No. It is an important distinction. Need blind means that they will not consider your financial need status in the decision for admission. So, being full pay is not an advantage in the application process. Full need means that if they admit you, they will meet 100% of your demonstrated need, according to their calculations. Need blind schools tend to promise to meet your full need, otherwise they risk admitting kids who cannot afford to attend. But many schools offer 100% full need, but are not need blind in admissions. In that case, they are careful to not admit too many students who have need. This means that qualified students aren’t admitted because they have financial need. Bowdoin is an example of the former. Colby is an example of the latter.
Nearly all US public universities are need blind in admissions, but the vast majority don’t even come close to meeting full need.
Excellent clarification. Most private schools are not need blind in contrast.
I took AFJROTC once in COVID freshman year and hated it lmao
CMC’s on my list, so is it as well regarded as Amherst/Williams or even Swarthmore/Bowdoin?
Actually, most need-blind admissions schools do not promise to meet 100% need (however they define “need”) for all students. For example, state schools are typically need-blind in admissions, but typically have minimal to no financial aid for out-of-state students. In some states, they do not even come close to meeting need (however defined) for in-state students from lower income families. Many colleges in many states have typical student load debt levels greater than the federal direct loan limit: Interactive Map - The Institute for College Access & Success
Of course, some colleges promise to “meet 100% need” for all students, but their definition of “need” is not very generous, so their net prices may end up higher than those of some other colleges that do not make such a promise.
Right, and most don’t come close to meeting full need for all students.
Would you consider full pay a benefit for kids applying to BC or Syracuse?
For Syracuse, which is need aware, yes an advantage to be full pay.
For BC, they are need blind, so being full won’t be an advantage.
For poli sci and history, I think it is, but I’m sure it depends who you ask. The others you mention have more across-the-board strength (and a longer history of being “elite”) and would be more analogous to Pomona than to CMC. But with the consortium, you can take Pomona classes freely as a CMC student anyway. The variety of interesting history and poli sci classes that’s offered across the consortium in any given semester is impressive. It can be very best-of-both-worlds between LAC’s and research universities.
I feel like - you’ve gotten a lot of feedback that basically says schools like Bowdoin and Swarthmore - and the top 20 in general (and even lower) are all high reaches. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
But people are throwing out lots of great, solid, respectful names - and you come back with Claremont McKenna.
If you only apply to high reach schools, you risk getting shut out.
You need to work on your targets and safeties. And these are not them.
With a history or poli sci degree, unless you plan to go to Wall Street - and even that’s a stretch, going to a top 20 vs. a real strong school like a Depauw or UDel is not going to make much, if any difference.
But you seem to only be choosing schools that are highly rejective even to great stat kids.
I mean, they admitted 10.3% of students per the last CDS and that includes ED which is likely higher.
Their ACT compsites are all higher than yours - even at 25% (33 vs. 32.5 which is in essence a 33).
You need to lower your sights a bit for a portion of your list to ensure you have somewhere to go.
This is absolutely not true. The vast majority of public universities including most flagships, directionals, and community colleges are need blind for admissions…meaning they do not consider your financial need when they consider your application for admission. The VAST majority of these colleges do NOT meet full need for all admitted students.
Re: need blind schools.
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There are need blind schools that guarantee to meet full need for ALL students.
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There are need blind schools that guarantee to meet full need for a limited number of students. And some are need blind for regular admissions, but not for students off the waitlist.
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There are need blind schools that do not guarantee to meet full need for students at all. But even at these schools….some students will get sufficient need based aid to fulfill their need.
To be fair, I was the one who brought up Claremont McKenna, not the OP.
I agree that it’s another big reach, but the stat profile isn’t quite as high as Bowdoin et. al., and they give big ED bump, and I think the fit is there with OP’s strengths. (Plus they don’t get such a glut of high-stat NoVA applicants as the east coast elites and the top VA publics.) So I thought it was worth discussing as an ED reach. The problem is that OP then wants to clarify whether it’s as good as Bowdoin/Swarthmore/etc. Well, for him, I think it is, but more importantly it might be a little more attainable. But only in ED, and only a little.
The thing is that I think OP is going to want a high-reach ED school, no matter how many good matches are recommended. So my thought was, at least pick a good one that he has a meaningful chance at.
W&M in-state could be worth a shot in ED too, especially since the admit rate for guys is higher than for women. But it’s tough coming from NoVA.
Absolutely agree that he needs more matches and safeties. But if he’s going to shoot his shot in the early round, best to use that wisely.
It could make a difference (T20 vs. a Depaw, for example) – in terms of class size, research opportunities and resources, professors’ course loads (which translate into degrees of personal attention professors can devote to students), study abroad and internship opportunities, and other factors. Reputation of undergrad program also matters more for some kinds of grad schools than for others. But within tiers (say across the range of T30ish LACs), the departments are pretty comparable.
@CHANCEM3 please read the thread I’m about to link. This student applied the first time and really didn’t have a solid sure thing for admission. He had extremely strong stats, was a NMF, top student in his high school…and really reached high. Really, no one expected that he wouldn’t get accepted someplace but that’s exactly what happened.
In my opinion, this thread is a MUST READ (even though it’s old) for anyone who is considering applying to only highly rejective schools. Read the whole thread.
Please read this…and then find two sure things for admission that are affordable, that you like, and that you have a very strong likelihood of acceptance.
It was more his comment about who cmc compares to - if it was Bowdoin, it seems ok
What if it compared to Dickinson or Depauw- would OP have been ok ?
That was my point. He may get into a reach but needs to focus on reality.
Based on its CDS, Middlebury’s RD yield for the class of 2026 was 19.9% (with the assumption of a 100% RD yield).
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Tbh, I’m fine with going to northern virginia community college since they have a godsend guaranteed transfer program to any UVA engineering or arts and sci major with a 3.4 gpa and an associates degree. I’m basically only applying to colleges to see if I get in some place better lol, and I’m regarding my base case as UVA.
Are you saying that community college will be your choice if you don’t get accepted to these selective schools?
If so, your decision…and that is fine.