<p>I posted this on another thread, but I thought it would be helpful if more people saw it, because so many of you are misunderstanding what the term "need blind" means. </p>
<p>Another poster wrote, "The Admissions office and the fin aid offfice are ussually blocks away, and they do NOT share information."</p>
<p>I replied: This makes no difference at all - the adcoms most certainly DO know whether or not you are applying for aid. The common application asks if you are applying for aid right on the first page! You are mistaken about the meaning of "need blind." It DOES NOT mean your need for aid is hidden from them, which it is not; it simply means they do not take it into account (supposedly).</p>
<p>And the questions on family occupation, businesses, and degree also help, even if they didn't ask outright if you were applying for aid, which they do!</p>
<p>Indeed, " it simply means they do not take it into account (supposedly)" that is what it means. However, on some schools like Middlebury or Yale the Admissions office and the Financial Aid office are not even on the same building. If you call them you will find out that the Adcoms have no idea how much you are asking for aids or what is your family's income, neither do the financial aid officers know much about your stats. They work separately.</p>
<p>"The common application asks if you are applying for aid right on the first page!", they do this to ask the date in which you would mail the required forms and for them to be aware that when they send you your decision, they need to send you the financial aid decission aswell-if you are admitted-. </p>
<p>"And the questions on family occupation, businesses, and degree also help, even if they didn't ask outright if you were applying for aid, which they do!". They basically ask this question to evaluate legacies or to know the pedigree of the candidate's parents, for example they would be able to know if your father is a diplomat or a senator.</p>
<p>Of course that when you apply for financial aid it is not like the adcoms would be completely unaware of it. However, they have no idea what is the school's budget being alocated for aid that year, how much can they offer, what is your EFC or other major details regarding financial aid. For them you could be an applicant who is applying with an EFC of less than 5k, and it turns out to be that the person has an EFC of 35k, or vice versa.</p>
<p>The difference between need blind and not need blind is that in a need blind school they will determine your decission only based on your application; SAT, essays, transcript, recs etc. Meanwhile on a not need blind school they will have your financial application as well, and even if your stats are great but they see you are applying for a quantitative amount the would re-evaluate your chances vs. those who do not require aid at all.</p>
<p>Wiki, Wiki, Wiki! Let me guess - you are a kid, right? I am sorry to say Voronwe is right. It is absolutely irrelevant what buildings financial aid and admissions are in, and I am surprised that in this day of networked computer data you would even think this was important!</p>
<p>And your replies to the other points are equally silly. For example, whatever the reason for the financial aid question on page one, THE FACT REMAINS THAT THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE KNOWS WHETHER YOU WILL BE A FULL FREIGHT PAYER OR NOT! It is also completely irrelevant whether or not they know HOW MUCH you are applying for; the fact remains, again, that NEED BLIND DOES NOT MEAN IGNORANT OF THE FACT THAT YOU NEED AID.</p>
<p>From other threads I know that Voronwe has done volunteer work in college admissions for many years. I too have many friends and colleagues in the business and have interviewed for my Ivy for a very long time. It is merely a keystroke to find out a LOT about an applicant, and yes, of course they will find out if you are also a development case.</p>
<p>As Mini has pointed out countless times on the parent forum, each school takes the same number of needy versus noneedy students each year - or statistically so close that it CANNOT be a coincidence. All the parents know this. EACH SCHOOL NEEDS A PERCENTAGE OF FULL-FREIGHT PAYERS EACH YEAR. Again - need blind just means they supposedly do not care which you are! It does NOT mean BLIND!</p>
<p>I forgive you because you are a kid, and you seem to be trying to give yourself a pep talk with your so-called "facts." I truly hope you get into your ED school, but do not mislead other students!</p>
<p>Both Wiki and nedad are true to a certain extent. </p>
<p>While need blind schools say they do not take into account that the amount of financial aid, if two students have about the same scores, the same ECs, the same GPA, the same qualifications, but one needs more money than the other, the one who is more financially able will get in. </p>
<p>However, this does not mean that they ABSOLUTELY prefer full-freights over non full-freight payers.</p>
<p>Furthermore, this argument between wiki and nedad is pretty much pointless, as there are only SIX schools that are need-blind towards internationals. So, my advice is apply to all six (if your scores are up to par! and if you like the schools!) and not bother about whether one is not need-blind even though their brouchere says need blind, or whatever..... I realize that this argument would probably hold water if one was an American citizen, where there are a lot of schools that say they are need blind, but.... six schools only?</p>
<p>i'm scared now...arrrgghh. I'm applying to Harvard and am absolutely dirt poor. I intend to apply for a fee waiver as i cannot even afford the application fee. First, I figured it wouldn't really matter since Harvard is so rich; besides, aren't they recruiting poor students (esp with their new finaid policy)? But now you guys got me scared with the "supposedly" need-blind policy.</p>
<p>I don't reckon when they say 'need blind for intl students', i don't think that's true.. I mean, they would take some account about the intel's Financial need??</p>
<p>I think when they mean 'needblind for intel students' , they depend their admissions on their acadamic achivement more than their need ;whilst in other schools, its like a the other way around..maybe a bit balanced.
THAT'S NOT A FACT - MY OPINION</p>
<p>Sorry but I'm just skeptical about these things.</p>
<p>Cncm, Harvard is need-blind for international students. They will even give you some exra money for winter cloths and such. And they are looking for economic diversity. So, don't worry about that part.</p>