Early Decision

<p>pros and cons?</p>

<p>Pro – Usually increases your chances of being admitted if you are a match or slight reach because ED sends a signal to the school that they are your #1 choice and you are serious about attending. Another pro is that getting admitted ED is that it takes out all of the stress that RD applicants go through. If your ED school denies you, you can still apply RD elsewhere.</p>

<p>Con – Schools admitting you ED will insist you immediately withdraw RD applications at other schools. The consequence of this you won’t be able to compare multiple offers and shop around for the best financial aid offer. You can neutralize this to some extent by choosing an ED school that has a will-meet-demonstrated-need FA policy (which means they won’t ask you to pay more than your Profile or FAFSA EFC amount, more or less).</p>

<p>Bottom line you should only apply ED if you are 100% sure that’s the school you want to go to.</p>

<p>"Bottom line you should only apply ED if you are 100% sure that’s the school you want to go to. " And your family can afford to send you there without knowing what the FA situation might be.</p>

<p>^ Unless you’ve run the numbers through that specific school (online calculator, early ED aid estimate), it meets full need with no loans, and you are confident in being able to pay your EFC. ED can been a great boon to low-income high achievers if used properly.</p>

<p>so if they cover half the tuition and you get accepted
can loans cover the rest?</p>