So my son is interested in 2 colleges. One offers a possible full ride (they only offer one of those and it’s competitive) and the other is a full need met college that, based on the NPC, would strain our budget but may be doable.
Some here is the dilemma: The full need met college is big on interest and stated during the interview that showing interest
in the college makes a difference in acceptance rate and they said applying ED can be a big help. I know colleges always want to up their yield but this sounded sincere so I am taking their word for it.
The problem is that if he applies ED then wins the full ride at the other (he has an off chance) then we will have to decline the ED offer, which I don’t agree with doing.
Does anyone think it will make any difference if we let the full need college know that he is still very interested but won’t be applying ED just in case he gets a full ride which would make it much easier on family finances since we have a daughter a year behind for college?
Can you look at the common data set for the full need college? They have statistics about how many kids apply and are accepted ED. With all the schools I’ve looked at, I’ve never seen a college that accepts more than 1/2 of the freshmen class ED (usually 35-50%). Therefore, there are still a lot of other kids accepted in the regular round. So show interest in as many other ways as you can, and forego ED, particularly if money is an issue.
Check the notification dates - it is highly doubtful you will know the result for the full ride merit scholarship before the commitment date for ED.
mjrube94-I checked- the difference is actually about 20% between ED and RD
BobWallace-No, it won’t work out in terms of the timing which is why I’m hoping that explaining th the college that their school is our top choice other than FA might help.
Seems like the ED school is not the clear first choice (based on what financial aid and scholarship offers show up from that school and the other school), so it does not really make sense to apply ED.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicants-interest-p1.html discusses other ways to show a high “level of applicant’s interest”.
Fundamentally it sounds like your son needs a wider list that includes some other colleges with either adequate financial aid or scholarships for which he is very likely to qualify.
Have you run the net price calculator at the college for which he might apply ED?
Colleges offer ED because they can lock-in enrollment. When you back out recruited athletes (who are strongly encouraged/required to apply ED) and legacy students (who are sometimes only granted significant legacy status IF they apply ED), the bump may not be as large as you might imagine.