<p>Hello everyone! This is my first post, and probably not the last because this seems like a very nice site. Well, anyways, my dream college is SUNY Purchase. I'd be a liberal arts major. (Political Science, Philosophy, or History, I'm not sure yet.) And my plan to maximize my chances of getting in was to apply early admission, but then I found out Purchase only offers Early Decision or Regular Admission. (Unless I'm mistaken, I'm quite confused and overwhelmed by all this college stuff.) So my questions are: Should I apply Early Decision to increase my chances of getting in or would it be a waste? If I apply early and don't get in, do I have enough time to apply to other schools? Anyone who applied early decision to any school would be of great help. </p>
<p>Also, online it is shown that Purchase has an acceptance rate in the 30% range, and I heard this is because of the selectivity of their arts programs, is this true and is there anyway I could find their acceptance rate for JUST liberal arts?</p>
<p>I'm not sure what my GPA or class rank is, but my averages are usually 88-92, I got a 1250 (1820 with writing included) on SAT I. I've been in Amnesty International, Photo Club, and am a piano player for EC's. I'm also a pretty good essay writer (When I have time to think about it anyways) So I think that should help my chances as well.</p>
<p>Any feedback at all is much appreciated! Thank you!</p>
<p>BUMP</p>
<p>Come on! I need help! </p>
<p>Basically I'm just asking your thoughts about Early Decision in my situation. So, what do you think?</p>
<p>You need to find out whether it offers ED or EA. They are very different things. ED locks you into a college unless something virtually catastrophic means you couldn't go. EA allows you to get a decision early, but to continue applying to other colleges. If accepted EA, you can choose to go elsewhere for any reason.</p>
<p>You could ask Purchase admissions for how selective they are for liberal arts. Otherwise, it's not likely you'll be able to find out that inf.</p>
<p>If you are 100% certain that you want to go to Purchase, and also can afford it (meaning that you're not planning on applying for financial aid: that your parents can pay the full cost out of their pockets), then if they have ED, apply ED.</p>
<p>Whether or not you are certain about Purchase and whether your parents can afford it, you can apply EA if that's what they have.</p>
<p>Make sure you sit down and talk to your parents and get a specific amount of money that they're willing to pay for your college each year. If they just say something like, "Whatever it is, we'll pay," that's not good enough because the college costs may end up being far above what they're comfortable paying.</p>
<p>Since you never know how much you'll get with financial aid, if you are replying on financial aid to pay part of your college costs, don't apply ED. Also, make sure that you definitely apply to at least one college that you know you can afford and would enjoy. For many, that's a local four-year or two-year public university that they can commute to.</p>
<p>Most colleges make their admissions decisions mainly on your stats -- gpa, scores and whether you took the h.s. curriculum that they required. You can find Purchase's stats by finding its common data set or looking in a readily available college guide like the one that U.S. news puts out. It's not that selective, so if your stats are in their 60th percentile or so, you'll probably get accepted whether or not you apply early.</p>
<p>Ok, thank you. I think I might understand this more now.</p>
<p>Purchase has rolling admissions, so I wouldn't be stuck with the Jan. 1st deadline. But I still like the idea of knowing where I would be going by Dec 15.</p>
<p>And Purchase is not an expensive school and we're not expecting much financial aid anyways, even though we need it. I should get the merit scholarship for $2,000 a year, but that still leaves us with about $14,000 left to pay for. Does ED make it harder for you to get financial aid? </p>
<p>I've always said that if I get accepted there, I'm going, but I'm still not sure if ED is right for me.</p>