<p>You’re right; I’m wrong. <a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/single-choice-early-actio/”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/single-choice-early-actio/</a></p>
<p>OP, we have very different definitions of fit, then. As for your earlier post about having cut down your list to 14 or 15, that’s a good start. Do you have any schools left that are safeties academically and financially and that you would absolutely go to if all else failed? Or will your strategy be to have enough matches that your odds of getting into one of them is safe?</p>
<p>I think that IS a strategy that we are considering as well. It is hard to find a true safety which is a school he will love so he will have to apply to a larger number of matches. I don’t know why JHU and NYU are mentioned as low merit financial aid; they are no worse than the Ivies in that regard which give almost no merit money that I know of. JHU professes to be need blind so they are generous in financial aid to the needy.</p>
<p>Instead of guessing about each school’s financial aid generosity or making assumptions on schools’ promises to “meet need” (where “need” is defined by the school), the OP should run the net price calculator on each school’s web site to see what need-based financial aid looks like.</p>
<p>If the net price is too high, the OP would need to aim for a large enough merit scholarship (if such exists) at the school, not merely admission. This may turn a match or safety into a reach, if the merit scholarships are highly competitive. If no large enough merit scholarship is available at a school which is unaffordable on need-based financial aid, the OP should drop it from the list – no point in wasting application fees or essay writing effort on it.</p>
<p>Note that UT Austin fills most of its frosh class with automatic admits from the top 7% ranked Texas high school students. It is thus an admission safety for those who meet the automatic admission criteria. But it is probably a reach for most or all others, since few spaces are left after the automatic admits have filled most of the frosh class.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 I think my strategy is a combination of both. I have three tiers of schools:</p>
<ol>
<li>Safeties with almost automatic or automatic scholarships (Tulane & Fordham).</li>
<li>Great schools that offer competitive scholarships (Vanderbilt, UNC, UVA, Emory).</li>
<li>Reaches (Ivy Leagues, Duke, Stanford).</li>
</ol>
<p>I know I’m a competitive applicant and I’ve researched a lot on how to avoid most of the mistakes people make. I think it’s really unlikely that I don’t get into any of my reaches, which is why I’m comfortable having so many.</p>
<p>OP, it is very doubtful you’ll be able to find private scholarships to cover much of your college cost, particularly beyond the first year. Are your parents willing to pay the full freight for your reach schools? And would you be happy to attend Tulane and Fordham?</p>
<p>Drop all of the Ivies from your list If you are full-pay, you will get nothing from them. None of them offer merit money.</p>
<p>At least some of the other top schools have a limited number of competitive scholarships. There are also many very good schools with a great deal of merit money, especially for an NMF.</p>