<p>I am planning on applying to both USC and Boston University and they both a have a early deadline for people that want to be considered for merit-based scholarships. I was wondering what are the benefits to applying at this earlier deadline and what are the disadvantages. For example, I would think that more qualified students would be appliying for the scholarships which might put me (a less qualified student) at a disadvantage. AT the same time, applying earlier means they would review my application before a lot of others which means more space for me to be accepted into.
Also, I don't really think I even have much of a chance at some of the scholarships they offer..
Thanks!</p>
<p>someone please help!</p>
<p>
[quote]
AT the same time, applying earlier means they would review my application before a lot of others which means more space for me to be accepted into.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think you have some faulty reasoning here. I went to their websites and USC and BU don't have rolling admissions (where there is an advantage in applying early before slots are taken); rather, they are filling a fixed number of spots for scholarship applicants. It seems like applying with the scholarship applicants when you don't think you're of that caliber would put you at a disadvantage as the pool would be much tougher than RD. You might want to call up admissions and ask them what happens to applicants that don't get scholarships...are they all automatically deferred into RD or are some of them denied?</p>