Penn Early Decision -- now RESTRICTIVE Early Decision?

http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/freshman-admission/early-and-regular-decision

In the thread below http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/1905936-question-about-penn-ed-can-you-apply-to-bs-md.html, @desie1 pointed out what seems to be a new policy at Penn – if you apply ED to Penn, you not only aren’t allowed to apply to other ED or REA programs, the webpage now says you’re not allowed to apply to other non-binding Early Action schools.

Has Penn become Restrictive Early Decision? That’d be wild if so. Has anyone noticed this?

So reading this, I wonder if an ED student at Penn could apply EA at Michigan, for example. Not clear on whether that would be considered “rolling admissions”. And I would interpret it to mean no EA at safeties like Dickinson or Lawrence, or other reaches like UChicago.

This new policy is a bit of a disappointment. There are some high merit EA school that give away more money the earlier you apply. they could run out of money by waiting. Technically, Michigan is EA, not rolling. Another bummer…

I wonder how Penn thinks this helps them.

For us, it drops Penn from a possible ED school to only being a possible RD school, which is probably not what they had in mind.

@BigPapiofthree The third bullet says
You may apply to any college/university with non-binding early deadlines for scholarships.
To me EA is non-binding so even if you apply to Penn ED you can still apply EA to a school that wants applications at that point in order for an applicant to be considered for scholarships.

This is really so surprising - typically ED schools focus on the fact that if they admit the student, they are coming (with a few financial aid exceptions), so why they would eliminate a student’s chance to apply EA? (It looks like the only possible exception is for colleges that only offer scholarships to EA students) It doesn’t seem logical. Maybe I am missing something here - but how can this be in anyone’s best interest? It’s certainly not in the interest of the students, but I don’t see how Penn would benefit unless they are trying to reduce ED applications. But why would they want that? So confused. In any case, I know somebody who works at Penn, but not with admissions. I’m going to ask them if they heard anything about it. If I hear back, I’ll share it…

Uchicago and Duke are competing with Penn with generous merit-based financial aid. Penn may have lost some ED students.

Seems like a good way to alienate some strong candidates, because in essence, it says:

  1. we don’t trust you to follow our ED rules (maybe they have reason not to trust…?); and
  2. we don’t care that, in the event we defer or reject your ED application, you are now at a disadvantage when it comes to your other options/opportunities.

Not a good marketing decision IMO.

It looks like they are eliminating Chicago, MIT, Caltech, NotreDame as EA choices.

Notre Dame would not be a choice even before this, since its policy does not permit you to apply to ND under EA if you also apply somewhere ED.

@Ldoponce I see where you are coming from with U Mich i.e. EA and the need to apply earlier for better scholarships, but Its not clear to me that “earlier for better scholarships” means you’d have to apply to UMich by EA deadline to get those scholarships, which is what I think Penn is talking about here …

I feel like they are talking about schools like UMD where you have to apply by November to be considered for any scholarships, if you apply in Jan its too late for scholarship money

IDK, it all seems pretty vague- Id make sure to ask Admissions if Umich is ok to also apply to before doing it bc In my opinion thats not going to fly

for reference UMD’s website say
Scholarship Eligibility
To be considered for merit scholarships, students must submit a completed undergraduate admission application for the fall semester by the Nov. 1 Priority Deadline. No separate application is necessary to be considered, but some scholarships require an on-campus interview. Students admitted for the spring semester are not considered for merit scholarships.

UMICH says:
Students are considered for most scholarships and do not need to apply for them separately. We encourage you to apply for admission early to receive equal consideration with other applicants. Once admitted, visit the My Scholarship Profile on Wolverine Access and complete it to ensure that you are considered for all scholarships. To be considered for scholarships that are awarded to students with financial need, you must also apply for financial aid.

I feel like Penn is talking about the school that has cutoff date for scholarship that is in writing and is before you would hear back from Penn if you are accepted ED…

I don’t see why you should ask Penn for a clarification. They stated their policy on their website, and reasonable people can differ on what that means. Use the interpretation that works for you assuming your high school will permit it.

The whole discussion about Maryland or Michigan is irrelevant. Below is the first bulleted item for exceptions for Penn’s policy.

You may apply to any public college/university that offers non-binding admissions.

Omg! @GraceDad they changed it from this morning. That is why you don’t understand the debate. Earlier the link said you can only apply to non binding public schools with ROLLING adnissions. So public schools offering EA were excluded. Thank ggoodness they changed it!

The exceptions are reasonable in the sense that you can also apply where they have scholarships with early deadlines to private schools too. Many private schools with EA action have honors programs with scholarships that have early deadlines. If you combine that with EA at publics, there are not many schools my sons applied to that they could not have applied anyway under this policy.

The revised wording still affects MIT, UChicago, and CalTech, all of which still offer EA.

ooops. you are right

Penn is clearly going after selective private schools that offer EA. Those schools are the target. In particular I think they are going after three schools Chicago, MIT and Caltech. They don’t want students who apply ED to apply EA to these schools because their data must show that for whatever reason, kids who get into these schools during the EA round are using the “Financial Aid” escape clause to turn down Penn.

Wow they did change it from earlier today (where they said only rolling admissions for state schools)! Thats much better - so it looks like all state schools are in now! Whew…

Also all private schools like Tulane and or schools that utilize the Stamps Foundation scholarships that require you to apply early decision to be eligible for scholarship which INCLUDES Cal Tech are OK to apply to…

on Stamps website for CalTECH
For the Stamps Scholarship
Freshman admission to Caltech is highly selective, as is the process of being awarded a Stamps scholarship. Candidates that are considered have to apply and be admitted under the Early Action (EA) deadline of November 1. Caltech accepts the Common Application. Once students have been accepted under EA (decisions typically emailed in mid-December), the admission office will then nominate a select few candidates for the Foundation to consider. Ultimately, the Stamps Foundation will decide which candidates to interview and select for the prestigious Stamps Scholarships.

I think they are just going after U Chicago and MIT -which in reality offer pretty much full need FA as does Penn

Hmm interesting, so Caltech requires the EA application for consideration to the Stamps scholarship, but Chicago does not and MIT is not part of the Stamps program, so its just these two schools that are being singled out by Penn!! That is strange