<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I heard that ED if for people who what to get admission boost and who have no financial concerns. Is it ture? I do have financial concerns, but the university I am going to apply is need-based one. Therefore, I guess the situation would be different. </p>
<p>Please help me clarify it. Thanks! Good luck to your admission!
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<p>If you have any financial concerns at all, DO NOT apply early decision.</p>
<p>Thanks, but why? Some univeristies are need-based or need-blind. In my viewpoint, these schools would consider application without looking at whether or not applicants could afford tuition and fees.</p>
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<p>But ED is binding and you forfeit your chances for potentially better FA elsewhere. Not sure what you mean by need based. Do you mean they will only admit you if you can afford it?<br>
As gayformorrissey said, IF you have financial aid concerns,ED is not an option.</p>
<p>I beg to differ – every school that offers ED allows you to get out of the pact due to financial concerns. So, it just acts as another offer of admission.</p>
<p>It is binding, unless they do not offer you a adequate FA package, however, there is no way for you to compare your other offers until regular decisions come out. So there is a real gamble with FA. It is not the best option, if you have FA concerns.</p>
<p>Just because a school will admit/reject you without regards to your FinAid needs (i.e. a need blind admissions policy), doesn’t mean that their Fin Aid office will put up an offer enough to pay for the cost. </p>
<p>Sure you might be accepted but could still be expected to pay $20K a year. Hope that makes sense.</p>
<p>ED is not for you. If you were my kid, I’d forbid it.</p>
<p>It sort of depends where on the spectrum you are, what school, etc. ED is not binding if your family cannot afford to pay. The disadvantage is that you can’t compare ED offers and if you decline you won’t be able to view that offer alongside RD acceptances.</p>
<p>If your income is low enough that most need-blind/full-need schools would pay everything… then ED is not a dangerous option. If you’re more middle class, though, financial aid tends to be random (and generally not quite sufficient) because every office will calculate it differently. ED is risky then.</p>
<p>It’s a trade off. ED is not binding when you have financial issues, so if you wouldn’t get in without the admissions boost, it is somewhat viable. The thing that you have to determine is, is the chance of getting accepted in the ED pool but not in the RD pool greater than the chance that you will get insufficient aid without being able to compare it? This has to be considered with the knowledge that going ED and getting insufficient aid completely removes a school from your radar.</p>
<p>The thing is, although it’s binding for financial reasons, you SHOULD NOT apply if you have financial concerns. If you think you can get in ED, you can get in RD. and if you do get accepted ED, you have to IMMEDIATELY withdraw ALL of your other applications. So if you find out you can’t afford it, you’re out of luck for making the Jan 1 or 15 deadline, unless you have amazing apps prepared. </p>
<p>ED is for people who KNOW they want to go to that school only and who will be willing to pay whatever is offered. It is NOT go gain an admission leg up. </p>
<p>Financial FA packages from ED won’t come until they do for RD (the one you get with your acceptance is an estimate)</p>
<p>Just think about how much you’re family is willing to pay for this school, and good luck. I am also applying to an ED school that 1) is known for meeting 100% need and 2) even if that FA package is a stretch, I WILL attend.</p>
<p>Also- ED admit rates are higher because the overall applicant pool has a “better” app (higher test scores, etc) than the RD app. Any school will tell you this.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your suggestions! Based on what CPUscientist3000 said, I deduced, not fully true, that if the university(like Harvard or MIT) I am applying could meet 100% need, then if I was admitted, I would receive FA that I demonstrate, right?
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<p>Schools that are full need will give you as much financial aid as you “demonstrate,” yes. But what they determine as your “demonstrated need” may be less than what your family really needs in order for you to attended the school.</p>
<p>Neither of those schools even have ED.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^ lol</p>
<p>Although the common advice on CC is to not apply ED if financial aid is needed, I agree with notanengineer and believe that it depends on a number of factors. My family needs financial aid and we are considering allowing our daughter to apply ED to one school but not another. This is based on a number of factors, but the main one is that I think she is much more likely to receive what we consider adequate aid at the one we are considering for ED. The big disadvantage is that you will not be able to compare financial aid packages. If this is important to you then do not apply ED. In my view, the two worst things that can happen are that you might feel pressure to accept a financial aid offer that you might otherwise not accept (because your child really wants to go there and they have actually been accepted) or you advise the college that the offer is unacceptable and lose that college as a potential choice during regular decision.</p>
<p>Raiderade- the OP was giving examples of 100% need schools.</p>
<p>^ In post #10, the OP mentioned Harvard and MIT.</p>
<p>yes, as an example of 100% need met schools</p>
<p>Yes, and given that they’re non-binding admissions anyway, the OP is free to go early to them regardless of financial concerns.</p>
<p>The OP didn’t mention applying to those schools though, because they aren’t ED schools. </p>
<p>OP- sit with your parents and tell them EXACTLY what ED means (if they don’t already know) and ask How much they’re willing to pay, and are they willing to stretch a little without dipping into life/retirement/emergency savings. Good luck :)</p>
<p>“that if the university(like Harvard or MIT) I am applying…” Maybe the OP didn’t realize that they aren’t ED, but he did mention applying to them. Anyway…</p>