<p>Hey all, I was hoping to get some advice regarding Early Decision and Financial Aid.</p>
<p>I'm considering applying via early decision to Whitman. It's a great college and I would love to go there (enough for it to be my first choice). The biggest obstacle in making this decision is financial aid. I come from a very low income family so I cannot afford to pay any significant portion of the cost to go to a private college.</p>
<p>Since I know that some colleges tend to offer quite a bit less financial aid to those who apply early decision I was wondering if that's the case with Whitman. Since financial aid is need based and my family is very low income, would applying early decision have any significant effect on how much financial aid would be offered to me? I would really like to apply early decision but if it affects financial aid I simply won't be able to.</p>
<p>On a related note, does applying early decision to Whitman increase chances of getting accepted?</p>
<p>Applying early increases your chances in the sense that a larger proportion of these applicants are accepted. And your are clearly establishing your value for/committment to the college by applying ED and this is something they value. When they deny or defer at ED it is usually because they have some question about the goodness of “fit”.</p>
<p>My understanding is that they will make a financial aid offer with admission (I think in comes separately in a different envelope however). If the aid is not sufficient, you then have the option of being released from the ED commitment and I expect they are open to some discussion/negotiation at that point–since they clearly by then are wanting you to come. I would not hold back if this is your true first choice. I’d make your level of need clear and discuss this concern with Admissions directly now. They will be honest about the circumstances. You can always decide to wait for the regular round but will have made your priority for them clear and that is good too.</p>
<p>Keep in mind too that with the E.D. admissions decision and (hopefully) an acceptance in hand, you are then free to look for outside scholarship help as well, so your funding options are not just from within the college (at any college)</p>
<p>Also interested in ED/financial aid… So, when you say you can be released from the ED commitment if you don’t receive sufficient aid, do you mean you lose your acceptance? Or can you apply to other schools to see if you get a greater financial aid package and then decide weather or not you can attend Whitman?<br>
Thanks for the info!</p>
<p>My understanding is that if you decide you cannot accept the ED admit and need to look elsewhere based on their FA, then you could still decide to be considered in the regular admit pool and if admitted, be free to compare offers in the later round.</p>
<p>You cannot “hold” an ED admit to see what else happens elsewhere. I was just making the point that you could have a heartfelt discussion about your level of need at the time of admission (or application) and see what is possible. They may need to say no, their original offer is final, because they still need to fund people in their regular round and they cannot spend it all in the initial round. ED is not the route to take if you need to obtain your very best financial aid offer possible. But it might be possible to get a level of aid you need. Only you, your family, and the school can get to that specific answer.</p>
<p>However, if you are a good fit and honest about your need level you may get an adequate amount at the outset if your need is great enough. An issue can arise because there is often a difference between what the applicant/family feels is “sufficient” aid and what the school sees as sufficient/expectable given the reported income. </p>
<p>Kids with financial privilege do have the advantage that they can go into the ED round often knowing that they will not qualify for aid most places and so might as well jump in if they know where they want to be. Kids who need to maximize their aid options often have to wait it out. However, since schools are often looking to increase their social-economic diversity, if you are on the margin of admission by some stats, you may have an advantage in ED for some of these other stats. You just have to talk to them and make your case.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Whitman in particular, but for most colleges if you are accepted ED and do not enroll due to financial hardship, the college will withdraw your acceptance and NOT consider you for regular decision. You should contact Whitman’s admission office to find out their exact policy.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I’m looking for Whitman-specific answers though, less general responses. I know every college is different when it comes to early decision so I was wondering what Whitman’s policies are. They don’t have too much information regarding early decision on their website (offering less money / greatly increasing acceptance rate isn’t really something most schools publish anyway) so I was wondering if anyone who has gone through Whitman’s admission process could give any advice.</p>
<p>You might need to post on a Whitman Class of 20xx Facebook page to get more specific answer. I don’t think many Whitties follow this board once they are in. I do think you can talk quite candidly with Admissions folks about this concern. If you are reluctant to do it yourself, perhaps your guidance counselor could get some info directly from Whitman F.A. or Admissions about the maximum aid likely in an ED admit.</p>
<p>One issue is that it is not possible for Whitman to meet 100% of every student’s need. But if Whitman is your dream school, you have little to lose by applying ED. Whitman uses the Common Application; its ED rules include this:
<p>I applied EDII to Whitman and had a lot of financial need as well. The fact that I was accepted ED did not seem to impact my aid. I can’t guarantee that will be the case for you, but that was my experience. </p>
<p>Whitman’s policy is if your aid is insufficient, you are released from the ED agreement. However, you cannot be in the regular applicant pool then.</p>
<p>The ED admission rate is higher than the regular one. That was why I did it. If Whitman is really your first choice, I would say do ED.</p>
<p>The other thing I should warn you about is this year Whitman changed their admissions policy to need sensitive. I think this is really problematic, but I hope people are at least aware of it when they are applying. This means that for about 10% of applicants (usually later in the cycle when the admissions people are considering waitlisted applicants), ability to pay tuition is one of the admission factors (ie if you have a lot of need, you might not be accepted). This is apparently common among small private schools.</p>
<p>Usually they will send separately and soon a financial aid offer if any is being granted. You have time to consider all of this before replying to accept or decline the ED offer.</p>