<p>Hi everyone,
I have a question for you.
My counselor says that applying early to Yale will hurt my chances of getting my financial aid. But, I thought that Yale was need based when it came to fin aids..
I am really confused on what to do because I really do need the fin aid but I also want to apply early because Yale is my first choice, dream school.
Please let me know if applying early hurts my chances of getting in.
PS he told to send an email to the admission officer and ask but Im afraid that if I tell her about my fin situation, the admission process would not be completely need blind as it states...
What do you all suggest?</p>
<p>I don’t understand your counselor’s reasoning. An ED process, which binds you to your target school, might potentially harm your chances for FA because, once committed, you have no chance to leverage offers from competing schools (this assumes, of course, that a school’s FA process might in some way influenced by an applicant’s credentials). But in an EA process (even singe-choice) you can still apply to other schools and wait until April to see what the overall picture is like.</p>
<p>I would say go ahead and do SCEA without fear that your potential FA will be harmed.</p>
<p>Applying early has no impact on whether or not you will get aid. The only thing that will be different is you’ll send in College Board’s ‘‘CSS Profile’’ when you apply for SCEA (Nov. 1) instead of sending it in by the normal deadline (which is February 1, I believe). If you get accepted or deferred, then you’ll send the ‘‘FAFSA’’ to Yale along with your parent’s tax returns (and yours, if you have any) by mid-March.</p>
<p>Your counselor should probably look more carefully into these matters before giving you misleading information.</p>
<p>Dont apply SCEA. I have this theory that SCEA, for both Yale and Stanford, is reserved for URMs and athletes. But hey, just my $0.02.</p>
<p>apply SCEA. i got in SCEA and Yale gave me the best FA package - and i was not a URM or athlete… that is completely false.</p>
<p>^^ That was a nice post, mythbuster, true to your name!</p>
<p>Two terms: need blind admissions and need-based financial aid. You won’t get screwed if you need aid and you shouldn’t get screwed in any award.</p>
<p>@Mythbuster2000: Of course there are unhooked people who DO get in SCEA. Lol. Are you guys serious? I just meant that it would actually not add to his chances at all since picking SCEA doesnt mean much because it isn’t binding. Take a look at Yale and Stanford SCEA forums and try to compare them with the RD forums and you’ll see that the people who were accpeted are very similar but the only difference is that URMs and athletes have less trouble getting in SCEA. Congrats on Yale.</p>
<p>“Dont apply SCEA. I have this theory that SCEA, for both Yale and Stanford, is reserved for URMs and athletes. But hey, just my $0.02.”</p>
<p>This theory was completely backwards at my school: the athlete was deferred SCEA (rejected RD), and the unhooked guy was accepted SCEA.</p>
<p>Your counselor is wrong. Your FA package will be the same whether you are accepted EA or RD.</p>
<p>To support what others have said:</p>
<p>I know of a senior who was accepted EA this year (no hook, btw) and given a tremendous financial aid package.</p>
<p>A few months later, she filed the FAFSA as required. The financial aid office noticed that the FAFSA was more favorable to the student than the (estimated) CSS Profile had been, and someone from financial aid called to say that they would reconsider the package in light of the FAFSA. The following week, the student got a revised package with approximately $10,000 more in grant money. None of this was done at the student’s request!</p>
<p>I do believe that financial aid and the admissions office don’t communicate about candidates prior to admissions decisions being made. However, if anything, financial aid might be better for EA applicants because it will be obvious to financial aid that Yale REALLY wants to snag those students accepted EA (otherwise that student would have been rejected or deferred). Just my opinion…</p>
<p>I am writing only to verify that financial aid and the admissions office DO NOT communicate about candidates prior to admission decsisions. Although the endownment is down, Yale still has lots of money relative to most other colleges and financial aid is a priority. It is not a school where they “run out of financial aid money”, so EA acceptees are better positioned to receive aid. You should get the same aid as an EA acceptee as you would an RD acceptee.</p>