I recently heard that applying ED and not asking for financial aid raises your chances so the college can essentially secure your funds. Is there an legitamicy to this?
Applying ED definitely increases your chance.
And I remember a comment on someones thread saying
the college would more likely to accept
a student w/ A- who does not need a financial aid
rather than a student w/ A who does need it… (but I am not sure if this is a legitimate info)
The only legitimacy to that statement would be a quote or document from some official with the school, and I doubt any school would say something like this because it clearly makes us all uncomfortable with what it’s insinuating. That being said, it does make sense and it’s not unreasonable to think that it’s floating around in the back of the admission committee’s mind. Remember though that Hopkins does a great job addressing financial aid and if you meet their ED stats (or hopefully exceed them) then they want you (and you applying ED clearly want them). Money isn’t everything to these schools and it’s not as simple as an “A” student who can’t pay vs an “A-” student who can. The committee is a group of people (not bankers) making collective decisions with many factors to consider. Money is surely one of these factors, but I doubt it is trumping all other considerations. Is the school willing to spend potentially $100,000’s over a four-year period for an average student applying ED?, probably not, but if you’re qualified and bring something unique to the table then I wouldn’t be too worried. Unfortunately there’s no way for you to get a concrete answer since anyone in a position of authority to answer this question will most likely say “of course not!”, but of course you won’t believe them and you’ll have offended them in the process.