For those who applied ED I or ED II, at what point did you know it was the right thing to do?

[nextstepcollege]

@elena13

My S19 did not apply ED because he didn’t have a favorite, but mainly because we needed to be able to compare financial aid offers. His dad and I are divorced and dad is not contributing to college costs but was willing to submit financial information (which affected aid quite a bit). Since I had already been down the financial aid road with D17, I knew that the awards would vary a lot, so we needed to keep options open until the end. I do think S19 would have received a definite admissions boost at the school where he now attends if he had gone ED, but thankfully it worked out in the end and he had some RD acceptances. FYI, Brown’s FA award wasn’t nearly as good as some other offers received.

Thank you for sharing this. One of my biggest concerns is that the aid packages may vary, but I’m also concerned that DS will be disappointed if he doesn’t get into a school he felt he had a good chance of getting accepted to. It’s surprising to hear that Brown, an Ivy School, wasn’t as good as others.