<p>I am an international senior from India who needs some serious financial aid. To me, both of them seem to be great (a little bias towards the former), but I haven't yet dug deep.</p>
<p>Firstly, I want to apply to a school that offers me a greater chance of financial aid. Cornell is known to bottleneck on this in general, but the Tata Scholarships that, I've heard, are awarded to 5-6 Indian freshmen could nullify this fact. Penn is relatively generous with FA and supports a greater international population. </p>
<p>Considering selectivity, ACT's been a rough road for me. Cornell requires ACT plus Subject tests, and Penn requires only ACT. I phoned Penn and they told that more emphasis will be placed on just the ACT.</p>
<p>My chosen major is Physics. And the scores go as: ACT 31, AP 555(without courses), SAT II ~2350 (waiting for results)</p>
<p>I'd like some advice on which one should I opt for ED, as I'll be applying to the other during RD for sure.</p>
<p>It’s probably not good either way. You are the fifth poster asking this question who is international from India that needs financial aid. I think there will be more in real life who are reading this and not posting. </p>
<p>I can withdraw myself from ED agreement if there’s no substantial financial aid. So, I want to apply to the best one here. But I’m a little skeptical about your assertion “It’s probably not good either way.” On what basis are you stating that, if I may know? And any other school that you’d suggest alongside?</p>
<p>And about the post- I couldn’t find any, so I wrote one. Financial standard gap and aspirations are some serious matters here, @DrGoogle </p>
<p>Early decision rounds were designed to serve students who have clear first choice schools. (Leaving aside the issue of how ED serves colleges) it is best to use the process to try for your first choice school, rather than gaming the odds and using it for an admissions boost etc. Cornell does not give great FA in general, I don’t know about for internationals. Which school do you most want to attend? Apply there ED. </p>
<p>@gursampannu, contact each school’s financial aid office. You can contact the Tata scholars directly, too.</p>
<p>I’m saying your stats are not good and especially you are internationals which may make it harder. Also I’ve notice in the last few weeks a few international Indian posters were wondering the same thing and that means competition is stiff. Why does it have to be an Ivy, perhaps lower your sight to other schools.</p>
<p>Thanks, @nynightowl and @Hippobirdy
@DrGoogle, so that means ACT is the make/break, because my other stats are- I think- pretty good. No?</p>
<p>I didn’t see anything but your ACT. What’s your GPA and main ECs.</p>
<p>I do not know how to convert my marks to GPA.
It’s out of 100: Math-96 English-90 Physics-95 Programming-87 Chemistry-91
ECs:
Winner of state science fair
MOOCs (if that’s applicable)
Awarded as city best guitarist among all age groups (freelancer)
Repair lab equipments and make cool things (nerd’s bliss 
)
Best graphics designer by school, won around 10 presentation competitions (freelancer, again)
Started a gaming community to pull out gamers from their dens and be recognized in national competitions- organized LAN Parties with top universities in the area
Organized IT Fests and Robotics fests with national top universities
President of Science club and ICT club
Delivered talks to motivate people towards science in local TED (kinda) events</p>
<p>I just chalked them out, so sorry for a bad the representation.
And I also mentioned my SAT II expectation and AP scores. Are they just…say…neutral?</p>
<p>Ok I’m not an expert in your kind of GPA but for Penn if you check its common data set I think 95% or close to it freshman admits are in top 10%. So you ranking should be in the top 10 %. Your ECs seem ok, Sat subject tests are great but don’t count as much as the ACT scores. You only took 3 AP tests?</p>
<p>My school doesn’t offer any AP classes. Nearest AP course is 500 km away. 
So, I self studied for them- MIT OpenCourseWare for the win!
I am in the top 2%, I guess, but it’s unlikely school will report that data. </p>