<p>So, I've been reading around CC and I've gotten the impression that at some colleges (mainly HYSMP) or even Duke and UPenn, asking for financial aid would hurt admission chances (even though they say they are need-blind institutions) especially in the early decision/early action stage?</p>
<p>Any opinions?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>If you need financial aid, you need to ask for it, so it doesn't really matter. No one's going to be able to give you a definitive answer on this anyway.</p>
<p>At the "M" of HYPMS, it certainly would not, and I don't know where you got that idea. I don't know about any of the others, but I sort of doubt it for them too.</p>
<p>HYP are need-blind admissions for US and permannent resident status applicants. Meaning that one's FA application status has no effect on admissions decisions. If admitted, the school commits to meet your financial need for all four years. Dunno about Stanford. They are rich enough to even scour untapped populations, KNOWING that FA will be required. It's a safe bet to assume that if a school is need-blind admissions, especially HYP, then it's not a detriment whatsoever.</p>
<p>Y has need-blind for internationals too. Dunno about H and P.</p>
<p>Know that very few schools have need-blind admissions (like the ones just discussed). Perhaps this is where you get your impression? Many other schools do consider FA needs into decisionmaking.</p>
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at some colleges (mainly HYSMP) or even Duke and UPenn, asking for financial aid would hurt admission chances
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<p>I doubt that very much for the colleges listed. For Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and Princeton, I would expect that reaching a certain level of excellence even though one comes from economically limited circumstances would be a plus factor for admission. You would have to talk that up in your application to get the full benefit of that admission consideration.</p>
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[quote]
So, I've been reading around CC and I've gotten the impression that at some colleges (mainly HYSMP) or even Duke and UPenn, asking for financial aid would hurt admission chances (even though they say they are need-blind institutions) especially in the early decision/early action stage?
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If you are a US citizen/permanent resident, for most if not all the schools you have listed there, they are need-blind, meaning that financial aid is handled completely separately from admissions.</p>
<p>If you are a Canadian/Mexican citizen/permanent resident, some schools are also need-blind, while others are not.</p>
<p>If you are an international student, then most schools will be need-aware, and applying for financial aid will affect your admissions decision.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure need-blind means need-blind. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they capped the amount of students who state they are applying for financial aid. They probably set a limit of total aid they will give out, divide it by the average amount of aid they give per student, and then accept around that many that are applying for it.</p>
<p>I applied for financial aid at all of my schools (including M & P) and had no trouble. They mean need-blind when they say need-blind.</p>