I’ve applied ED to a university in the US as an international student. I’ve applied for financial aid as well. My family is financially unstable but I wanted to have a higher chance being accepted so I applied anyways. If I got accepted, can I pay the deposit in February and still apply to other colleges? I might need a full-ride but I also want to wait until May to see if I can pay for the unuversity.
Edit: I haven’t sent in the CSS PROFILE yet
I would be very surprised if the school’s ED agreement allowed this, so the answer is most likely NO.
Plus I believe you usually need to enroll by January timeframe. Not entirely sure
School’s ED Agreement does not specify. It says that if I’m applying for financial aid I don’t need to withdraw my other applications if I get admitted, but doesn’t say anything about enrolling
I would assume Withdraw Apps = No New Apps. It becomes a morality discussion at some point. Can’t help you there. You know the intent of the agreement.
Are you sure this is Early Decision (ED) and not Early Action (EA)? These are two different things.
ED means you promise to attend a school if you are accepted. You are allowed to decline if the FA isn’t acceptable (though IMO you shouldn’t take this escape clause lightly, you should make an good faith effort to make sure the FA is going to be acceptable–i.e. run the NPC).
At the time of acceptance you will have a short time period to accept or decline the offer. If you choose to accept, you must withdraw all other applications (and decline any that have already accepted you). If you choose to decline, you are done with that college—no coming back in May and saying you want it.
ED is a commitment to enroll. Anyone that needs to compare FA and/or merit offers should not be applying ED.
As many times as this discussion has appeared on CC, no one has chimed in that there is any school that allows you to hold on to the ED acceptance until May. If they are telling you, that you can do this, then this would be called Early Action, which does not require a commitment. So I don’t think you can do this if it is truly ED. If you are not sure and you think your agreement says otherwise, please post it here and we can interpret it for you. Or perhaps, you meant to call this Early Action (EA) not Early Decision (ED). If it is Early Action, then you would not have to limit other applications (you can apply to as many as you want, though some EA such as REA or SCEA won’t allow EA applications elsewhere, only RD).
You said the school policy is this:
School’s ED Agreement does not specify. It says that if I’m applying for financial aid I don’t need to withdraw my other applications if I get admitted, but doesn’t say anything about enrolling .
I think your fine. They clearly say if you applied for FIN Aid, then no need to withdraw applications. It sounds like you did apply for fin aid so you are covered. I do not believe most schools use that wording. It sounds like they are a bit more lenient.
Good luck.
My point is that ED by definition means you agree to commit to the school and withdraw other applications (yes, you can decline based on FA, but that means you can’t come back to accept later). If the school’s policy actually said that they don’t need to withdraw other applications then it is Early Action not Early Decision. But the OP hasn’t given us a direct quote, only his/her interpretation. If we are given a direct quote we can help better.
I have never seen any website define ED as being able to hold onto other applications, nor have I seen anyone on this forum make that claim.
What school is this?
Some of the things that OP needs to consider:
There are only 5 colleges in the country that are need blind to international students and meet 100% demonstrated need. If he is not applying the HYS (which is EA) Amherst (having a brain freeze on school #%, but someone will chime in ).
If it is not one of these 5 schools, your ability to pay will be a factor in admissions.
In addition, you will have to prove that you have sufficient funds through financial aid or your family that will cover the cost of your studying in the US in order to get a visa. If the college cannot fund you, they will not accept you .
If you know that you need money, IMHO, it is not in your best interest to apply binding ED because you automatically lose the option of seeing what other colleges offer. In addition, because of the high likelihood of the school not being need blind, I don’t you will not gain any real admission advantage in applying ED because the international pool is extremely competitive.
When are you submitting the CSS Profile?
- Why haven't you submitted the Profile? My guess is the deadline for ED students has either past...or is...now. Get it done or you won't have a financial aid package with your ED acceptance...if you get accepted.
- Of you are accepted ED, and accept that offer, you are REQUIRED to withdraw all pending applications...and decline any other acceptances you may have received. So NO...you can't just continue to apply to schools....and wait and see how much aid you get from them.
- In your situation...I'm thinking an ED rejection might be your best bet. Get those RD applications sent...so you will have some offers to consider.
- @sybbie719 is correct. Read her post...again.
- The edge for applying ED isn't very big. And if you NEED financial aid, that should be a huge consideration in your application process.
- I hope you have an affordable option in your own country.
@sybbie719 “There are only 5 colleges in the country that are need blind to international students and meet 100% demonstrated need. If he is not applying the HYS (which is EA) Amherst (having a brain freeze on school #%, but someone will chime in )”
Actually, Stanford isn’t one of them either. The 5 are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Amherst and MIT.
Thx so much. You are right, my bad walking talking and texting. In my head I knew it was hyp. I had moment of uncertainty about MIT