Looking for EA/ED advice

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm trying to decide between early action at both Georgetown and Notre Dame or early decision at Princeton. Here's my profile:
Academics
Class Rank: 2/126
GPA: 4.0 UW
SAT: 2250 (700 M 750 W 800 CR)
SAT II: 800, 780, 780
National Merit Commended</p>

<p>Activities:
Varsity Football (Captain, multiple awards)
Varsity Wrestling (multiple awards)
Academic Games (4x National Champion, 8x Top Ten)
Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout, Senior Patrol Leader)
National Honor Society
Spanish Club, French Club, Stand Tall, Lead and Seed</p>

<p>Other Awards:
Feldman Writing Competition (winner, 3x finalist)
Barrow Civic Theatre Poetry Competition (winner)</p>

<p>Summer Activities:
Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week
Rotary's World Affairs Council
Senator for a Day program
Baumgartner's World Class Wrestling School</p>

<p>Volunteering:
Boys Scouts
Chain Crew for Youth Football
Humane Society</p>

<p>These three schools are my top choices. I have eight reaches (Gtown, Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, and Boston College) that I'm trying to narrow down to four or five applications and four matches/safeties (Penn State, U. of Miami FL, American, U. of Alabama that I'm also considering applying to. Overall, I'm just looking for some guidance. I've posted before and received great feedback, but I would really appreciate any help with my application selections and EA/ED selections.</p>

2

<p>Classes? APs?</p>

3

<p>My school only offers 5 APs and a few honors. I’ve taken the most rigorous schedule possible. The only AP you are allowed to take before senior year is AP World History and I believe I got a 5 on the test. </p>

4

<p>Princeton does not offer ED; they offer Single Choice Early Action. The admit rate this year for SCEA was 18.5% vs. 5.4% for RD applicants. If Princeton is your top choice, I would apply early there.</p>

5

<p>What do you want to study?</p>

6

<p>Political science for sure. Do you have any suggestions for which of the 12 schools I should apply to?</p>

7

<p>Does your family need financial aid? If so, you should NOT apply ED to any school as you must agree to accept the offer, if admitted, and withdraw ALL your applications to all other colleges – so you DO NOT get to compare financial aid offers.</p>

<p>FWIW: My son and daughter were accepted RD to Georgetown, Boston College, Brown, and Dartmouth – and all four of them gave the same financial aid, which was about $30K LESS per year ($140K LESS over 4 years) than HYP, where they were also accepted. If your family needs financial aid, I would really have your mom & dad spend the time to input their financial information into the schools net price calculators to see if they can afford the cost of sending you there should you be accepted. Your family might get more money from other schools, including the “Little Ivies.” See:</p>

<p>Georgetown: <a href=“http://finaid.georgetown.edu/net-price-calc”>http://finaid.georgetown.edu/net-price-calc&lt;/a&gt;
Boston College: <a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator;
Brown: <a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator;
Dartmouth: <a href=“http://www.dartmouth.edu/~finaid/fao/need/parent.html”>Home | Financial Aid;

8

<p>Do the NPC for all the schools on your list. That may help you to narrow down the list already. Don’t be fooled by the higher admission rate at EA. In reality, it does not help you much, particularly with stat around or below admission average. It is mostly filled with recruit and legacy.</p>