<p>So my daughter has now visited a handful of schools and met with coaches (track). She's also had email contact with other coaches who have requested transcripts, etc. Almost universally, the coaches have brought up applying early decision, either as a recommendation or a requirement.</p>
<p>My daughter is a very good candidate for merit aid at many of the schools she is considering, and, unless she ends up with a clear cut first choice (which she doesn't have at this early stage), we think it's in her best interest to be able to weigh her options. </p>
<p>Has anyone else had experience with this? Is applying early decision a must?</p>
<p>Keep in mind that going ED limits the ability to compare financial aid / scholarship packages. I believe the conventional wisdom is that ED really only makes sense if paying “list price” for college is not a problem. Our son will be a freshman this fall, playing his sport at a DIII school. He visited with more than a dozen DIII coaches and only one mentioned ED, and that was not to apply. (His merit scholarship packages ranged from $0 to ~40% of the COA) Every coach was very upfront about my son’s chances for admission at their respective school. I can’t speak for all coaches in every sport, but I would we wary of any coach pusing the ED route.</p>
<p>I do not agree with this. In DI there are LOI (Letters of Intent) that mark the commitment of a student-athlete and the school. Since DIII does not have athletic scholarships there are no LOIs … instead there are coaches admission slots and student-athlete’s ED applications. At some (certainly not all) … but many including many top DIII schoolls like the NESCAC (Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, etc) the coaches have a set number of recruiting slots where they have a lot of leverage getting qualified applicants in (or at least can get an early admissions read of likelyness of admission) … in return for using one of these few slots on an athlete they want the athlete to commit to their school … to me this seems fair enough as both sides are saying the other is their first choice. So if the request for the student to apply ED is wedded to commitment from the coach to use a recruiting slot I’d say it is more than a fair deal from the standpoint of fairness in athletic recruiting. This situation still has the generic ED con of not being able to compare financial aid packages with other schools … if maximizing FA is needed then applying anywhere ED is not a great idea IMO … however, if the student-athlete waits to the RA round to compare FA they likely will not get any help from coach with admissions as their slots were likely used on athletes who could commit back in the ED round … (although, and this is pure speculation on my part, I would a lot of coaches hold back a couple recruiting slots for the RA round to pursue kids who need more financial aid or to try to grab a superstar who didn’t get the DI offer they wanted)</p>
<p>Agree 100% ^^^ with 3togo. I would suggest that any coach that suggests ED wants to know how serious you are about attending.</p>
<p>In my mind, ED is the “finalization” of a verbal committment between student athlete and coach/school for D3, Ivy, or Patriot League. You agree to play a sport for the school, and the coach agrees to sponsor you through Admissions. Until Admissions approves does it become final.</p>
<p>Schools I am referring to at present are schools in which my daughter is above the median stats required. She will not be a candidate for need-based aid, but is likely to qualify for academic scholarships. I don’t know how applying ED affects those awards if they’ve already “got you,” in a sense.</p>
<p>These schools are not schools where the coach needs to use a “slot” for her–basically, the sense is that the coaches want to have their recruiting classes lined up.</p>
<p>There are a couple of NESCAC schools on the list, which we haven’t visited yet. If one of those becomes a real contender and is at the top of the list, then I’d be more willing to have my daughter apply ED.</p>
<p>Minoafrau - I don’t know about D3 academic scholarships and ED. My best guess is they would require it, but I’ll defer to someone who knows. At one time, we were investigating D1 merit scholarships. The D1 school required an ED application with those scholariships that we were interested in.</p>
<p>I am absolutely terrified of ED and won’t do it either, for the reasons listed above. If paying full sticker is totally not an option, then I am too afraid to end up committing to the unknown. We are also in a similar situation with a D3 school which I mentioned in another thread. I believe my daughter can get in on her own and probably with academic merit aid, so wouldn’t consider applying ED to this school and risking being wrong and ending up committed to full price. But this is also not her first choice school at the moment.</p>
<p>I don’t know how many colleges have this option, but my D applied EA–Early Action. With this option if you are admitted, you are not committed to attending.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a must at all for DivIII athletics, if your kid has high stats, and if they are fine with not being accepted at a given school. Applying ED can be very helpful in securing a spot at the most selective places (Williams, Amherst) but if she is looking at the next tier of selectivity and doesn’t have a clear 1st choice, I’d agree with your approach.
My D was in this situation several years back, but I don’t think things have changed that much. She received merit aid to some good colleges, did not apply ED (even though the Williams coach encouraged it) and still was accepted to Williams and the more selective schools. She wasn’t a “star” athlete either- just a good, solid one with a lot of potential.<br>
I believe she got into the selective schools on academics alone. She wound up at Yale and decided not to continue her sport, after all. (So she didn’t even end up at a Div III.)
I would resist the pressure and have your daughter be as honest in dealing with the coaches as she can be about wanting to consider her options. That way, when the acceptances come in, she can feel good that she has not led anyone on (as far as promising to come) and she will have options. She may not get into all of her schools - some may be so selective that the boost from ED would have mattered (schools like Williams, again.) But I don’t think it would be worth it to limit herself early if she is basically an academic who loves her sport, rather than primarily an athlete who wants the best school she can leverage with her sports ability. You never know, as she may decide not to continue after high school.</p>
<p>If, on the other hand, if she is primarily an athlete and wants to use her talent to get into the strongest school she can, disregard my entire post, and apply ED to the best academic/sports combo after a discussion (and encouragement) with the coach.</p>
<p>The nice thing about track, it’s all about the times. You can easily look on any school’s athletic website and “eyeball” where your daughter’s times put her in relation to the team. Also take a look at last season’s conference and national times. Most DIII coaches look for kids that can score points at the conference and/or national level (depends on how competitive the school is…) Using her track times and academic stats (GPA, rank, test scores, etc.) you can develop a list of those schools that are both an academic and an athletic fit. (Team sports is a much different situation.) Our son did apply EA at several schools and it did relieve some of the “admissions stress” early in the process. If you are going the merit aid route, ED is really not an option.</p>
<p>minofrau, having seen your posts on other boards I have some idea of the other schools your daughter is considering. For the Patriot League schools, you could ask for a “financial aid review and if your daughter would be in the pool for the competitive merit scholarships”. We are acquainted with someone who asked this question as received a reasonable answer…allowing them to make a suitable decision. It can also be really helpful to know how many of those academic scholarships they have available to give out, and how your D would fit in the competition for them.</p>
<p>S was looking at East Coast DIII schools and FA was critical for us, so he put off the coaches who raised ED by explaining that to them, which they accepted. ED is fine for kids who either know they won’t qualify for need-based aid and can live without merit aid, too, if it comes to that, and for kids who know they will receive lots of need-based aid. S considered and was recruited by a mix of DIII schools, some at which he knew he’d get in and would get lots of merit aid and others where admission was most competitive but only need-based aid was available. We tried to focus on the best FA schools of the group in case he decided he would have to go ED to get a guaranteed roster spot at one of the top academic schools. We realized, as 3togo said, that in his sport at least, the longer he held out committing, the more risk there was that a coach would fill his roster through ED.</p>
<p>Ultimately, S applied EDII (Jan. 1 date) to his first choice, a top NESCAC school, was admitted, and got his roster spot. We held our breath on the FA, but because we had done the FA calculators and this is a no-loans school, we hoped he would get a package we can live with. It turned out okay (we won’t be fighting the dog for her kibble), but it’s not going to be as easy for us as S playing his sport at a merit-aid school would have been. Overall, we’re happy he’s going to the school that’s the strongest combination of academics and athletics and he appreciates the financial sacrifice we’re making.</p>
<p>Royal, nice to see you here again. Thanks for your help before. I hope your son will have a good season this fall.</p>
<p>Agreed that if you need FA then wait for RD.</p>
<p>My son got his wants but lost the slot he is going to this Fall. This is the risk you have to take. Every family is different and for us it is the best situation. DS will walk on this fall for his sport. Cross fingers.</p>
<p>I am trying to understand the situation about FA and ED. If you completed an early estimator financial aid questionnaire accurately, and the result from the school looks fine, how does ED hurt you? The particular school promises to meet 100% of financial aid for ED only.
Thanks</p>
<p>When a school decides that it has met full need, it’s their - not your - definition of full need that determines the dollar amount. And it can vary. I was a bit nervous about letting my D apply ED to her dream school, but had read many reports of their reasonableness - indeed, generosity - with financial aid. That made it a risk I was willing to take, and it has worked out very well. But I agree with some posters above: it is a much lower risk for those who have no need, or really high need, than it is for middle class kids whose parents can theoretically afford $50k per year.</p>
<p>rsgathman – I don’t recall seeing schools that limited full need aid to ED applicants, but I’ll assume that’s the case. I agree with the points the other posters make. For us last year, we made sure the schools S was applying to had either generous merit aid or generous need-based aid, preferably no-loan in college’s aid package. S ended up applying ED II to a top need-only aid school with no loans in pkg and it’s okay for this first year (our income fluctuates due to self-employment, so we’ll be holding our breath every year).</p>
<p>The school is CMU, and the early FA estimator results actually shows a higher FA amount for ED. Hopefully, it is accurate.
Is there any way to leverage a better FA package if applying ED?
Thanks</p>
<p>We spoke with the FA director at the school my son is considering ED at and were told to go by the numbers on the FA calculator and we would get a very accurate idea. We will be fairly high need (income around 70K, no assets, so prob looking at 12-15K out of pocket). We have been told by other parents that this school is quite generous with grant money. Student contributes $1000/year and works 5 hours/week. Federal loans (for student) are capped at $3000/year. School gives their own loans at either $1000 or $2000/year as part of the package. The remainder of the package is grant (average grant last year was in the 30’s (FA director gave us a sheet with all of last year’s numbers). Sounds okay.</p>