Most people say that applying ED will give you less of a chance to receive a merit scholarship. However, this video I stumbled upon from the ex-Director of Merit Scholarships at Duke said that ED and RD students are considered at the same time, and neither one has an advantage or disadvantage. (What a Duke University Merit Scholarships Director Really Wants from Applicants - YouTube at 8:54)
So is it true that ED and RD applicants are on an even playing field?
Duke has been my dream school for a long time, and I want to apply ED, but I don’t want to do that if I have a better chance of getting a merit scholarship by applying RD.
I would not have a dream school, and I would not count on receiving merit from a school with single digit acceptance rates. Getting in is hard enough (most don’t).
If your family can afford to pay what the NPC says, then apply ED. If you receive merit, great! I believe ED will increase acceptance chances (for qualified applicants).
If there is any doubt about ability to pay, apply regular decision.
Nobody really knows what discussions take place behind closed doors with regard to scholarships. Make sure you have academic and financial safeties.
Good luck!
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It’s impossible to say. However, think about what you would do if you ED and get accepted but don’t get the merit aid you expected.
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Many schools, maybe even most, say there’s no impact - but if you had a marketing budget (that’s what merit is), would you spend on someone you didn’t need to because they’re already cash in the bank ?
If you want and/or need merit, one shouldn’t ED - if it was needed to attend.
Getting into Duke is brutally tough. Getting merit even tougher.
Good luck.
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My daughter applied ED to Duke and was a semifinalist for one of their generous merit scholarships prior to Covid suspending the process for that year. I would take Duke at their word. The process is extremely challenging and extremely competitive, best of luck to you.
Not Duke but my ds applied ED to his first choice and received generous merit money.
Many schools, maybe even most, say there’s no impact - but if you had a marketing budget (that’s what merit is), would you spend on someone you didn’t need to because they’re already cash in the bank ?
That’s what I was thinking, but the interview is with someone who is a former director at duke. Given that she no longer works there, I would think that she has no reason to hide any details, right?
Also, is it possible to become a semifinalist/finalist for multiple merit scholarships at Duke? I know that almost definitely won’t happen for me; I’m just curious.
Even if it doesn’t affect your chance of merit at a particular school, Duke in this case, it affects your chance of merit in general because you can no longer compare offers across schools.
If Duke’s current officials claim that there is no negative impact on merit for ED applicants, I am willing to believe them. For scholarships like Robertson, they want the best of the best because the impressiveness of that group serves as positive marketing to attract the next class of applicants.
Even if ED doesn’t hurt your chances, you have to be completely comfortable with the financial aspect assuming that you won’t be awarded any merit. Because, chances are, you won’t get offered any…not because of ED, but because every accepted student is impressive and it will be difficult to stand out among them.
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If you look at Duke’s CDS, section H2, question G, you can see that of 1,744 incoming freshmen that year, a whopping 55 were offered merit. That’s 3%.
That means 3% of the kids who matriculated received any merit…you simply cannot ask about merit at Duke in the same breath as an ED decision.
Even if your chances are not hurt by applying ED, they are so slim that it cannot be a consideration for whether or not to apply ED. You have to be 100% comfortable with the NPC figure.
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But again I said they say it’s true and you have no reason to doubt them.
But anecdotally across the board, I don’t believe it’s true. But it’s anecdotal. If you look at a W&L Johnson for example, few win.
Duke has so many full pay so if someone chose to not go there due to lack of merit, then they have plenty to fill with. Others need merit to attract top students. But no one needs merit to attract an ED student unless that ED student is willing to break their agreement.
If you want to go to Duke, no matter the money, you should apply ED. If you want to go to Duke but your family is weary of the cost and you won’t qualify for need aid, then you shouldn’t. But given the ED lift is your best odds. It had a 21% acceptance rate vs 5% RD.
Put another way - would they rather you go to Duke at $90k ish which is around the current COA) or a school where Duke wannabes end up - and it may be due to affordability, not rejection - like Furman - that may be $50k or less because they (parents) won’t pay by the time you graduate $400k for college.
You’re asking a question no one can truly answer because you’re hoping someone will say you will win merit at Duke. And admission is highly unlikely. But merit even more so.
Good luck.
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I am just going to reiterate this post as I agree with all of it. I think Duke is unique in that it’s offering a handful of merit opportunities for institutional reasons and I don’t think marketing is the focus. But, my daughter had some extremely generous merit offers she couldn’t pursue as she’d ED’d at Duke.
If you’re really a strong enough candidate to be competitive for one of the scholarships at Duke, you’ll have other much more likely merit offers at other schools that you’d forego your choice to ED. Just how important merit is in your calculation is critical to understand before making the decision to ED.
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