Just one question

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi everybody,
I have a questions that I wanted to get everybody's advice on. </p>

<p>Given this situation, would you guys apply early action to the following schools or wait until RD? Notre Dame, Tulane, Georgia Tech, U of Illinois, UNC-Chapel Hill, U Michigan, and U florida.</p>

<p>SAT M770 CR750 W 710(640Writing for Illinois and Michigan cuz they dont superscore)
White male
Strong Private HS(AVG ACT is 25.5)
Fresh:3.0 GPA taking Integrated Science, English1, Latin1, Western Civ, Theology1, Alg1, and an elective</p>

<p>Soph(Got focused): 3.5UW, 3.9W taking Advanced Latin 2(Tested out of Geometry), Alg2 honor, Bio, US Govt, Theology2, English2, and an elective</p>

<p>Junior(Got really focused): 3.92UW, 4.42W taking Precalc w/trig honors, English3 Honors, Latin Literature Honors, Theology 3, US History, and Chemistry</p>

<p>After 3 years GPA is 3.79W, and idk what UW. Class ranking is 33/115. Senior year I'm taking AP Calc BC, AP Stat, AP English, AP Latin, Theology, and Physics and I should get about a 4.5W or 4.7W. I think by the end of first semester I will be up to a cumulative 3.9W GPA and hopefully top quarter for class rank.</p>

<p>ALL THIS BEING SAID, SHOULD I APPLY EA OR RD? I want to know early if I'm in at the schools, but I think I might need the first semester grades to get me in. I'm also considering ED to Cornell, but think I might need the 1st semester grades to get me in, so what do you guys think?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading all this</p>

2

<p>Unless you’re 100% sure you’d select Cornel, then don’t apply ED.</p>

<p>What is your state of residence? That information is vital for the public universities you’re considering. All favor residence of their own states.</p>

3

<p>I’m an Illinois resident and I would definitely select Cornell</p>

4

<p>bumb. anybody wanna share their opinion?</p>

5

<p>anybody???</p>

6

<p>If you think you might be on the fence at the state schools and it’s an early action application plan, then apply early. I know UMich in particular is one school where I know admissions starts off much easier in September-October-November and gets excruciatingly difficult in comparison by March-April.</p>

7

<p>apply EA from the top of the list and apply RD for the safeties.</p>

8

<p>Ok thanks guys</p>

9

<p>Apply EA/ED to whichever one(s) you want to go to the most.
Just a tip, though. If you’re out of state, I’d try applying to Carolina early if you really wanna go.
Also, make sure you’re perfectly clear on their policies for EA/ED.
Some are legally binding, but I’m sure you knew that :p</p>

10

<p>Frankly, it is more of a moral contract. I agree a student should take it seriously and keep their word, but I would like to have someone cite one case where a college sued to force a student to go.</p>

11

<p>OK, so I read Cornell’s ED policy. If I read it correctly, you can still apply EA to Tulane. That would be my course of action if I were you, ED to Cornell and EA to Tulane. Under that scenario, if you get your app into Tulane by early October you are likely to have an answer within 3 weeks, with scholarship offer in hand. Then when you hear from Cornell in December, you will have a couple of decisions at least.</p>

12

<p>If you get into Cornell ED and accepted EA to Tulane, you’ll have to turn down Tulane even if offered generous merit aid. If merit aid is important to you, don’t apply ED to Cornell or anywhere else.</p>

13

<p>Yes, that is right Northstarmom, with one caveat. If one cannot afford Cornell after seeing their FA package, then one is not obligated “legally” or morally. Anyway, I was just talking about maximizing admissions chances, which applying ED to Cornell and EA to Tulane would accomplish.</p>

14

<p>Be aware, though, FallenChemist that it is unlikely that a college that gave you a financial aid package meeting 100% of your documented need is likely to release you because, for instance, you got a full ride merit aid package from elsewhere. Consequently, if that’s what you’re hoping to get from Tulane, you shouldn’t apply ED anywhere.</p>

15

<p>Also- if OP applies EA Tulane and loves the package he can withdraw his ED from Cornell. </p>

<p>OP- you seem like a strong candidate, why ED anywhere? Also your list seems short to me. What major are you interested in?</p>

16

<p>Northstarmom - Did I not say that the supposition was they could not afford Cornell after seeing the package? That presumably would not be the case if they met 100% of demonstrated need. However, if the family disagreed with the assessment of their need, which we all know happens frequently, I highly doubt Cornell could or would make them pay. I cannot imagine a scenario where Cornell would sue a student to go there in any case, but certainly not over Cornell thinking they know better what a family can afford than the family themselves. Personally I think the whole concept of a legal obligation for ED is ridiculous, but I totally agree there is a moral obligation. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure the ED is a legal agreement, what I mean is I cannot ever imagine a school taking a student and family to court over it or claiming damages.</p>

<p>Also I never said that applying EA to Tulane was because he was hoping for a full tuition scholarship (which they don’t give early anyway) or any other aid. I simply stated the fact that a student with his credentials would get a merit scholarship, and that by applying early and marking it EA he would get a fast decision, so he would have something in hand. It has nothing to do with his decision if he got the ED offer from Cornell. Clearly his obligation to Cornell would be to accept the ED (my caveat still in place), even if Tulane offered to name a building after him.</p>

17

<p>You are right that no college has sued a student to make sure they kept their ED commitment.</p>

<p>However, colleges have withdrawn their acceptances after finding out that a student has an ED acceptance elsewhere. Tulane could choose to do that. </p>

<p>As I mentioned, if Cornell meets your documented financial need, Cornell probably wouldn’t consider it an acceptable reason for you to turn down ED because another college gave you a merit-based full ride. </p>

<p>Colleges like Cornell that give only need-based aid won’t raise their offers to match merit offers from schools that buy outstanding students by offering excellent merit aid.</p>

<p>If you’d prefer a merit-based full ride from Tulane to a need-based aid package from Cornell, don’t apply ED to Cornell.</p>

18

<p>There is no merit based full ride from Tulane except for 2 students from Louisiana every year. they have 75-100 full tuition academic merit scholarships every year.</p>

<p>I would love to know how Tulane would find out he applied ED somewhere else, but in any case it would make no sense for them to withdraw their offer. He either simply won’t go, or still might go if the finances don’t work out with Cornell. Tulane gets tons of kids applying EA every year that have applied ED to their “dream” school.</p>

<p>It sounds to me like you are implying that I said he should apply to Tulane EA to see what kind of package he gets so he can change his mind about Cornell. Again, I never said anything of the sort, you just came up with that out of thin air. But the other poster is correct. If he got so enamored with Tulane’s offer that he decided it was the school for him, or just wanted to keep his options open, he could withdraw his ED at Cornell and go to RD.</p>

<p>Finally, you keep saying if Cornell meets “documented financial need”. As I understand it, different schools use different formulae in performing these calculations. A family could easily disagree with what Cornell came up with for their EFC and hence their “documented financial need”. We see this all the time on CC for many different schools.</p>

19

<p>" would love to know how Tulane would find out he applied ED somewhere else, but in any case it would make no sense for them to withdraw their offer. He either simply won’t go, or still might go if the finances don’t work out with Cornell. Tulane gets tons of kids applying EA every year that have applied ED to their “dream” school"</p>

<p>Colleges send other colleges their lists of ED acceptances</p>

20

<p>Really! OK, I did not know that, and I have to say I find it rather surprising. Not only would I think there is a bit of a privacy issue involved, and not only are there something like 4,000 universities in the United States, but again, it doesn’t always work out that a student ends up at that school due to financial circumstances or other reasons. So that seems odd to me, and I am not sure how School B would or should act on it given that there is still potential uncertainty.</p>