exactly the same as predicted for ED.
(edited to fix typos)
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