<p>So... any insight into the effect of being a "full pay" applicant vs. one requiring financial aid? Does this component of the application affect the process considerably? or is it just one of the many factors considered.</p>
<p>Have been curious about this, and there may not be a firm answer out there, but I thought I would ask!</p>
<p>Financial aid status may affect admission at some schools more than others. Andover, St. Andrews and Exeter have been often cited as schools with very generous financial aid, and there are others that get mentioned too. At Exeter, for example, 55% of students receive financial aid, and many students are on full aid including books, travel, computer, board and sports/lessons. Diversity is highly valued at Exeter - for example the majority of the students are of color. Aid is sliding, and goes up to 200K family income. Aid estimators are on their website. Exeter admissions website does note they are need aware, which impacts most heavily on international students. So, once the financial aid budget is spent, borderline admissions may be affected by financial aid status. </p>
<p>Schools without such large endowments/committments to financial aid may be a different story. </p>
<p>It also depends on the desire of the schools for the particular applicant. Highly sought after applicants probably have an easier time negotiating aid, even if not offered at the outset.</p>
<p>Some schools are need blind. These aren’t necessarily the ones with the largest endowments (for example, Concord is need blind for domestic students). These schools won’t look at financial aid until after the admissions decisions are made. They will generally meet your full need if they offer you financial aid. However, if they don’t have enough money to offer financial aid to everyone with need, they’ll offer full need to the students they want most and put the remainder on a financial aid wait list.</p>
<p>Need-blind admission is the exception rather than the rule. FA applicants should cast a much wider net. That said, it’s hard to predict where you may gain acceptance and how much FA you might be offered. The schools with the largest endowments have the lowest acceptance rates. Bottom line: it DOES matter if you apply for FA - in most cases.</p>
<p>I guess that is mainly what I am wondering: do you have a better chance for acceptance IF you are “full pay”?</p>
<p>I mean, is being “full pay” a positive for your application acceptance chances…</p>
<p>if you have like a 1800 in SAT with B grades mostly and if you are applying to Vanderbilt and willing to pay full cost than your in and if you are applying for scholarship and finaid than you 1 out 500 chance to get in provided your essays and recommendations are really good</p>
<p>yes, of course</p>
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<p>At a need-aware school, yes. At a need-blind school, no. If you’re wondering which schools are which, it will say their web sites.</p>
<p>Even at Andover, FP kids get in at a higher rate. Half of those accepted are FP, but only roughly a third of applicants are. Because of its need blind policy, it gets more FA apps than most schools. I believe the norm is about 50/50 FP to FA applications.</p>
<p>You can’t overlook the fact that at need-aware schools (and most are), there are more FP spots available than FA spots. It seems that the split is roughly 70/30 at most schools, so requiring FA puts a student in a more competitive pool, and the amount of FA required can shrink the odds even more.</p>
<p>I’m not convinced that the difference between the full pay admission rate and financial aid admission rate justifies the conclusion that ability to pay is a factor in admission, at least based on my anecdotal experience at Andover.</p>
<p>You should ask each school specifically if the admissions process is need blind or not. When my friend went through this with her daughter, she was turned down everywhere but Choate where she was WL. When my friend called to discuss the situation, she found out that she was on the WL due to financial need. So she said that she would come up with the money, and voila, acceptance. That was about 16 years or so ago, but, yes, that was the way it worked then. My sons’ independent school has had kids in fin aid limbo too. But there may be some schools that are truly need blind. Call and ask Admission straight out.</p>
<p>The schools that are need blind will say it one way or another on their web site. Check the main financial aid page or the financial aid FAQ page.</p>
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<p>Full-pay applicants have one less hurdle to jump. They are only fighting for limited seats, whereas FA applicants are vying for an even smaller pool of seats AND limited funds.</p>
<p>Choate’s website, for instance, indicates that financial status applies at the end of the admission process and that the ability to pay could even make a difference to a wait-listed applicant:</p>
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<p>I’m not sure if this helps as the responses are going in several directions.</p>
<p>This has all been helpful. Mostly, it confirms my feeling on the process.</p>
<p>I’m throwing this in for all the unseen folks who come looking for information.</p>
<p>This thread <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1336246-list-exceptional-unique-offerings-some-bs-7.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1336246-list-exceptional-unique-offerings-some-bs-7.html</a> lists the few schools that are need-blind, accurate as of last fall anyway. I’m pretty sure it’s a moving target and with the economic crisis it’s moving only in one direction!</p>
<p>NEED BLIND ADMISSIONS
NOTE: Need-blind admissions means the admission decision is completely separate from the FA decision. It does NOT mean that if youre accepted your need will automatically be met. That is full need category. Andover is both.
<p>FULL NEED AND NEED BLIND [The school will meet full financial need of ALL admitted students]:
<p>St. Andrew’s this year omits the “need-blind” clause but promises “full need”. </p>
<p>Not sure where Neato is getting the information to support the “norm” that applicants are 50/50 FP to FA. If are all applicants, assume the foreign are pretty much aligned on the FP side. Those on FA range broadly 25-45% at any school. Simply put, the higher the percentage of foreign students matriculated at a school, especially over 15%, the more competitive the scramble for the reduced percentage of FA spots, given Neato’s ratio. If there are actually more than 50% FA applicants, then the competition gets real fierce. I agree with the proposition a few days/weeks ago that the total number of FP applicants (as opposed to applications, via common app multiplier) is probably steady over time; the foreign and FA applicants are the ones whose numbers have soared, along with the number of applications. One of the consultants, in 2011, reported 30% of total BS population as international, with China and Korea leading by a long shot, in an era of skyrocketing tuitions. Schools that can are propping up the $80-200k families with FA, otherwise they’d disappear from campuses. (This demographic might constitute roughly 15-30% on most campuses? In a pre-crisis analysis, Exeter found that from c. 1984-2004, number of American families who could afford to be FP dropped from 40% to 6%; that was beginning of Exeter’s FA policy changes, encouraged by Michael Gary.) Largest grants to <80k families have to be balanced with need for many smaller grants to the “middle class” group. </p>
<p>In the end, many families who are denied or waitlisted may assign cause to FA need, but that can not be known for sure unless a letter, like Choate’s, specifically says so. Very often, the cause for an admissible candidate, either FP or FA, to be denied/WL is geographical diversity need, building the class, or something else. You might think being FP was a huge help, or lock, but at most selective schools there are multiple FP applicants of comparable credentials for each seat (due to multiple applications?). Hence, apply to less selective schools, or apply to eight and “play odds” (which took the 26% admit rate of seven years ago to 13% today and created this virtuous cycle, from the schools’ POV).</p>
<p>I need full financial aid so I’m absolutely terrified!</p>
<p>Take heart! It’s possible. My kids got in with almost full FA.</p>
<p>At this point applicants and parents should try to relax. There’s no changing anything now. I know it’s really hard to relax now, but really, get off the internet and go for a run, practice deep breathing…</p>
<p>For those who haven’t yet applied or who may get denied and choose to reapply, casting a wide net and loving the school that loves you are the best words of advice on cc.</p>
<p>There are so many schools out there and they each have something special to offer. Instead of trying to analyze your odds of acceptance at Exeter down to the minutest detail, or crunching the not at all random sampling of stats that ccers choose to post publicly, spend that time poring over the web and other resources, finding a good assortment of schools to apply to.</p>
<p>@alooknac thank you so much for those wise words of advice! Its really reassuring!</p>