<p>I absolutely love Wesleyan and have wanted to apply early decision all along, yet due to financial issues my parents have resisted my doing so. Lately, however, I realize how much I want to go to Wes and therefore do whatever it takes to optimize my chances, even if it means major loans. I have already submitted the application under Regular Decision. How would an admissions officer view receiving an early decision statement from me at this stage of the game?</p>
<p>Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I have to decide soooon!!</p>
<p>Well, whether you apply ED or RD will not actually affect your financial aid. And if you honestly cannot afford to enroll with the aid you get, you can pull out of an ED commitment. Wesleyan doesn't have the best financial aid office in terms of disseminating the facts about the aid program, but here's what you can expect:</p>
<ul>
<li>No more than $2500 or so in loans your freshman year, everything else in grants (should be substantial even if your family is below the $60,000/year mark, and still decent if you're below $100,000/year). For reference my package freshman year was $2300ish loans, $19,000 grants, $1500 work study.</li>
<li>Loans will increase each year</li>
<li>There is a loan cap of $15,000 for the class of '07 (my class); it may be lower for subsequent classes, I don't know. Past the loan cap you get all grants instead of loans.</li>
<li>Wesleyan just finished raising $250 million, most of which will be going to financial aid. So hopefully incoming classes will get an even better deal than my class did (and I'm not really complaining)</li>
</ul>
<p>Admissions won't care when the EDII statement was received. They cover all the EDII apps in a single period and probably aren't going to read anything into a late(r) decision to make the app an ED app.</p>
<p>Thanks Xmatt. Do you think I should submit a few sentences along with the ED II letter explaining why I have decided now to apply early or would that be superfluous?</p>