<p>i am an asian male ( US citizen) ... doing my high school from india ... both parents are indians....
check my other post for my profile ....
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=213532%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=213532</a></p>
<p>I am thinking of applying early to Cornell / Northwestern / Upenn .... my parents earn only abt. 22000 $( due to the vast difference between indian ruppee and the dollar) , n thats the problem .... I wont be able 2 attend without almost 100% aid .... ( cant handle an EFC of more than 8K)
I have heard that these colleges are need-blind and fulfill 100 % need .... so shud i apply to one of them early believing the fact that if i get admitted i ll surely get the money .... or shud i go the tested way and apply RD and negotiate later .... ?</p>
<p>Even need blind 100% of need doesn't mean you will get 100% of what YOU think you need. My D received offers last year from 5 schools including three Ivies and the offers (all with the same financial documents) had a $8000 range. ED does not allow you the ability to negotiate at all with the aid offers. We were able to use the offer from one school to negotiate a few thousand dollars more from her first choice school.</p>
<p>There is a general concenus amongst the parents here of CC, that if money is an issue, you should not apply ED. Since you have set parameters regarding how much you can afford to pay, if the money does not come through you will be caught between a rock and a hard place. If you do a search right here in the Financial aid threads, you will read about students who applied ED, got admitted, the money wasn't right and were virtually left with no options.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the schools in question are going to look at more than what your parents make. The school determines what your financial is not what you think that you can afford to pay. </p>
<p>We had the same experience as 2collegemom as D was accepted everywhere she applied and the was a more than a $10,000 range between the "best" & the "worst " packages. Although she did not take the "best" package offered she was able to use the FA award from a peer school to up the package at her first choice school.</p>
<p>Cornell should be out of the picture for ED unless you are willing to pay about 15K (by that I mean loans). They met my need 100% (my EFC was low too), but the loans were just too much to even consider Cornell.</p>