<p>So, lemme get this straight. Is it true that Brown is "need-aware" for transfer admission, meaning they only give admission to a certain number of people who need aid, and then most are given to those who don't need aid AT ALL? If so, this is really unfair.</p>
<p>alright, think about this one. they don't give any aid to people who don't need it!!! That would be the point of being need-aware. Need-aware refers to admissions, not distribution of aid.</p>
<p>I know they wouldn't give aid to those who don't need it, but I was asking if they mostly only give admission to those who don't need aid.</p>
<p>Oh, sorry, i misread your post. and the answer is yes. <em>CRY</em> Here's an email my admissions counselor just wrote me. </p>
<p>Yes, we have now been given a figure too, which suggests that we have gone from need-blind in the sense of taking whoever we want with no reference to financial aid, but not even accepting financial aid
applications since there was no budget at all, to need-aware, where we
have some money in the budget enough to take a certain number of
students with need. The number of need students we will take, will
depend on the size of the combined need. Anyway, so this is basically
good and bad news from your perspective. On the bad side, it means that we will accept a small number of need-based students only; on the good side, it means that those we do accept, will have their need met (unlike our practise over the last couple of years). </p>
<p>One possibility is that if you family needs financial aid, you can play
a kind of roulette, whereby you decide not to apply for any aid and
figure you can get it from outside scholarship or loan amounts. This is
extremely risky though, and students who have done it ends with huge
loan burderns on their families. On the other hand, you apply for aid
and you take your chances in the hope that you are one of the students who will be accepted with need. In either event, when schools are need-aware, an applicant's financial need will play a big role in the prcoess.</p>
<p><em>more crying</em></p>
<p>Although it's ridiculous, at least I can now see where they're coming from.</p>
<p>I can't. It's complete and utter bull s**t. They just recieved a 100 million dollar donation for financial aid, but they are only alloting a paltry 400,000 to transfers. The rest is more aid for undergrads so they can up their damn rankings. Its stingy, unfair, and otherwise ridiculous.</p>
<p>I'd just as soon have them offer no fin aid at this point, so I wouldn't have to worry about some arbitrary thing precluding me from gaining admission...</p>
<p>exactly. this is such a tight spot. i am considering rescinding my fin aid application because i want brown so badly. i can't afford it, but i could make it happen adn be in debt forever. but at the same time what if i would otherwise be one of those lucky few who did get aid and i was giving that up?</p>
<p>What's worse, getting in and not knowing if you could have gotten that aid, or not getting in and wondering if you could have gotten in if you didnt apply for aid</p>
<p>I know too well Claysoul. I go between withdrawing my app, and leaving it in their daily. I just wish the people in the admissions office would be more forthright.</p>
<p>Man, this sucks.</p>
<p>Does it help, possibly, if you need less aid as opposed to more?</p>
<p>Because I just remembered that Brown considers the non-custodial parent's income and expects him/her to contribute. Which would transform my family's EFC from like 6000 to 32000.</p>
<p>So, a scenario: if Brown is calculating your award, and determines that you don't need any money...is your chance any better? Or are any and all who applied for aid, size of aid disregarded, all subject to the same degree of scrutiny? I suppose it would help everyone if they're taking us based on combined need...oh gosh, this is so messed up. Hehe, oh well, I can't affored to be anxious any longer.</p>
<p>I couldn't tell you. Maybe if we keep calling the admission office, they will give us the scoop...</p>
<p>Cali: you mean your fin aid app? what's your efc?</p>
<p>Here's my understanding, from what I've heard from my admin counselor with whom i've been in contact</p>
<p>How many people get aid depends on the amount of money that would be needed to fill the need of all of the fin aid students they want to accept. </p>
<p>So my conclusion was that they pick out all the fin aid students that they want to admit, calculate the total amount of money it would cost, adn go through and pick the people they like the best such that it all adds up to 400,000, regardless of how much need you have. So its the cream of the cream of the crop</p>
<p>I'm SO conflicted. I have an EFC of 18 grand.</p>
<p>I feel like I put in a very strong application and have a good chance of getting in. However this fin aid thing could ruin all of it. I don't know if my application is good enough to be the cream of the cream of the crop. </p>
<p>I'm considering rescinding my fin aid application so that it wouldn't be an issue. I could probably swing it, by taking out an obscene amount of loans, being burdened with debt, and living a poor-college-student existence (also, my hopes of doin the 5 year AB SB program would be out the window). And I'd always wonder, what if I could have gotten that aid. </p>
<p>But at the same time, what if I am the cream-of-the-cream of the crop and I can get the aid? But then if I don't get into my absolute dream school that I've been pining after for years, I'd always wonder, what if I hadn't applied for aid?</p>
<p>I DUNNO WHAT TO DO.</p>
<p>Same, same here clay. I feel that I am like my application was strong, but I will kick myself either way. If I don't get in, I'm going to always regret not withdrawing the Fin. Aid. If I do get in after withdrawing it, I'll be in debt and always wonder if I could have gotten the aid. The fact that you can't apply for aid senior year makes it all the more difficult to decide..</p>
<p>Oh, whee. </p>
<p>No way am I rescinding my app. Not an option. Brown isn't worth piles of debt, even if it is my dream...</p>
<p>it is to me. but maybe i just have zero forsight. what's your efc?</p>
<p>Very close to yours Clay. However, another factor for me is that I ardently wish to transfer, and as crazy as it sounds, Brown is the least competative school I applied to. Don't disparage yourself for want of foresight.</p>
<p>Well, maybe I'd feel differently if my parents gave me the option. I also lack foresight, but something tells me I wouldn't be too happy about working full-time year-round and paying Brown for the rest of my life after they didn't even let me in back when I applied as a freshman.</p>
<p>I've also lost some of my idealism, so maybe that's why I'm not really feeling the app-rescinding thing, personally. I know I had idealized the school in my mind, so...I guess it don't see it as the be-all end-all of my existence anymore, hehe...(I'm not saying it's yours, and this isn't meant to be disparaging ^_^)</p>
<p>My efc is somewhere around 30000.</p>
<p>Do you guys feel my stats are strong enough to apply for financial aid, or should I take myself off the list?</p>
<p>I really want to go here</p>
<p>All I can say is that I'm very glad I didn't withdraw my finaid app, because I just got in!</p>