Hii, I have this very genuine situation that I am worried about. I am an international student who will be applying to a good number of US colleges and univs. The thing is that I require financial aid and I am also applying ED. So, just confirming, in case I get accepted to my ED school but do not get the required financial aid, will I be able to back out from the acceptance and then apply to the other RA schools?
I believe that lack of sufficient financial aid is the only reason you can back out of ED. Regardless, you need to make sure the schools you apply to (whether ED or not) offer financial aid to international student as not all do. You don’t want to waste your time applying to schools where FA is not going to be offered.
Obviously, I will be applying to schools that offer generous financial aid. I am just confused that will I be able to back out from the ED school I accepted but not offered the required amount. And in that case, will I still be eligible to apply for RA to other schools?
Yes, you will.
To clarify, have your apps ready to submit after you receive your ED decision.
Yes, technically you can back out of ED if the financials don’t work out and then you can apply RD to other schools.
IMO, you need to make sure that you are using your ED to a school that meets full need for international students. That’s a very short list. (There are a ton of other threads about this so spend some time looking through old threads).
As mentioned in another similar thread but a different poster, the big draw back of applying ED when needing financial aid is that you can’t compare offers with other schools and potential try to negotiate if you have acceptances from peer schools.
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That clears everything! Thanks!
That really is the truth actually. Applying as an international student requiring financial aid, I’m feeling like I’m starting the race about a mile behind the starting line. Everything becomes just so complex and competitve!
I think the unfortunate thing is many international students don’t understand how competitive it is WITHOUT the financial aid component. When you look at the data and try to understand the full picture, you start to realize that a school like Harvard only accepts 5 or 6 students a year from a country like India. Many longtime posters try to find creative ways to explain this without sounding harsh.
When you add in the financial aid, not all schools offer it to international students, many use financial need as criteria to decide whether to admit or not, some schools are super competitive for financial aid for domestic students and even worse for international ones. The best thing you can do is ask questions, listen to the answers you get, and trust that those offering advice are trying to help you succeed as well as soften the blow of the rejections.
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Yeah, I totally get it! Thank you very much for helping out!