<p>Regarding financial aid, you may want to look at the Common Data Set for the school’s that you are considering - specially Section H.</p>
<p>There is a lot of information there on the financial aid that school’s give out, including the average percentage of financial need that was met by the school.</p>
<p>Looked into the financial aid situation with my parents. The response I basically received was “don’t worry about it”- they’ve looked into it and said they’ll handle that end of it. They went through this 2 years ago so I’ll trust them on this. I should hopefully get some decent aid from some of my schools on the “safety” end, and any of my top choices are excellent in terms of providing financial aid. The mid range would be the potentially problematic area.</p>
<p>In any case, back to non-financial issues. My list currently looks like this:</p>
<p>REACH:
Princeton
MIT
Penn
Cornell
<a href=“Limbo:%20Columbia,%20Harvard,%20Yale,%20Dartmouth,%20JHU”>i</a>*</p>
<p>MATCH:
Carnegie Mellon
University of Michigan
<a href=“Limbo:%20Lehigh,%20Case%20Western,%20RPI,%20University%20of%20Rochester,%20Northwestern”>i</a>*</p>
<p>SAFETY:
Penn State
<a href=“Limbo:%20maybe%20Drexel?%20I%20got%20a%20free%20application”>i</a>*</p>
<p>I’m probably looking for 5 reach, 3 match, though that’s a completely arbitrary number and liable to change. My safety category isn’t likely to change, I’m fine with just Penn State honestly.</p>
<p>Any thoughts? At this point I think I’m pretty set on applying as engineering, but I still greatly value a broad school (which is why I would consider those limbo Ivies that aren’t known for engineering) with a strong alumni network, reputation, resources, etc. Then I’d reassess my major choice during my first year there, and decide if I want to stay in engineering or move around.</p>
<p>If the worst case happens and you get into **none **of your reach schools, will you be happy choosing among the 2 targets and 1 safety? If I were you I would add in a few of your targets so that there are enough choices, especially if FA and/or merit aid is an issue. The admit rates at your reaches are all under 10%!
Why do you choose Penn over Columbia? Columbia has a better reputation in engineering…</p>
<p>crabsmack,</p>
<p>In terms of assessing your chances, I’d put Northwestern similar to Cornell. It actually has higher test scores than Cornell but they are essentially the same.</p>
<p>Your most important decision may actually be what school or set of schools you will apply early to. There is such a difference in admission rates between early and regular cycles at many schools that it may well well make the difference between admission and rejection especially if you are borderline. </p>
<p>Some are EA (MIT, Michigan,…) EA does not typically provide a major boost although last year at MIT for instance it meant a drop from 12% EA to less than 6% RD. You can apply to multiple EA schools to spread your chances. </p>
<p>Others are SCEA (Princeton, Harvard, Yale…) You can only pick one SCEA and RD odds are worse than winning the lottery. </p>
<p>ED schools typically offer the best bang for the buck (Penn, Columbia, CMU, Cornell…). You can only pick one and you have to enroll if admitted.</p>
<p>If financial aid is not a major concern then ED may be your best bet to get into a reach or target school. Just throwing spaghetti against the wall (loading up on random reach schools) and seeing what sticks just won’t work.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Is it really that big of a difference, or are the admission rate differences mainly due to different types of applicants in the early rounds? For example, the early rounds may include more recruited athletes, legacies, students who do not need financial aid (for ED) or students with high levels of interest in the school (which counts at some schools – ED is an obvious indicator of high level of interest), boosting the admission rate in ways that “regular” early applicants cannot take advantage of.</p>
<p>ED is only appropriate for one’s clear first choice, and there is no need to compare financial aid offers.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I believe that there is substantial amount of published evidence that ED applicants, even unhooked applicants get a boost during ED. Many schools do take demonstrated interest into account as per their CDS. ED also boosts a school’s yield, reduces its RD admission rate which affects rankings, and more generally makes the task of filling a class simpler. </p>
<p>The boost was less clear for SCEA and EA but again the yield on these applicants is much higher than RD applicants which is very attractive to the colleges. I have tracked EA applicants to MIT over the past five years as I serve as an EC for the school and interview candidates. It used to be that the admission rates were largely the same for EA and RD, but that has changes signficantly lately. I just see a lot more of the candidates I interview admitted EA than RD, with no substantial differences in qualifications. One could argue that the EA applicants are more self-selecting thean the RD applicants who may just consider throwing their application in the hat during RD, but even that bias cannot account for the the more than 2 to 1 acceptance rate difference. The latest data has just convinced me that as long as the student has a clear first choice and financial aid is not an issue, that an early application, whether ED, SCEA or EA, is always a better deal.</p>
<p>If financial aid is a concern you may want to look into Northeastern. It is match similar to RPI and Lehigh, but will give full tuition if you are an National Merit Finalist. If you are in the top 50 applicants you can also be eligible for the University Scholar Program, which pays full tuition and study abroad opportunities.</p>
<p>[Scholarships</a> | Admissions](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/costs/scholarships.html]Scholarships”>http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/costs/scholarships.html)
[Program</a> Overview](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/universityscholars/program%20overview/index.html]Program”>http://www.northeastern.edu/universityscholars/program%20overview/index.html)</p>
<p>Re: #27</p>
<p>EA (or early in rolling admissions) is generally better if you can meet the deadline simply because an early acceptance with enough financial aid turns the school into a safety (which could allow dropping applications to all schools less desirable than it). An early rejection can also be a hint that the rest of the application list may need to be re-evaluated. But this is independent of whether there is any advantage in chances of admission when applying EA.</p>
<p>On the other hand, there are many students coming to these forums asking “which school should I apply ED to?”, meaning that they do not have a clear first choice and that ED is inappropriate for them.</p>
<p>@BeanTownGirl</p>
<p>First of all: YES. I would be very much satisfied if I got into Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, etc. Reaches are just that- reaches. I’d be very happy if I got into one, but my college experience will not be destroyed if I’m not. Also, I’m likely going to end up with 3 targets for my final list.</p>
<p>Columbia vs. Penn is something that I’ve been weighing, and I’m not set either way. Penn has a considerably higher admittance rate, and that’s even with Wharton bringing the average down. It’s also closer. However, Columbia has the stronger engineering program, and (in my opinion), New York is the more interesting city. Still mulling this one over- any input is appreciated.</p>
<p>@Sam Lee, swimchris</p>
<p>Noted- thank you. I’m not sure what compelled me to put Northwestern in my match category, and I’ll take a look at Northeastern.</p>
<p>@cellardweller, ucbalumnus</p>
<p>I am definitely going to employ EA/ED. While I do have some favorites in mind, in terms of “if I got admitted to all these places which would I choose”, I’m going to look at differences in admittance rates as well.</p>
<p>I hope I don’t come across as “throwing spaghetti on the wall”- I do have a genuine interest in these schools, I’m not just pulling a list of Ivies. It’s just that, given such minuscule admittance rates, applying to many seems to be the best strategy- or rather, applying to only a few and expecting to get admitted seems foolish.</p>
<p>Cellardweller, seeing as you’re an MIT interviewer, I have a few questions as to how the interview is run. if you don’t mind. Do you come in with questions, or do you expect us to have a poignant life story to tell you on the spot? I don’t mean to imply that I would want to be passive in the interview, as this is my chance to distinguish myself among the (undoubtedly quite intimidating) field after all, but I’m wondering if the “conversation” is really more of a presentation- a verbal essay. Do you have a structure in mind, some key questions you’re looking for responses to, or is it more of an open space for me convey whatever it is that will set me apart? I fully intend to come packing heat, but I’m wondering just how structured these typically are.</p>
<p>Also, if it’s relevant: my high school doesn’t release rankings, but I’m in the top 1%. It’s a public school, probably about 500 per class. I’m not sure if this helps much, or at all, but it’s there.</p>
<p>^You are welcome. Here’s the NRC ranking for ME department.</p>
<p>R-ranking
<p>S-Ranking
<p>Appreciated- I’ve never seen that type of ranking before, I’ll look into it further/for other disciplines.</p>
<p>More generally, my list is now much more solid.</p>
<p>REACH:
Princeton
MIT
Penn
Cornell
Columbia
Harvard
<a href=“Yale%20and%20Dartmouth%20are%20still%20being%20considered”>i</a>*</p>
<p>MATCH:
Carnegie Mellon
University of Michigan
Lehigh</p>
<p>SAFETY:
Penn State</p>
<p>However, I have some questions about Penn State. I’ve heard the financial aid they give is terrible. My brother is still currently in college, so the idea was that our EFC would go up slightly, but not double- basically getting a much better deal for the at least two years we will be overlapping. Paying double is simply not an option, so if Penn State can’t provide some aid they’re out of the picture. Anybody know anything about this?</p>
<p>Also, if there are any other schools on my list that would possibly cause issues, please let me know. And of course any other general advice/thoughts anyone can provide is appreciated.</p>
<p>Go to each school’s web site and try the net price calculator for a financial aid estimate.</p>