<p>For those who applied to college, Do you recommend early Decision or regular decision? I know it is kind of early to ask but I want to start cutting down my list of colleges and begin to write my essays. I am hopefully going to apply to Columbia University but do not know if i should apply in early or regular. If I apply in early decision but I have not recieved financial aid, am I allowed to back down from the decision? Are minorities allowed to apply for early decsion? Just asking b/c I heard early decision is just like an extra 100 points on an SAT test.</p>
<p>If you're worried at all about your financial situtaion, then you shouldn't apply ED.
If you're ready to apply early and schools that you're interested in have EA, then apply then through EA. </p>
<p>Beyond MBP's excellent point about financial aid, the real limits on applying early decision are, first, if your scores, grades, etc. (all those numbers that make up a certain portion of your application) are where you want them to be. If they are, then, second, are you absolutely sure you want that school? If accepted, you will be committed, and I've heard many stories about students starting out with one idea of where they wanted to go and then ending up with a completely different "ideal school". So you want to be careful. </p>
<p>Early Action is always a comfortable option (provided you're happy with your numbers) because you can express early interest but won't be committed if accepted, plus you can apply to more than one of those at a time. There is also the Single Choice Early Action option which some schools employ which means that you can only apply to the one school early action but you will not be committed if accepted. I don't think Columbia is an SCEA but I'm really not sure.</p>
<p>You should consider though ,that Columbia , gives a really good amount of money to it's students. My cousin attends Columbia, and she pays close to nothing.</p>
<p>If you're going to rely on need based aid I would not go ED. Keep in mind that you are locked into your ED choice unless you can make a very strong case you can't afford to attend. By applying to multiple schools during RD and seeing what each offers you have much more flexibility. I think ED is mainly useful for people who can pay the full freight.</p>
<p>I applied ED to Columbia. Only apply ED if you are EXTREMELY sure that is your #1 choice school and would take it over any other school. It is said that ED has an admissions advantage, perhaps because they are really sure that the students applying truly want to go there, but others say that the ED effect is fairly negligible due to the large amount of minorities, legacies, and athletes that apply early. Take that as you will!</p>
<p>cittcatt91, i'm wodnering the same thing! thanks for starting the discussion. i remember reading on columbia's site that we're only exempt from the "binding-ness" of early decision when $$ comes into play.</p>
<p>When do u apply for financial aid? Do u find out if you recieve any aid before the early decision deadline? I know I would pick columbia over any university. However, viva<em>sweet</em>love, are you attending columbia? If so, do you like it? Is it worth early decision?</p>
<p>I believe the early acceptance rate is about 30%, so I guess 70%. Which is a lot when you compare it to the regular decision acceptance rate, which for Columbia College I think hovers around 8-9%. </p>
<p>Here are the important dates:
November 1, 2006-Admissions: Application postmark deadline for Early Decision candidates.</p>
<p>November 15- Financial Aid: Early Decision candidates must submit the Columbia Application for Need-Based Financial Aid, the CSS Profile and 2005 tax forms and, if applicable, business/farm tax information and their Non-Custodial Parent Statement.</p>
<p>Mid-December-Admissions: Decision letters mailed to Early Decision candidates. (We found out Dec. 7th this year)</p>
<p>I believe that your financial aid information arrives at the same time as your offer of admission does (by mail, the decision comes a couple of days earlier by e-mail) because first they have to see if youre accepted and then they will calculate how much money they are willing to give.</p>
<p>I will be attending Columbia this fall, so I can't tell you yet if I like the school as much as I hope I will. However, I don't regret doing early decision for an instant. I knew I would have to decide eventually and I had two favorite schools. Best case scenario that I would be accepted to both in regular decision was not very likely, so I went with my gut and chose to apply to Columbia early d.</p>