<p>I posted this on the finan.aid forum but it might be relavant here as well:</p>
<p>I just recently learned of this.</p>
<p>Two of my friends (both international students) applied to Yale last year, one got in, one didn't.
They both had stellar test scores (1550+, 800s for the SAT IIs), and Friend A was the valedictorian of a competitive international prep school, while Friend B was ranked third of the same school.</p>
<p>I had a chance to read both of their essays (we all traded essays with each other for evaluation), and in my opinion A's essays were clearly superior and more real. In addition, Friend A had better ECs, and more leadership positions than B, although B's ECs weren't bad (they just weren't as good as A's).</p>
<p>BUT
A applied for Financial Aid (lots of it), while B, did not.</p>
<p>Well guess what, B got in, and A didn't. While there may have been other intangible factors, I do not see how B got in and A did not, if colleges were truly need-blind; both were of the same ethic background (Asian), both had similar scores, but in every other aspect A was much better.</p>
<p>Maybe I am being overly cynical?
Any insights/responses?</p>
<p>Yes, I have the same feelings as you. In fact, I think almost all of the Princeton acceptees on CC did not apply for financial aid. IMO, at least the other colleges that claim that they are not need-blind are honest enough to tell prospective students.</p>
<p>dude i fail to agree....in fact i wud not draw conclusion like that .</p>
<p>the very fact is i dont known when ppl will get over </p>
<p>essay
Sat scores
Acads
Ecs</p>
<p>for their application evaluation... I mean well yes u can estimate the only difference in their admission application to be financial aid part but well how do u actually know whether that was THE ONLY one.. </p>
<p>well there are hundreds of factor that come to play when we say of applications and here one small mistake can be enough for rejection.. the fact is no one can ever say why this happened..</p>
<p>We know that the diff was in financial aid from what information is presented..
but there are still plenty other factors for acceptance at Princeton...</p>
<p>Also dude consider this , ,that Princeton and like schools have almost an official fixed number of acceptances from each part of the world.. The fact that there application may be alike may have been a cause too.</p>
<p>they certainly may have wanted to take only one of those two ppl.. and even without the finaid part they may have found B better.( essays are subjective and highly dependant on reader) .. that may have caused A to get rejected..
the fact that u view the Ecs and stuff this way doesn't really mean adcomm wud also do the same.. </p>
<p>REMEMBER THERE ARE PLENTY OF FACTORS THAT LIES ON THE APPLICATION FOLDER TO GET ONE THE COVETED ACCEPTANCE...</p>
<p>" think almost all of the Princeton acceptees on CC did not apply for financial aid."
Nope all 4 acceptees from India last year got 100% financial aid.</p>