<p>I received this email from Columbia.
</a></p>
<p>Is it better if I do ED because they are my first choice. Or should I just do RD? Which one will increase my chances more?</p>
<p>Do ED. If you get in, you won’t have to wait for the RD results and go in all that fuss. Plus, you’ll be able to devote more time and effort to your Columbia application. And also, if you get deferred, you can always apply again in RD</p>
<p>Are you able financially to commit to attending Columbia no matter what? I know that all of the QB participating schools promise to meet 100% of demonstrated need, but they determine what “demonstrated need” is. If the FA package falls short of what you’ll need to make Columbia affordable, or even possible, you aren’t going to have any leverage or a fall back plan. Other schools like ND, Yale, and MIT are non-binding with their EA decisions. ND, for example, gives their EA admits until May to commit. </p>
<p>Don’t do it if they might finance you with a big loan! </p>
<p>If you’ve run the financial aid calculator at Columbia, AND if their calculator is showing a package not too far off from the Match package, AND if your resources are not complicated (for example, family business ownership can make it very complicated and cause a fin aid offer to differ from a calculator, because schools vary) then, and ONLY then, would I even consider recommending ED to you. </p>
<p>AND only if you don’t like any other schools nearly as much as Columbia. Generally speaking, ED is just too risky financially. The rare exception is the extremely under-resourced student who gets near-full-ride estimates on all the partner colleges’ fin aid calculators. They’ll probably be safe applying ED. </p>