<p>We don't know what to think. My son applied RD to the COE at Cornell. I noticed yesterday that his account said ED and he got an e-mail from Cornell with a link and a pin to check for his decision. Oddly two days ago he met with someone for an "interview" at a local coffee house.</p>
<p>What happened? We did verify through the common app that he did indeed apply RD. I won't be able to send our financial paperwork in until mid-january. </p>
<p>What happened?</p>
<p>FYI he is thrilled, as this was his first choice. I didn't let him go ED because there is agood chance that they won't give us any money, and we will need some sort of aid.</p>
<p>Wow … congratulations. Wonderful news. He’s IN!
Have him call admissions on Monday and explain the situation. You should probably coach him and role play a little so he has the confidence to handle the conversation.</p>
<p>He should say something along the lines of – I just received my ED acceptance and I am thrilled. Cornell is my first choice, however, I did not actually apply ED, it looks like there was a clerical error. My Common App printout clearly shows RD. I didn’t apply ED because I am concerned about financial aid, and I am not prepared to withdraw my other applications without receiving a financial aid determination from Cornell.</p>
<p>NJMom…Congratulations to your son! I can understand your concern because a few years back both of my sons had applied ED to Cornell and we already had a son in college. My sons who applied ED received very nice financial aid in fact better than we had hoped for. I am sure it had much to do with the fact that we had three kids in college the year they started college and our daughter started the year after. Cornell gave the best FA of of all three schools. </p>
<p>I have found Cornell to be very generous and fair regarding aid to students. In fact many students do not even have loans anymore. That was not the case with my sons but the policy has changed. You can personally call financial aid to discuss this matter. I am sure you would not be the first parent who has called to discuss finances. If you could submit the information based on the closest approximation to actual figures they will supply you with an aid package. That package is not exact until the actual figures are in but you should have a pretty good idea of where you stand financially. Have you done the online calculation to see where you stand? I would suggest working with the admissions and FA office before turning the ED decision down. My guess is that if you need aid than Cornell will not disappoint. Of course your definition of need may be very different than mine or Cornells, but if the need is real than they will recognize it. </p>
<p>If you don’t mind us asking what are the other schools your son applied to? If they are lesser schools than he will not receive more financial aid elsewhere and if they are other Ivy’s than the packages are very similar. Of course if he is hoping for merit aid from other schools than he may receive more money in merit aid from other schools than he would if there is no or little financial need.</p>
<p>Mommy-Three my son also applied to Vanderbilt, Wash U-St. Louis, Princeton, Tulane and Rutgers (our State school). Tulane gave him a $25,000/year merit scholarship. My husband owns a business and I work as well. On paper, we look amazing. But with anyone who owns a business, they know that much of the money we earn stays in the business as cash flow. Also, his business has been doing extremely well for the last three years. Before that we had up and down years, so our ability to save wasn’t as strong as it is now. My husband needed to reinvest in the business to help it grow. I feel confident that it will all work out. We will call Cornell on Monday and figure it out :-)</p>
<p>Is it possible for you to send in all estimated financials so Cornell could provide a package? We also have a business and I understand the situation. Tulane has a reputation on CC for providing good merit aid. I am sure he will receive merit money elsewhere. Do you have any other kids in college? My kids received the FA because we had three and than four in school. I must say that we are so grateful for the aid Cornell provided and MIT was not as generous with son1. My daughters school provided a token amount of FA which did not help at all. She was not attending a school that was similar to MIT or Cornell. </p>
<p>I really hope your son will be happy with the outcome. You may also want to consider if you are willing to accept the admission and if he is offered less than what you can presently handle than he could take out loans, work during the summer, possibly work during the year a few hours a week, and than offer to pay his loans off after graduation. Of course if you have other children attending college the whole picture may change.</p>
<p>I have a graduate degree from Tulane, and taught there. My son (at Cornell now, in Arts & Sciences) received a similar, very generous merit scholarship from Tulane last year – and we did not even apply for aid! However, if your son is interested in engineering, Tulane only has a few engineering majors. The college of engineering was one of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I think they still have programs in chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and engineering physics. But certainly not the diversity you would find at Cornell. My son decided against Tulane because they are not strong in the physical sciences. He is planning to major in astronomy or physics. You definitely have an interesting dilemma! I would think a couple of phone calls to Cornell would be helpful. Your son also has some other wonderful schools on his list, but it would be great if it works out with Cornell, given that it is his first choice and he is already in!</p>
<p>I don’t think you can assume that he is “in.”</p>
<p>Even though he did nothing wrong, Cornell may have to withdraw his ED acceptance and put his name back in the RD pool. And there is no guarantee that he would be accepted RD.</p>
<p>His guidance Counselor assured him that he is indeed in. I will meet with my accountant next week and send in estimated financials. I have a daughter who will be a senior in college next year and a son in middle school. I have faith it will all work out. He is so excited about Cornell, that we will make it happen.
Thank you all for your support and good wishes. It was like an early Hanukkah gift!</p>
<p>I just spoke to Cornell Financial Aid. They said it isn’t too late to send out our financials and they will let us know if we will get any money. Then we can decide to accept the ED offer. I think we will accept regardless of what the financial aid income.</p>
<p>Wow, some story. I wonder how that happened. Good luck checking on fin. aid. I actually never heard of a story like this. It sounds like you are taking care of it properly.</p>
<p>I agree with Rodney…This is the strangest thing that I have heard happen during admission. NJMom Rodney is right regarding the other apps. Be sure to discuss all of this with admissions when you make the call. I am hoping the whole situation works out well.</p>
<p>First of all, I strongly doubt that Cornell would revoke his ED if he is willing to accept it. Let’s face it – THEY WANT HIM.</p>
<p>The only problem I see is Cornell could legitimately say that they will either treat him as an ED accept if he wants (with everything this implies) or treat him as an RD otherwise.</p>
<p>Being an ED could lead to issues if Cornell is technically affordable, but he would go to Tulane because of the merit money.</p>
<p>If engineering, I agree with the prior poster. Tulane is a great school, but it’s engineering department has been gutted. Even if they offer a program your son is interested in, it may not offer the flexibility if he changes his mind. This was a major factor for my D eliminating Tulane from consideration last year, even with the 25k scholarship.</p>
<p>^^interesting…and made me realize something…</p>
<p>This is Cornell’s error according to the OP…the responsible thing to do would be to obviously accept her son, but IMO this should be a technically RD acceptance; he should not have to commit and withdraw other apps as it was their mistake…</p>
<p>If the OP chooses to enroll in Cornell now, so be it…but he shouldn’t be obligated to do so?</p>
<p>^Yes, it does make sense. The OP should certainly consider how to address this. Her son has been accepted to the Engineering school…hard to turn that down. It’s a great program!</p>