<p>Yeah, and it completely killed my text-to-speech reader.</p>
<p>Are those the only AP courses offered by your high school? What do you mean by "above average," not "stellar" extracurriculars? Can you give an example of what you mean?</p>
<p>Numbers-wise, you look like I did, pretty much. I'm going to Cornell Engineering next year. ED will help, but you'll still need to have a hook to stand out.</p>
<p>the thing with cornell is that its generally known as the easiest ivy to get into..therefore lots of kids looking for the ivy name with great stats apply. The admissions adcoms know that--- make sure you like the school, make it show through your application and you are a sure bet.</p>
<p>Applying ED will help your chances, but you should not apply ED anywhere if you also plan to apply for Financial Aid. The ED college agrees to meet you financial need (as they define it), but they can do it with large grants or large loans. By applying ED, you give up your ability to compare FA packages between schools. </p>
<p>Go to one of the free EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) estimators on the web to get some idea of how much a college is going to expect you to pay. They will subtract your EFC from their COA (Cost of Attendance) to get your NEED. This NEED is how much help they will give you either in grants, loans or part-time jobs. Grants are free money. Loans have to be paid back. If you have a NEED of $25K per year, they can give you a $20K grant and $5K loan, or a $10K grant and a $15K loan. Unless you expect no financial aid, you need to know how much money is in play before applying ED. You might apply ED, and then the college will accept you and say that they expect you or your family to pay $40K per year. You have to get the finances straight with your parents before applying ED.</p>
<p>There are two errors in financial aid. 1) You assume that you are not going to qualify for any when you actually can. 2) You assume that they are going to give you more than they are. You need to know approximately what your EFC is going to be.</p>