<p>NU is wealthy enough to not worry about finances, so yes it is need-blind. However, it’s very easy to figure out who is low-income based on what their parents’ occupations are and where they go to school (e.g. if it’s south side Chicago, then highly likely). These people are given a boost regardless of their ethnicity/race. It’s harder to figure out who is wealthy, since an address in Winnetka does not necessarily suggest wealth (though it’s more likely than other places). In many upper-middle class suburbs, there are a lot of people with multiple kids going to college, educational loans, high mortgage payments, etc. The FA process is separate from admissions and admissions officers have no access to FA information.</p>
<p>CerebralAssassin, I’m well-aware NU is need-blind. However, my conjectures are based on studies that ED favors the wealthy so I’m assuming the ED pool is wealthier on average than the RD pool (if it doesn’t, then shouldn’t you be advocating ED based on your own reasons then…because what’s the harm from your perspective?). If this is in fact the case, even if you don’t take income into account, you will inevitably end up with a wealthier group of admits (compared to RD admits). You’re right that many upper-middle class families still get financial aid but probably still less than low-income students. Even though they might not free up much FA for their lower-income peers (as much as wealthy kids might do), their higher stats will be able to compensate for their lower-income peers’ lower stats. If you lock in these high-stats upper-middle class students through ED (and high-stats wealthy students), the conclusion still holds that you will have more leeway to admit lower-income students. And like I said, low-income students who have NU as their top choice should feel comfortable applying ED since they will most likely receive a substantial amount of aid anyway. They will also get a stronger boost IMO.</p>
<p>“URM” pertains to ethnicity, not socio-economics status. Otherwise, admission wouldn’t be “need-blind” (favoring the more needy ones in this case). That said, NU does consider “first generation” candidates, who more likely come from poorer families.</p>
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I highly doubt that’s the case because such practice would violate the need-blind policy and reserve discriminate the rich.</p>
<p>When they talk about looking at applications in context though, that’s what they mean. You cannot compare an applicant from Englewood (South Side Chicago) and Lake Forest (North Shore) without taking into account the environment they grew up in, where they went to school, etc. In this sense, the process is not entirely need-blind. “Need-blind” probably only means they cannot peek at FA info but they can probably guess your social stats based on what’s on the app. The Common App does ask what your parents’ occupations are and of course, where you live. In that sense, you can say all colleges that accept the Common App get that information. </p>
<p>I guess you can say it’s reverse-discrimination towards the Lake Forest student. However, even if his family needs a lot of FA, it doesn’t change the fact that the kid still benefited from the advantages of living in a wealthy community with well-resourced schools and surrounded by well-educated peers and adults. Academic standards do not need to be lowered for him as much as for the Englewood kid who grew up in a rough environment.</p>
<p>To reiterate my previous points:</p>
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<li><p>You still haven’t (read: can’t) demonstrated a link of high-stats and wealth. Not saying that rich kids do better than poor kids, but that ED upper-class kids are statistically superior to RD upper middle class kids. The stats don’t “equal out” and you can’t just say that ED means better stats AND wealthier. You could select on one of the variables, but not both at the same time.</p></li>
<li><p>I continue to reject this idea that ED kids are better b they are ED. As a RD kid-turned-NU Superfan, I take serious issue with it. I’m more comfortable taking kids who are successful in the most holistic of senses and are therefore more likely to succeed in college. Get the kids who will succeed in college. Don’t worry about the kids who will succeed at Northwestern.</p></li>
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<p>So everyone is clear on my position - I don’t care enough about yield, financial aid allocation, or backdoor reverse-racism enough to mortgage any chance at getting the 2,100 kids who will best succeed at NU and beyond. If 2,100 kids from the south side or 2,100 kids from Greenwich or some combination yields an environment of people who enjoy their time in Evanston and do well AND do good in the world, then thats my desired outcome.</p>
<p>Admissions will sort out the rest later. People want to go a school where they will be happy and successful. Let’s not put the cart before the horse.</p>
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<p>The official definition of “need-blind” is this:
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<p>Of course, you can make an educated guess but that doesn’t mean you should. I am pretty sure the adcom were told to adhere and stay true to the need-blind policy. Otherwise, there would be a lot of confusion in the decision making. The kind of practice you talked about is questionable and disturbing in the sense that the adcom know Chicago well but probably not other places; wealthy kids from other places would be spared of such reverse-discrimination. Note to memtion the fact that adcom could make wrong assumptions and estiamtes. Furthermore, would NU administration really want to entertain the idea of running into a huge budget problem simply because one day, the few adcom members get together and decide that “poorer” kids deserve much better and then think to themselves, “let’s screw the wealthy ones!”.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the “first generation” would likely take care of many candidates that may come from low-income families. That is the best way to capture without all those second-guessing and flaws I just mentioned.</p>
<p>Every application is looked at within the context of the school and region it’s in, and admissions counselors are assigned “territories” where they are expected to familiarize themselves with the various schools.</p>