I’m considering the full tuition scholarships at places like WashU as well as HPS because either option would be extremely affordable. Which would you say is easier to get into? I’m using WashU just as an example, just any top tier school with full tuition scholarships
Do you mean Harvard, Princeton and Stanford?
Those schools only give need based aid.
Are you asking about need based aid at those schools OR merit based aid at other schools?
@carachel2 lol yup, sorry if that wasn’t clear.
So you are asking about need based aid at Harvard, Princeton and Stanford?
Or are you asking about merit scholarships at HPS?
@carachel2 if its easier to get into Havard, Princeton, or Stanford and as a result qualify for their generous need based aid, or easier to shoot for a school like WashU and earn a substantial merit scholarship
-
We don’t know any of your stats, and therefore can’t make any sort of conjecture about your potential to get scholarships or admission to Ivy League schools.
-
Getting merit aid and need based aid are independent (usually) of one another and can’t really be compared or equated on any easier vs harder scale.
2b) I don’t think anyone can in good conscience tell you that getting admitted and receiving full need based aid at an Ivy school is the “easier” option to anything, unless you discover another life-sustaining planet or are the kid of a President.
- Why not try for both? Apply to the schools that you want to go to and see what kind of aid you get. Pick the most financially wise option.
"if its easier to get into Havard, Princeton, or Stanford and as a result qualify for their generous need based aid, or easier to shoot for a school like WashU and earn a substantial merit scholarship "
OP-
NEITHER is easier, and the chances of ANY of those happening are minuscule UNLESS you are from the US [ not International] , are an incredible student, are at the top of your HS class, have near perfect SAT/ ACT scores, incredible LORs from your teachers AND have unique EC’s that set you apart from 99 % of all HS applicants to those U’s.
Stanford, in particular favors student-athletes- students who are top students in the classroom AND participate on their HS’s competitive athletic teams.
Full tuition merit scholarships at any top school are pretty darn hard to bag, and they typically go to candidates who are aggressively courted by HPS.
Unlike many other top-tier private schools, Duke, Vanderbilt, and WUSTL do offer merit scholarships … but they aren’t so much less selective than HYPS that you’d necessarily be more competitive for those awards. I would think you’d need to go down at least a notch or two in selectivity (to schools like Case Western, Tulane, UMiami, or Wake Forest) before a full tuition merit scholarship is significantly more likely than admission to HYPS. However, there is no way to know for sure which one is more likely, unless you apply for both.
Keep in mind that about 50 colleges besides HYPS also claim to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need.
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2015/09/14/colleges-that-report-meeting-full-financial-need
For a family income of $70K/year, the net price to attend Northwestern University would be about $15K
(assuming no siblings, no home equity, and $70K in savings). That would be about as good as a full tuition merit scholarship. If your family income is much greater than that, then you won’t necessarily get that much need-based aid even from HYPS.
Don’t forget that FULL Tuition means you still have to pay Room and Board. Sometimes the Room and board plus fees is more expensive than the full tuition!
The acceptance rates at HYP hover around 5%. This means that 95% of applicants do NOT get accepted…and most are likely excellent candidates for admission.
The excellent aid need based aid they offer only does you some good if you…get accepted…and also have financial need.
Without knowing your family income…or your ACT or SAT score and GPA, it’s pretty hard to even guess if you have a chance for acceptance at these schools…or if you are a contender for other top schools, and if you would garner significant need based aid if accepted.
ETA…I found your stats on another thread:
These are excellent…so sure, apply to some of these generous schools…then see what happens.
Has your family given you a budget?
And read the advice on your other (almost identical) thread too.
Frankly, the question makes zero sense. As has been pointed out, if you are talented and lucky enough to get into an Ivy or Stanford (and they turn down multiple highly qualified students for every one they accept), then what you pay is entirely based on your financial situation as a family. If it is low enough, you are guaranteed to not have to pay tuition, and without loans. You would still be eligible, potentially, for more aid based on need to help cover all other expenses. It just depends on the financials.
For schools like WUSTL, Duke, Vandy, etc. that have some (not many, usually) full tuition and/or full ride (very few of these latter) the students that get them are of Ivy caliber and often get accepted to HYPS, but choose WUSTL, et. al because they won the big scholarship, and often they liked the school better as well. Not everyone goes to an Ivy just because they got accepted, even when they can afford it. This is also true, actually, of many that win the big awards at Tulane and Miami, for example. Also it needs to be pointed out that many of these schools also have no-loan guarantees for at least tuition, again based on need only. So even if you don’t win one of their coveted big scholarships but do get accepted, you will get a deal similar to the HYPS schools if your family financials justify it.
The reason the question makes no sense to me, besides showing a serious lack of knowledge of the admissions processes at these schools, is that I can see no reason that applying to the one type of school should affect applying to the other. If finances are an issue, all schools offer application fee waivers. Sure it take a lot of time to apply to a number of top schools, but it is an investment of your time you make only this once, and is of course exceedingly important. But the question is based on some premise in your mind that, while I am having trouble figuring out what it is and where it came from, cannot be true and is inapplicable in the real world of admissions.