MIT EA + Cornell ED or Princeton SCEA?

We don’t have the data necessary to answer that question, there is variance from school to school and most don’t make public the data we would need to accurately compare rates.

Regardless, trying to split these hairs is not time well spent for you. You are a strong candidate, but need significant FA and that limits your choices. I am not sure where you are with your target list, but I don’t see public schools as great targets, certainly not UMich. Private, need blind schools make the most sense, followed by private need aware schools. BTW, Pomona is need aware for internationals. You have to decide if targeting schools like Cornell/Princeton are the best use of an ED/SCEA benefit. The (huge) downside of SCEA is it limits your ea apps to, so no MIT, et al. I would review the schools that offer the most aid to international students (google it, then do research), compare to your target list, perhaps make some target list changes, and structure an appropriate strategy.

Could also be because they only have time to write one application in early fall…the SCEA or ED. Then they have more time for other applications for RD due in winter.

@Mwfan192, I’m curious to know where you found that statistic. Could you please post a link?

@momrath here is the link, it has not only the international stats I cited, but also some of the other stats others noted upthread.
http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats

Thanks for the link, @mwfan1921. It’s hard to come by admissions data for internationals.

On another page, MIT says

115 admits is considerably “fewer” than 150 admits.

According to their 2017-2018 CDS, for the class of 2021, MIT enrolled 119 first year non-resident aliens. If they only admitted 115 for the Class of 2022, MIT must either have expected a nearly 100% yield for international students or planned to reduce substantially its international enrollment. Will be interesting to see their 2018-2019 CDS.

@geekgurl, I don’t think you’ll ever find enough statistical granularity to make an informed decision on international admissions, especially with aid. MIT has a brutal admit rate, but a positive percentage of internationals receiving aid (72%, $18million total).

We don’t know the international admit rate for Cornell or Princeton, but interestingly, Cornell provided financial aid to 12% ($11million total) of its enrolled internationals while Princeton provided aid to 68% ($21M total). If you’re looking for a statistical rationale, I’d go with Princeton.

According to UMichigan’s CDS (section H6) they do not offer financial aid to international students.
Ditto for UNC-CH: no aid for internationals.
According to the section H6 checkboxes, neither school offers need-based or non-need-based scholarship/grant aid to internationals.

@tk21769 I’m applying for merit scholarships for those schools. For UNC I’m applying for the Robertson Scholars program, and for U Mich I heard that merit scholarships for internationals is rare but I think it’s still worth throwing in some chance. I mean, if I’m applying to need blind but super competitive schools like MIT for admission I might as well throw my chance in for a rare scholarship to a less competitive school. (my logic)

@geekgurl Honestly those scholarships will be at the same level as MIT admits. If I were you I would concentrate on those schools that meet full need and the few that are need blind to international students.

I’ve not read all the posts but if anyone above that said you will maximize your chance by applying ED to Cornell is correct. Further, you will not violate your ED agreement if you also apply EA to MIT. Of course, you won’t get a boost by doing so, but the MIT application takes so much time that it is probably best that you try to meet the EA deadline simply so that you can then turn your attention to other options. Just don’t get so wrapped up in the MIT application that you neglect all your other options since the admissions rate for MIT is so low.

Alternatively, IF you fell that you must apply SCEA, then remember that Cornell has EDII (doesn’t it?). However, your SCEA will not get you a boost. Your EDII application to Cornell will. Good luck!

Cornell does not have ED2.