@wildcatmom16 , they guarantee to meet demonstrated need, right? So I am expecting to take our EFC, add the $5,500 in a Stafford Loan that all kids can take, then add about $2,000 in Work Study. That figure is where I would expect Case to come close to. Our EFC plus $7,500. Does that answer satisfy you? With your D’s awards, did they meet or surpass your demonstrated need? Maybe you are full pay and the awards are awesomeness. Congratulations to your girl on the acceptance and the awards. No one will convince me that my D is not deserving of an acceptance at Case or isn’t well prepared for their academics.
@wildcatmom16 if you look at Case’s Common Data Set, you will see that the “Average dollar amount of institutional non-need-based scholarship and grant aid awarded to students” is $ 24,654
Section H2A: https://case.edu/ir/media/caseedu/institutional-research/documents/pdfs/2016-2017-CDS.pdf
Also Case may offer $24K but may not be able to cover the other $40K…if you have financial need and are admitted, then they are saying they will meet full need. But they can’t afford to do that for everyone (like all schools), so they are “need aware” in admissions.
I think it is a strategy some colleges are using. They entice a lot of students to apply (say using free application which case used until this year), it allows them to lower their acceptance rate. They also claim meeting full need, but they use their holistic approach to reduce the number of high need kids.
I hope I do not sound like a sour grape, I fully expect the outcome before asking kid to apply.
@Winky1 I don’t think anyone would say that your D is not deserving of an acceptance at Case or that she isn’t prepared. Personally I think this year of anomalies is a fallout from many years of Case being Cinderella’s stepsister at the ball. (See post regarding being accepted at all the UCs, but not Case - I can see where there were probably years of accepting these high caliber students, only to lose them to other “name” schools.) My daughter had about 6 friends who left Case to go to Georgetown, NYU, and USC. Most of her other friends have admitted that Case was not their first, second, or third choice. They all agree that it’s a great, challenging school - but Cleveland is not California, New York or Boston. I can only guess, Case has really cracked down and is protecting its yield. I saw someone mention that your daughter was accepted to BU - congratulations. Maybe Case assumed, given the choices, your daughter would choose BU instead. I’ve heard that Case now charges an application fee, they have told the students that they are now a “need aware” school, I bet what’s next to weed out some more, is supplemental essays.
I agree on all points @wildcatmom16 except that my girl showed so much genuine interest in CWRU that it’s baffling to me that she was deferred AND waitlisted. She indeed is genuinely interested in Case!
@wildcatmom16 I do not think we should give case any excuse such as yield protection. We paid the application fee and applied, I would hope the kid is evaluated fairly. I can buy the argument that they cannot provide the aid for high need kid, but to exclude kids just because they think that the kids may consider case as a safety is just lame if not ethical. They may as well write, 4.0 GPA and 35 and above ACT kids need not apply.
Well, my 36 ACT 3.9uw DS was deferred, then waitlisted. Our efc is very high, so any of the scholarships offered would have “met our need” and yet here we are. We have other options, and will decline the WL. But all these theories on need aware are contrary to our situation, at least. Could it be yield protection? Maybe…but that is a very unfair thing for a school to do, because they don’t know where a kid will be accepted anymore than we do, and Case may actually be the dream school for an ivy qualified kid. My Sons ECs are artsy and interesting, but maybe not what their holistic review was wanting. Was Case his first choice? No. Was he interested? Yes, which is why he applied. We also visited and read all their emails. But we didn’t feel the need to call, etc. to show additional “interest” because I think traipsing across several states should be sufficient. Even with this 200+ thread posts, It’s all anecdotal at best. College admissions to a top 50 school is something of a crap shoot, particularly for excellent, “Normal” kids, of which my son is one. We will love the schools that love us back.
I think their addition of binding ED has had the biggest effect in the last couple years, that and maybe the addition of supplemental essays, giving them more ammunition to decline qualified kids.
Here’s the part that is confusing to me, everyone says that in years past it was free to apply but they stopped that this year. Ok. Well, they sent my daughter 10 or more emails asking her to apply and telling her it would be free to apply. As her interest is engineering and it seemed like a good fit, she applied. For free. Only thing I paid for was to have her ACT score sent. Due to our location we have not visited yet (same with several other schools she has applied to) but the intent was to visit if we felt like it was a final contender. They sent her no less than 5 mailers per week since she applied, plus numerous emails. We submitted her FAFSA and Profile and had Followup emails from a financial aid counselor regarding the same. Then, she’s waitlisted. Our EFC is 6600 and she’s a high stats kids with excellent EC’s and a first generation college student. Our only conclusion is that they are trying to keep their acceptance rates down (therefore the 9000 plus kids waitlisted last year) and since they are need aware they don’t want to meet our full need. Which is fine, shes got great options otherwise, but the hard push for her to apply is really confusing.
@hopewhite25 My DD had a similar situation with WPI…she got weekly mailings (and we were living in Germany the time!) …so I said why not apply, they seem to be very interested…she was admitted, but with only a 15K merit scholarship which made it the least affordable of her colleges…
Same here with the flyers They never stopped coming. Then waitlisted.
We have been rejected by CWRU twice in last 2 years. Last year my elder son was wait listed for CS, 33 ACT, ranked 19th in class (still top 3%) , had lots of EC including robotics club and state championship for it. This year my yonger one first denied PPSP and regular is wait listed.
And irony is the reason they give for wait list,
** 'Because Case Western Reserve is a residential university that guarantees housing for all first-year students, we have been forced to be conservative in the number of acceptances we initially offer. The admission committee hopes you will accept a place on our wait list for the Class of 2022 **
Is housing that much a factor in admission decision? don’t remember seeing that in common data set.
2nd they sent out quite a few EA deferred folks erroneous email.
3rd they said then an email with special link will be send on 3/20 around 8 PM EST. Guess what that email still has to be dispatched from Cleveland.
Based on all discussion and our own experience that CWRU has made conscious decision to weed out high qualified relatively high need students. At this point we don’t even want to apply for their wait list because even you get an acceptance in wait list you may get carrot for financial need.
@winky. Same here, as you know. Most likely the finance piece. We are going back his safeties that gave scholarship money but it’s still out our range. See if they can get closer to our range. The state STEM school is less expensive but only geared for engineering. My job most likely is going to be eliminated soon and I’m looking.
@Winky1: Actually I looked in Section C2 of the Common Data Set and Case does not have a ranked waiting list.
https://case.edu/ir/media/caseedu/institutional-research/documents/pdfs/2017-2018-CDS.pdf
Last year 586 additional students were admitted off the waitlist.
What they should do is to make decisons for those deferred applicants! They should not
It is a WL epidemic out there. Seems like schools are using this tool to achieve multiple goals - lower acceptance rate, ensure high yield, and “unblind” the financial needs (so they can provide aid and claim meet 100% aid needs).
It’s been a brutal season. Couple of my son’s buddies came over for dinner after the game tonight and we were chatting about the various outcomes. Schools deem to be “safety” just couple of yrs ago have seen the acceptance rate decreased by 10-15% or even 20%. Only the state flagship remains somewhat steady. One of the kiddos told me Villanova acceptance rate is going to be 29% this year. Tulane dropped to 17%, BU to 22%, NEU to 19%. I wonder what CWRU acceptance rate maybe this cycle. Maybe 30%?
Just the increase in the application number can’t explain all the drop. The increasing use of ED/EA and WL combo allow these schools to do all they can to accept fewer number of kids in RD (let that be financial driven or yield driven). I think this is the new reality and will only get worse. I have no idea how schools can accurately predict the yield with so many kids put in the WL limbo. It is a vicious cycle.
If I am the parent of a HS junior now, and the kiddo has no special hooks (URM, athletes, social-economic, FG, legacy etc), I would be deeply concerned with this trend. Fine, if the kiddo is average and being in the state flagship is not the end of the world. But what if the kiddo been working hard, did all the right things with the scores and ECs, and now facing the reality of - hey, the top schools are all crap-shoots (and <10% acceptance rate), and the so-called “safety” schools for these “Ivy-ready” kids are practicing WL/defer limbo because of yield protection or what not - what a tough spot to be in. They don’t have the hooks to get them go to some top-ranked schools, and they are penalized because the “next tier” schools want to formally accept fewer numbers, and WL more in this whole ranking game.
I just feel really bad for the kiddos I talked to this evening. I have thought many of them would be in good spots already, but little do I know how extensive the whole WL situation been across the board. Like one kiddo told me - “it sucks to be good, and with no hooks”… “why bother, why even try if I am being rejected because they think I will not attend”… “better to have parents w/o college than to have parents went to some no-name college, and take the FG hook away …”… these are bitter comments, and I wonder how many of such is being discussed in households across the country. Just an observation.
My D did end up getting in to Case. She showed some interest and has high stats and is a strong musician. We also live in a state that probably does not send many kids to case. However yesterday she got waitlisted from one of her top 2 picks. Her stats are probably in the top 5% or higher of applicants for that school and she showed a ton of interest. Also too we are full pay parents…don’t qualify for any FA. It was totally a shock especially since I am about 95% sure she would have gone there if accepted. I’m not sure what is going in general with this cycle of applications…were there just a massive amount of kids born in 2000? It is crazy. I am so sorry for everyone that was waitlisted or rejected.
@Mickey2Dad Very well written. Can you post this in the Tulane RD2022 forum as well? Everyone over there thinks that the types of tactics you are speaking about here are some diabolical plot hatched and executed only at Tulane.
Thank you, @Mickey2Dad . You have summed up so much of our experience.
@Mickey2Dad you are spot on with my son and his peers