<p>I recently talked to Carla Zelada, one of the Carleton Admission officers, and this is what she had to say:</p>
<p>“It is true that in the last few years Carleton has been 10-15% need-aware. We’ve never been able to be completely need-blind, but I can assure you that when we read applications, we are always doing so without paying any attention at all to a student’s estimated financial need. Sometimes, at the very, very end of the process we have to do a few adjustments so that we can guarantee that all of our students will have 100% of their financial need meet. Usually that means we have to make a few changes at the final stages of decision making, but we don’t concentrate on it at all through most of the process. The need aware factor is the same for early decision as it is for regular decision…that is to say we are need-aware in both rounds. But applying early decision doesn’t hurt your chances at all of getting in to Carleton…especially in terms of financial aid. In fact, your financial aid package would be about the same in early decision as it would be in regular decision, but statistically your odds of being accepted at Carleton are a little better in early than they are in regular.”</p>
<p>Hope that helped others who had similar questions I did.</p>
<p>dadx3 makes a very good point though: the cost of living in Northfield, MN is very likely much lower than schools in the east/west coast. Even in respect to food, Carleton gets its food locally, and as a big portion of the town’s revenue (along with St. Olaf) there’s definitely a beneficial give and take between Carleton and the community.</p>
<p>Just to add another response from an admissions officer:</p>
<p>“Since you are an American citizen, you will be considered as such for your financial aid package–the way we package your financial aid will be exactly the same as it is for U.S. citizens actually living in the U.S. (we pay attention to citizenship, not where you are currently living)”. </p>
<p>“We are need-sensitive–what this basically means is that we try to go through the admissions process need-blind when possible, but if we happen to exceed our financial aid budget, then we need to go back and make adjustments”. </p>
<p>“Since we are a need-based institution, your financial aid package will not be affected based on when you apply. Assuming your family’s financial situation does not change in the next few months, your financial aid package will be exactly the same whether you apply Regular Decision or Early Decision II”.</p>
<p>Cheers :)</p>
<p>last post sounds right. our D had decent stats , but was waitlisted. but we are financially very needy. they dont say it was because of money, but it is a reasonable explanation.</p>
<p>Ds had lots of need and was admitted RD. Just don’t want to totally discourage those with need …</p>
<p>My EFC was about $7,000 and I was accepted. They gave me a $37,000 grant per year.</p>