@ChattaChia, as noted above, you should not really apply ED if you have run the net price calculator for Vandy and don’t like the results. But I think that your question does “make sense” because there can be a real disconnect between what the EFC is and what a family truly feels they can afford. Nevertheless, you should probably not apply ED expecting to go somewhere else if you fail to receive merit aid. My high stat kid applied RD to Vandy and received a scholarship and early admission letter in February. So it is possible to apply RD at Vandy and get in early with a full tuition+ merit scholarship though my guess is that possibly only 24 students were given this opportunity. But don’t expect it…it was a very pleasant surprise. Many more applicants were offered full tuition+ scholarships without early notice (admissions can only work so fast I guess). So I think you are correctly targeting Vandy as a great school with excellent merit opportunity. The ED element is the tough part, because (like many schools) applying ED does raise your chance of admission. I hope this info helps in some way. Good luck whatever you decide!
@northwesty : If a stellar candidate, I doubt it. Believe it or not, students may not be able to afford to attend w/o merit aid but may be able to afford breaking a contract (I think you pay as a penalty?) .
Also, who the heck knows what “top 1% of the applicant pool” means. Are we talking scores? As stellar as many finalists are, their EC accomplishments are still all over the place and you can find some non-scholarship applicants (and admits denied the scholarship if applied) with similar level accomplishments and indeed similar stats. Why would they put a number to how good you have to be vs. the rest when there is already high compression of statistical inputs? That is much like they how they put a % on how many students had “leadership” positions (they then instead write 100% instead of maybe featuring some incoming students with cool EC profiles). Why?
I think what could be a reality is that some of the scholarship winners at these schools look more like even higher tier candidates at places like HYP and some are indeed academically excellent but perhaps add something unique to the environment with strong accomplishments in some area of interest. But saying “you must be in the top 1%” is a strange oversimplification that isn’t particularly informative (and some cases, not really true as awesome as they are).
Thanks for the perspectives. I’m still figuring this stuff out. I’ve read that some schools spend most of their merit aid on early applicants…ED/EA? I know sometimes it’s binding. So is ED always binding and EA is not?
@ChattaChia, EA is not binding. ED is binding, although if you don’t like the FA, you can normally get out of it. However, as I tried to say above, you don’t have a real case for asking to be released from ED if the FA aid offer you get comports with the Expected Family Contribution that you can discover before applying. Even if you can get out of your ED acceptance, it is no cause for celebration to do so. After all, you just wasted your ED opportunity.
@bernie12, Vandy has 3 signature undergraduate merit scholarships that cover tuition for 8 semesters, a summer research/study stipend, and any additional financial need a recipient may have (i.e.; room and board). Each of the 3 scholarships (Chancellor, Ingram and Cornelius Vanderbilt) have different application procedures and each looks for different attributes in its recipients. Less than 1% of applicants are offered one of these and the statement “top 1% of applicant pool” may indeed be open to interpretation by the committees that award each type of scholarship. I will also note that in addition to these 3 signature merit scholarships, Vandy also has both generous FA and additional merit scholarships for those that do not receive one of the 3 “signature” scholarships. I cannot say enough about how well Vanderbilt has treated students I know from my kid’s high school in the class of '21. Several students in the top 5% of my kid’s high school class got in with much merit or financial assistance and another was an athletic recruit, and, I assume, was treated equally well. My kid turned down an Ivy and other tippy-top schools to attend Vandy.
Here is a link the OP might find helpful: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/scholarships/
thanks @Sam-I-Am, I would not apply ED and then try to get out of it, rather let my son do that. I was just trying to make sure I understand the options. I have run some EFC calculators, and they are SCARY!!! I don’t think we will apply ED anywhere. But may choose to do some EA, or just apply early to get it done by the time school starts.
Smart plan…that is what my kid did as well. My kid was deferred EA and then put out all RD applications, skipping ED2. It worked for my kid, but it is a tough call because some schools give a preference to ED/ED2 applicants and we passed on that advantage. :-bd
@Sam-I-Am : Yes, so pretty much all you can do is apply and find out. Who knows? you may have something unique in the profile (ultra high stats are pretty much a pre-req to getting into VU, so yes it obviously helps to have those). All this discouragement of applying to the scholarship is kind of unnecessary. “You need to be in the top 1% of applicants?”…how would one know if they are that? Many who are NOT selected for these scholarships also got into the HYPs and tippy tops. Who is to say they were not actually good enough so much as “we already fulfilled that need or that isn’t what we are looking for in this cycle”? If that is the case, I recommend folks who need the financial assistance to these types of schools be “full of themselves” and to at least believe they have a shot. Again, if one is strong, apply and cross your fingers. Do not expect anything, but be hopeful and rejoice if you get it.
Vanderbilt does consider ED applicants for their merit scholarships. I know several ED recipients. And although they say it is awarded to @ 1%, it is not just awarded to the top 1%. They are more holistic and unpredictable.
Also, Vanderbilt addresses ED and FA directly:
“Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may decline the offer of admission and be released from the Early Decision commitment.”
@twicearound : That clause is pretty normal so I can only wonder what the threshold is for “not possible for student to attend”. My guess, given financial aid practices at VU is that usually they will do pretty well there. I really doubt they would stiff a candidate because they applied ED.
@Sam-I-Am Im currently a Vandy student and I would say that 1% of the class gets the scholarship but necessarily the top 1%. In my year, around 10 kids from my high school came with me to vandy and 1 got a CV scholarship and the other got some other merit scholarship (not sure which one it was). Nevertheless, I know the CV scholarship friend well and she was arguably not really a stronger applicant than most of us, but she applied. The majority of the students I know did not bother to even apply for the scholarships for whatever reason. Hence, there is no reason to not apply to the scholarships. I would say all the top students are not necessarily applying and the application itself is more essay-based.
I second the above statement by @XAtlas and would add that in my experience, the strongest students I know are non-CV scholarship recipients in about 99%of cases as it happens. Additionally, many of the CV people I’ve met are rather underwhelming in their performance in college at times. Just an observation of mine, and certainly not a slight at anyone.
@Senior2016M : Could be true, but I advise care in defining “college performance”. One thing I expect from scholarship recipients (and only see but so often) much more so than say a high GPA is that they actually are challenging themselves in their area of passion academically and outside of the classroom. If they are dodging the hard courses or are mainly just learning for the grade like other “mortals”, then I question what exactly made them special to be selected for the scholarship. I hope for difference in attitudes and decision making (more “scholarly” attributes) than being able to or being driven toward a strong GPA. For example, if a student is a CV scholar (or similar one at other elite) and is a math buff with tons of AP credit and experience in math or physics. I would be disappointed if they were a prospective math major who did not take math 2500 (I think that is what it is there) or some post-calculus option as a first math class. In theory the scholarship should set them free to take on academic risks or challenges that they should supposedly desire.
@XAtlas: I obviously agree, but avoid saying whether or not someone is a stronger applicant than another. Sometimes intangibles count and are not as known to others as tangibles which indeed may compare closely. That is part of the reason I encourage people to apply. The weakness of this app. process is that it seems I guess harder than the normal app. process (which has a pretty generic supplemental essay prompt) so I suppose makes the barrier to applying for the scholarship versus the actual school look more daunting than elsewhere (where you may have to do more challenging essay or short answer prompts as a part of the regular admissions process so an additional essay is just a “meh” why not?).
I believe the CV, Chancellor’s and Ingram Scholarships are awarded to less than 1% of all applicants to the school, not merely to 1% of the class as suggested above. So effectively, the numbers given are quite small, much smaller than 1% of the class. However, these are not the only type of scholarships awarded and FA awards are excellent as well. And, of course, the student body all exhibits a very, very high level of achievement which is one of the things that makes Vandy so attractive.
My child scored not only a 36 on the ACT, but had a high GPA and took the most rigorous schedule she could in order to challenge herself in high school. She did great on the AP exams and was very involved in school and passionate about many ECs. She applied RD and we considered Vandy a reach. My personal opinion is that after a certain threshold of “stats” the Ecs, recs and essays are what sets students apart. I truly believe that the college admission officers know what they want and can see thru those doing things just for college. There are so many high achievers that apply. Vandy is as someone said above not only a great academic school, but provides school spirit (better than average sports!), is a great city to live in, and has happy students (according to almost every survey). My daughter got into an Ivy, but turned it down for Vandy. Getting over the fact that she was turning down an Ivy was somthing she had to figure out - but the best part is that she believes Vandy is the best fit and will be the best overall experience.
@hcmom65 : Depends on the Ivy so she likely has little to figure out. I doubt whatever the Ivy was had a VU, ND, GT, Stanford, or Duke type of vibe. If one likes those types of vibes, then upwards to half of the Ivies should be easy to turn down. Like, depending on what one wants to study, turning down Cornell for another top 20 may not be that difficult depending upon the environment one wants. It really only gets tricky when it is HYPC or if you are turning down the school that you know may be better in your academic areas of interest. Your child will likely end up very pleased as she had a more open mind than others in the first place (who place almost too much a premium on “Ivy” as if they are all equal or something…they just aren’t at the undergraduate level and have considerable differences with each other and many have considerable similarities similar caliber non-Ivies).
And pretty much with VU or any top tier school (which all have high volume of applications), if one is good and likes the school, they should just apply and see what happens. While VU likes higher scores than some places, in general it is just as “finger-crossing” as anywhere else and the admit rate reflects the application volume and not as much that students admitted are literally perfect. Can’t say I would discourage too many people from applying. One just needs to go into these things with hopes and not expectations. If the student is qualified academically and has a strong EC profile and can effectively sell their fit in essays and the like, their chances are hardly impossible.