<p>I've seen opinions both ways, but I guess I'm still wondering if there's a definitive answer... if you apply early decision and you get in, does that impact the amount of merit aid you might be awarded?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Edit: Effect, not Affect</p>
<p>Once you are in, scholarship money is saved to attract other prospects that could go somewhere else. Except those reserved for ED, I don’t think many students would get a merit scholarship applying early if they don’t apply for financial aid.</p>
<p>sigh. I was afraid of that. My S would really like to apply ED, but if it's going to mean that we'd wind up paying more $$ if he got accepted, then he'd better wait.</p>
<p>According to the admissions officers at Wash U, a separate committee evaluates the scholarship decisions and is not aware of whether the students apply ED or RD. I don't know if that's true. All I know is that my son was thinking of applying ED to Wash U, but decided in the end not to apply ED anywhere. He applied to 11 schools; got into 8, and got merit scholarships to 5 of those. He didn't get any scholarship from Wash U, so he chose to attend a different school. We always wondered if maybe he exhibited TOO MUCH interest in Wash U that they thought he would attend and pay full freight, so why bother with trying to entice him? We'll never know, and it doesn't really matter. My point is that you can never count on receiving a merit scholarship, so if it will matter in the long run, don't apply ED. [And my son is very happy attending a peer institution and receiving a 3/4 tuition scholarship.]</p>
<p>Blackeyedsusan, thanks for sharing that with me. That is so interesting. I do believe that my son would be happy at any number of schools. I know that applying ED increases the chance of admittance, but reading your post and others makes me think it's best to ride it out and see what he is offered from a number of schools.</p>
<p>Sure. To give you a little more insight and to understand how no one should count on merit aid because it's so hard to get a grasp on where it might come from (and where it might not), I'll share some more specifics.</p>
<p>My son applied to: Wash U, Cornell, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Rice, UT Austin, Stanford and USC. He got into all except for MIT, Princeton and Stanford. He also received merit scholarships from Vanderbilt ($20,000/yr), USC (1/2 tuition), UT Austin (3/4 tuition), Rice (3/4 tuition and a guaranteed research mentorship), and Cornell (which was based on the financial need because they're not allowed to give true merit aid since they're an ivy; since we don't qualify for FA, all it amounts to is paying for the cost of books). In the end he chose to attend Rice.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Mmomm, Careful what game you play here. How strong are your son's credentials? WashU is not giving merits out to kids who are "matches" for the school. The merits are going to try to get kids who would otherwise go to HYPS..etc. If your son was serious about WashU for ED then I would assume he really loves the school. If you qualify for financial aid, then clearly you don't want to go ED because you want to shop around for the best package. However, if you don't and are looking for merit, your only realistic shot is at a school that is a "match" or lower. ED at WashU is going to give your kid a real advantage for acceptance. Don't throw that advantage away unless your son has a realistic shot at merit at a school at the level of WashU.</p>
<p>I find it strange that newhere is giving advice on WashU merit aid, not having been through the process. Believe it or not, ED has little or no effect on merit money at WashU. I know of quite a few ED applicants that received and are receiving merit scholarships at WashU. Admissions and merit scholarships are evaluated by completely different committees at WashU. Having been through the process successfuly has given me considerable insight to the process.</p>
<p>blaceyedsusan - great choice for your son. Tough choice between the schools. A bit of a different process at Rice - been there done that also. I am sure he is very happy there.</p>
<p>Mmomm - you can PM me if you have specific questions.</p>
<p>I did a survey between classmates and upperclassmen, and most agree that merit scholarship are reserved for the RD applicants with excellent applications. Except for Ervin and a few Danforths, there is no one with dean scholarships from the ED pool.</p>
<p>Trapper - I guess your pool must be different than the one I am aware of. You also specifically mention Deans Scholarships, which are specific to Olin and account for a maximum of 6 Scholarships out of almost 200 awarded to freshmen each year. On a general basis, I stand by my statement above.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your opinions/insights/experiences. I am still not sure what the right thing to do is, but you've shared some things to ponder.</p>
<p>nervous1: my son's stats are very, very good, but I know that even ideal stats don't guarantee acceptance. My head tells me that it's wise to compare financial aid packages, but my heart wants him to go where he's happiest. Lots to think about!</p>
<p>ST2: thanks for the offer. It seems like you know a great deal about Wash U. If I come up with more questions, I'll be sure to ask you. :)</p>
<p>Mmomm, as Trapper said, Deans scholarships usually goes to RD applicants. Engineering has full and half tuition scholarships (fellowships by different names) My S is one of those scholars and he was RD (also had similar scholaships at two of the four colleges he applied to)</p>
<p>My oldest, already graduated from WashU and from MIT, used to have work-study in admissions. Those days there weren’t the number of scholarships we have today, but some of them are that old. The policy was the same, separate committees, but since they need the information from the application, they knew is the student applied early or not.
Merit scholarships are made to attract the best students, if the student is already in with no escape, why would they waste that money?</p>