<p>College Confidential:
I am a Senior from Miami, Fl. My top choice (and dream school) is The College of William & Mary.<br>
I was going to apply early decision; however I was afraid that I could put my family and I in a bad financial situation, because its binding (I am an out of state student). I would have to make a lot of sacrifices to go to W&M.
My question is, would the admissions officers at W&M not consider applicants that do not meet a certain GPA or SAT score floor? Would they do this in order to alleviate the load of applicants, in comparison to the 1,000 applicant pool in early decision?
I am going to apply regular decision anyway, but I always seem to look back and distrust my actions.
Virtual Regards,
~Anthony</p>
<p>You’re wise to consider the cost of college, which is a huge factor in choosing the right school. W & M is indeed a wonderful college, but the cost is (justifiably) high for OOS students, and the school (justifiably) meets the need of instate students before those from OOS.</p>
<p>W & M uses a holistic admissions process, as you can see from reading many of the current threads on this board. However, it is a fact that in 2009, no entering students (RD or ED) were in the bottom half of their hs graduating class or had GPAs lower than a 2.5 (and less than one-half of one percent of entering freshman had GPAs that low). Similarly, only about 2 percent of entering freshmen had SAT scores of less than 500 for CR or Math. Adcoms need to admit a class that can succeed in a challenging academic atmosphere - one reason that your academic record is so important. You can find the information about last year’s entering freshman class in the common data set: <a href=“http://web.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_0910_part_c.pdf[/url]”>http://web.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_0910_part_c.pdf</a></p>
<p>Glad you decided to apply RD. What other schools are on your list?</p>
<p>As mentioned, we do practice holistic review which means no application is automatically put into one decision category or the other. Additionally, no mathematical formula is used to arrive at a decision. Regardless of your numbers, we read every application at least twice, from cover to cover, to provide you a thorough and thoughtful review.</p>
<p>Certainly some students will be more competitive than others and one’s academic record is certainly a large part of our consideration. But we require a list of extracurricular involvements, an essay, and a guidance counselor’s letter of recommendation because we understand that students are more than just numbers and that they can contribute to a campus community in many ways.</p>
<p>“however I was afraid that I could put my family and [myself] in a bad financial situation, because its binding”</p>
<p>Note that W&M uses the Common Application; its ED rules include this:
<a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf</a></p>
<p>vossron, we are a Common App school but our policy regarding the ED agreement and financial aid can be found on our web site: If a student’s financial situation changes significantly after submitting an application, the student may appeal to the Admission Committee to be released from the early decision commitment.</p>
<p>We ask students who apply ED to consider whether or not they need to compare financial aid packages and scholarships prior to applying ED and also to research W&M’s Financial Aid awards and possibilities before making the binding commitment. It’s not just about not getting the award package you wanted or hoped for but it’s about thorough research on the family’s part on the front end and us working with those students whose situations change dramatically between November and December.</p>
<p>Thanks, but now I’m curious: what happens if the appeal for release is not granted? Or has it always ultimately been granted?</p>
<p>I think applying ED needing FA should be done only at the one dream school above all others, where the only question is: can I afford it? But I’m not convinced that every family has the sophistication to perform the appropriate thorough research regarding the affordability of a school, especially if they naively rely on the “letter of the law” in the Common App ED agreement regarding release when applying to a Common App school.</p>
<p>vossron, we do all we can to educate our prospective students about applying ED and what the implications of that binding agreement are.</p>
<p>Ultimately, we would never compel a student to attend W&M. However, you, your parents and your counselor sign the binding ED agreement and we hope you will live up to that agreement. All colleges take the ED agreement seriously and we hope students and families will live up to the ethics outlined by the Common App and the ED agreement.</p>
<p>Thanks again. I think it’s important that HS students hear it directly from schools that there is no danger of “bankrupting” a family when applying Early Decision needing financial aid. There continue to be many errant postings claiming that ED is only for those who don’t need aid, or that someone didn’t apply ED because of the danger of being forced to accept an unaffordable aid package.</p>
<p>vossron, definitely appreciate your concern for those students who need financial assistance paying for college.</p>
<p>Our early decision process is absolutely open to those students who will be seeking financial aid and our financial aid opportunities are equally open to ED and RD students but we do want students to understand that you should not apply ED unless you’ve done your research, tried to discern what your family can afford and what W&M will be able to provide you and not just apply ED crossing your fingers for a magic dollar amount.</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses.</p>
<p>Any time. That’s what we’re here for</p>