<p>Hi everyone,
I am a newcomer to CC though I have been reading the site for a while. As an international student, I am quite confused about the admission process in US and CC gives me some of the insights that I couldn't find elsewhere.
I hope some of you can provide me some opinion on my major dilemma now, the idea of whether applying early and if yes, ED or EA? Thanks in advance to all of you who can give me your valuable opinion.
So here it is:
The question of whether to apply early to either Wharton or Yale is my major dilemma now. I've read all that I could find of these two schools (since it's impossible to go to US and visit)and I would equally love to attend either of the school if I am accepted, but I will pick Yale if I am accepted into both. I would like to major in Economics and Applied maths, if that helps.
Now I will briefly outline what I consider to be the pros and cons of each choice:
1) UPenn offers binding Early Decision, and as an international student, I won't be offered financial aid (even though money is not a big problem I still wouldn't want to burden my parents too much). The worst part is that I would not be able to see if I can be accepted into other schools, not would I be able to compare financial aid offers, so I will probably spend lots of time thinking if there is a chance that Harvard or Yale may want me. Also, since I can only hear their decision mid-december, I will need to prepare, at the meantime, all the admission documents for other colleges, write all the essays and to withdraw them when I am accepted.
But the pros include the fact that UPenn has a significantly higher early admission rate than regular rate (29% VS 15.9%) and overall I am more confident that I stand a slight chance at UPenn than at Yale. </p>
<p>2) Yale has non-binding Singly Choice Early Action, so I can see what other colleges I am accepted, and more importantly Yale also has a significantly higher early admission rate than regular rate (19.7% VS %9.7) as well.
The downside includes my prediction that this year's early applicant pool will be much more competitive than that of usual years because of Princeton and Harvard's decisions to withdraw their early admission. So the rate will probably be lower and I don't think I am good enough for a Yale candidate.
What would you do if you were in my shoes?</p>
<p>Do you agree I should pick for Early Admission a reach school? So that I can still stand a chance at UPenn under regular decision? Also, the 15 colleges on my list consist of many Ivies, do you think it would be wiser to just pick one of each level of difficulty? For example, would you think it's wise to apply to both Princeton and Harvard? </p>
<p>Thank you again and your answers are very valuable to my decision.</p>
<p>What do you mean by burden your parents too much? Penn is not need blind to internationals and ED is binding meaning your parents need to be willing to pay the $45K plus per year.</p>
<p>Next, Wharton is no easier to get into than Yale. Penn yes, Wharton no. It's probably harder to get into now than Harvard and Yale.</p>
<p>Back to financial aid, do you need merit or need based aid? Do you know if you qualify? Do you have the kid of amazing stats and ECs that will get some of the few dollars top schools have for internationals?</p>
<p>Penn's OVERALL acceptance rate was 15.9%. ED was 29% and RD was 11%. So yes ED gives you a much bigger advantage than you thought. Secondly, apply to Wharton if you want to study BUSINESS. Economics and Math are both offered in the College of Arts and Sciences and not in the Wharton School. The degree offered by Wharton is called a Bachelor of Science in Economics, which is misleading because you are only offered business majors while Economics is offered in the Arts and Sciences division. Also, Penn is generally terrible when it comes to giving financial aid to international students while Yale is need blind and will give you all the money you need. It doesn't make sense to apply ED to Penn if you are uncertain about financial aid and would like to weigh out your options. Also, if you would pick Yale over Penn if accepted to both then Penn clearly isn't your first choice and hence you should not submit a binding Early Decision application there.</p>
<p>You can't apply to Yale ED. But you can apply EAR Early action restrictive meaning you only apply to that school early and none others but its not like a binding contract. I'm a Yalie fan so i'd say go yale EA</p>
<p>To say that Yale will give you all the money you need is misleading. They will give you aid based on a formula that determines what they think you can afford. What they say you can afford and what you think you can afford are often very different numbers. Fact is they give very little aid to internationals. They have strict quotas for the numbers they will take from a certain Country. You're in luck if you're from a small African nation but the competition for any Asian or Western European Countries is such that you'll have to be a very top student in your Country to get in at all.</p>
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Fact is they give very little aid to internationals.
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This may be true at other schools, but at HYPS (and possibly a few other top schools) international students get as much financial aid as American students.
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They have strict quotas for the numbers they will take from a certain country
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This is false. I have no idea where UCgradmary came up with this idea, but Yale does not have "strict quotas." If Yale wants to admit you, it will, regardless of how many others from your country it is admitting (country by country numbers fluctuate a lot from year to year, so if there are quotas, they would have to be pretty loose)</p>
<p>From what ive read on UPenn website, UPenn does have need-based aid for internationals. However they are not need-blind and they mention that they only offer aid to very few internationals. I have no idea what the numbers are though. Does anyone know enough about the schools to compare the chances of getting into UPenn(not Wharton) with aid and just getting into Yale(that would mean getting some money too anyway)?</p>
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UPenn offers binding Early Decision, and as an international student, I won't be offered financial aid (even though money is not a big problem I still wouldn't want to burden my parents too much).
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<p>Kee in mind that no matter what school you are admitted to you will get a finanical aid package based on your demonstrated need as determined by the school. </p>
<p>The fact that you state that money is not an issue and you think that you will not get any FA could mean that no matter which school you are accepted to your family will be paying full freight for you to attend (you are essentially saying that your parents are well off). Your ability to pay could be a tipping factor at Penn, who is not need blind to international students.</p>
<p>Your not wanting to "burden" your parents is a non-issue when it comes to need based financial aid because that aid will be given based on your parents income and assets. If you really don't "want to burden" your parents, you need to sit down and have a honest discussion about how much they are willing to pay or borrow for your education. Then you should apply to schools that are financially feasible for you to attend or you should look at schools where you stand a good chance for obtaining merit aid.</p>