I’m applying this fall to Penn and I’m considering applying early decision. I know it’s a really big choice to make and I’m waiting until the end of the summer to decide if Penn really is my top school once I visit some other schools. What I’m wondering is, does applying early decision really increase your chances of being accepted over if you were to apply regular decision? Thanks!
The published numbers say you have a better chance.
How important is comparing fin aid packages? This is usually the biggest reason not to apply to an ED program. Have you had the “money talk” with your parents yet?
My parents’ main concerns with the Ivies are their price and the financial aid packages offered because they don’t feel that I would get a lot of financial aid based on their incomes. They are partial to the state schools because they know that I could easily be awarded a lot of money in scholarships, which would resolve the problem of me having student loans. However, they know that it’s my dream to go to a school like Penn and I think that when it comes time to apply if it’s really what I want they would be willing to help me figure out how to pay for it.
When my daughter and I went to a Penn admissions info session on campus in June 2014, the AO delivering the briefing stressed the importance of applying ED. For the prior year they had admitted 25% and filled basically half their class. He said that if you wait to apply regular decision the admissions rate is less than 10% and you will have a very hard time gaining admission even as an athlete or legacy. So if you really want to go to Penn, he stressed that you want to apply ED. My daughter ruled out Penn based on that presentation because it, and the tour, convinced her that she wouldn’t want to apply there ED. From casually following the top 20 schools over the past two years, it appears that Penn’s admissions decisions continue to follow that profile.
No one should apply ED to a school they are not certain they want to attend. But if Penn is your first choice, you almost certainly should apply ED.
Thank you so much!
@aspiringtoivy @T26E4 Applying ED does not mean that you just have to accept whatever financial aid package they give you. If the financial aid package is less than what you have explicitly stated that you need then the ED contract is no longer binding and you can choose to attend another school. Also ivies, Stanford ,MIT will usually match the financial aid of each other. So say you get into penn but with less aid than what you want/need and also to Yale with more aid. You can show Penn the financial aid letter from Yale to get them to increase the amount they give you. Also Penn is a wealthy school, in the vast majority of cases they are pretty generous with aid, so that will not be a major issue.
If you decide Penn is your top choice then you should definitely apply ED. The increase in chances of acceptance is significant.
My interviewer asked me why I hadn’t applied ED.
Thanks, I really hope to go to Penn!
It is true that you can get out of ED contract for insufficient FA. However, it is not easy decision to give up Penn acceptance and apply to other schools. They sometimes restrict your choice as a condition of letting you out of contract, for example, not allowing to other ivies etc.
@f2000sa I haven’t heard that before but if it does happen i think it is because ivies have a policy of matching each others aid. So saying you want to enroll at another Ivy over Penn because of insufficient financial aid is not really a valid argument (since Penn will match the other ivy s aid of you show them the paper from the other school). But you can definitely apply to other ivies if the aid is not sufficient and then use whatever they give you as leverage to get Penn to raise its aid to you.
@Penn95 How is this possible: “… saying you want to enroll at another Ivy over Penn because of insufficient financial aid is not really a valid argument (since Penn will match the other ivy s aid of you show them the paper from the other school). But you can definitely apply to other ivies if the aid is not sufficient and then use whatever they give you as leverage to get Penn to raise its aid to you.” Penn requires a confirmation of attendance by Jan 5 for early admits. Penn also states ( http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/freshman-admission/early-and-regular-decision ) that: “if a student applies Early Decision to the University of Pennsylvania and to another school, the Early Decision application to Penn will be withdrawn” So, (a) If a student is accepted early at Penn, he/she can not apply early anywhere else and retain his/her Penn early acceptance, and (b) has to accept Penn’s offer BEFORE they will have received any regular admissions offers. So, with it not possible to have any other fin aid offers in hand before an answer is required by Penn, what offers are you saying the student can show to Penn to match?
Just to be clear
If you are admitted during the ED.
- If you accept Penn's admission, you have to withdraw all other applications
- If you want to get out of ED contract due to insufficient Financial Aid. Penn may let you out, which means, that your admission to Penn is nullified. Sometimes, they let you our on some conditions, for example, not applying to other Ivies during the RD.
@tdy123 I thought that you could just extend the time you need to get back to them to the RD round because they didn’t give you enough money, but prob this is not how it is. So I guess you d have to just reject the Penn acceptance and just apply to other schools? Still tho @f2000sa it seems a bit extreme that they would require you not to apply to other ivies. Like they didn’t give you enough money so you have to go with other choices, I don’t think it sounds reasonable for them to dictate what schools you can or cannot apply to. If this is the case it is a very unfair policy imo. In any case I think that happens rarely if at all since Penn is in general quite generous with aid.
You don’t do ED if you want to be able to compare financial offers. The restrictions are all very clearly laid out when going into it.
I can vouch for @f2000sa comments above as Penn told us that son could get out of ED contract if we applied for financial aid and they didn’t meet our aid expectations -but that son could not go to another ivy … (so he couldn’t be accepted at Penn, turn them down and then apply regular decision to another IVY… but he could turn down Penn and take a full ride at Temple or Alabama -they just ask that you go back to them to re-evaluate $$ before you turn it down)
I am not sure of their exact wording bc once son was accepted to Wharton he was determined to go come hell or high-water or $300k in loans… but we did check with student financial services to be clear before applying ED and that was what they told us.
BUT if you have any questions feel free to just call them and ask!
@Penn95 I tend to agree that binding Early Decision can be unfair to applicants - particularly as compared to non-binding Early Action programs. The big advantage of ED to college administrators is that it lets them drive up their yield numbers. With Penn accepting close to half of their incoming classes ED, it greatly inflates their apparent yield over what it what be if they had a non-binding EA program. Families that are well off enough that fin aid is not a consideration are not disadvantaged by ED, for others, it can be a problem. Bottom line is that EA benefits students and ED benefits colleges.
^ Yes, totally correct. Do not apply ED unless you can go to the school. When does Penn give you the complete fin aid package? At acceptance? If later, and you say yes then find out you really can’t you have wasted chances at other schools. ED rarely benefits the student. Only the student whose family has no qualms about fin because they can afford it or a low income student who is accepted by a school that meets 100% need with no loans.
Do not go into high debt. No school is worth this.