I was reading an article on Georgetown’s EA admissions and the Dean of Undergrad Admissions said they admit a lower percentage EA because the pool tends to be more privileged and they want everyone to have a fair shot. I thought that was interesting and a pretty noble goal considering colleges with ED have much higher acceptance rates and most EAs are at least the same as RD rates. However, how do they know how a student is privileged or not? I thought everything relating to money was on financial aid forms(FAFSA and Profile) which was separate from the admissions committee. So how exactly do colleges take this into account?
The assumption that adcoms make with EA applicants is that FA is not a huge issue for them, since they’re willing to accept an acceptance without knowing about any aid beforehand.
@JenJenJenJen EA isnt binding and I thought EA had until the same time as RD students to make a decision
My mistake, I was thinking of ED.
Adcomms don’t know your parents’ exact income, but they can glean insights about your socioeconomic status from reading your essay, seeing the name of your school, the AP offerings your school has, what types of ECs you do, your parents occupation/education.
Not a lot of poor kids do community service trips in Costa Rica and are captain of varsity squash team, or have parents who are engineers or investment bankers.
Do adcoms also see where your parents went to school and their job titles?
If it is in the common app, they see it. I don’t know if the latest common app has that detail – I seem to remember that the old one did, though.
What if the job title is vague though? My parents are “small business owners” which could be interpreted in many ways. Does socioeconomic status even matter much though? My school is on average closer to upper middle class but 95% of our class(including me until last year) don’t know subject tests exist.
About ECs, I play tennis and I was actually thinking about writing about that for an essay. Tennis is stereotyped as a rich person sport and I wanted to write about how I tried to stay competitive without spending a car payment each week on private lessons lol. Idk if that’s a good topic though. It is my biggest EC but sounds kind of cliche.
Definitely. Your achievements are looked at in the context of the opportunities which are available to you.
A poor kid who goes to an underperforming school may be cut some slack for a lower GPA, if the school doesn’t offer lots of AP/honors course opportunities to “inflate” his/her GPA.
A poor kid w few “ECs” because he/she has to work/ take care of younger siblings because single mom is a hotel housekeeper, will be looked upon more favorably than an affluent kid w few ECs because he stayed at home to play video games.
^what about a poor kid (due to unfortunate circumstances) at a highly-ranked high school with a lower GPA but higher test scores and good ECs?
It is probably fortunate if the poor kid gets to attend a better high school than most high schools that poor kids have to attend. College admissions readers will be more confident about his/her high school preparation (assuming that grades and course rigor are not too low), but may still take into account other stuff related to being from a poor family (e.g. EC is working to help support the family or caring for other family members instead of typical expensive ECs that are markers for high SES).
@LBad96, it is more mixed because colleges do base on zip code. Coming from a wealthy district they may assume the kid has access to the same resources, tennis etc. Obviously if the parents did not complete high school, immigrated, work as maids in the local hotel yes, they will give them the benefit as ^.
If it is less obvious, they may be cut less slack which will hurt them but also will be assumed (in need blind schools) to have less or no need. This part will help them, since it is less of a financial risk for the school. While no need blind school knows exactly how much need a student has, most schools can get a sense from zip codes, parents occupations and ECs.
OP, tennis as an essay topic can be cliche, especially if you will not be recruited. However, PAYING for tennis may not be. However, it would have to be done very carefully and will depend on when your essay hits. If it hits after the kid who has been helicopotered his whole life you would be fine especially if YOU were the one responsible for paying for tennis. If you happen to hit right after the kid who escaped from some oppressive regime and he, his little twin sisters and his single mother have to live in a homeless shelter while he does his intel project, it will not work.
I though Georgetown was ‘need aware’ for admissions after admitting it was considering income?
@twoinanddone No, Georgetown is need blind.
You’re mixing up Georgetown and George Washington.