<p>BU is my first choice for college but I am confused how early admission works. I know it is binding but how can you commit to go to a school without knowing if you will receive merit aid. My family will not qualify for much need based aid but I have two brothers in college so to attend BU I need to receive merit aid.</p>
<p>Does applying early admissions increase you chances of receiving either the Trustee or Presidential scholarships?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>If you apply to BU Early Decision and your family won’t qualify for need-based aid, then you are promising BU that you’ll attend whether you receive merit aid or not.</p>
<p>And if you’re making that promise, then BU has little incentive to offer you merit aid. Most colleges and universities that offer merit aid use it to entice highly able students to attend their school instead of going elsewhere. If you apply to BU Early Decision–especially if you apply to BU Early Decision and you don’t apply for financial aid–they know that they’ve got you if they admit you. You won’t need to be given an incentive to attend, so (IMO) you probably won’t be offered one.</p>
<p>If you’re a good enough student to be offered merit aid at BU, then you don’t need any admissions boost you might get by applying Early Decision. And if you’re counting on merit aid to make BU affordable, you really need to apply Regular Decision, not Early Decision.</p>
<p>It’s not the answer you wanted, I know. And I’m sorry. But that’s the way it is.</p>
<p>Actually it is the answer I wanted. I would prefer to apply regular admissions so I can keep other options open. I have a 4.3 GPA, ACT 32, varsity athlete, numerous leadership positions and community service, job experience but not sure exactly what my chances are.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the information</p>
<p>Oh, well then, glad I could be of help!</p>
<p>
If you apply to BU Early Decision and you don’t apply for need-based aid, then you are promising BU that you’ll attend whether you receive merit aid or not.</p>
<p>If you apply ED asking for need aid and not enough is offered to support attendance, you can decline the offer and apply RD elsewhere. </p>
<p>Applying ED asking for need aid is for your by-far number one first choice when your only question is: Can I afford it?</p>
<p>vonlost: are you sure of this?</p>
<p>“If you apply ED asking for need aid and not enough is offered to support attendance, you can decline the offer and apply RD elsewhere.”</p>
<p>When I called BU they did not tell me this</p>
<p>Vonlost: This is from the BU website:</p>
<p>“Please note: Early Decision applicants will not receive notification of any full-tuition merit awards until late March – early April. Students applying for need-based aid who meet the eligibility requirements will be notified of their financial aid awards in their admission package”</p>
<p>How can a person do early decision if they need merit aid?</p>
<p>Since BU accepts the Common Application, this applies:
</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf</a></p>
<p>“How can a person do early decision if they need merit aid?”</p>
<p>You should apply for need-based aid at ED time; if the offer is insufficient you may have to decline the offer.</p>
<p>Schools might say that you can “need” only need-based aid, that you can’t “need” merit money, which is an enticement (some object to “bribe”) to try to get you to choose one school over another.</p>
<p>Vonlost…thank you</p>
<p>From my own experience, I applied early decision and was accepted with the addition of the Dean’s Scholarship. I will be starting my freshman year this fall.</p>
<p>If it’s truly your number one school, apply ED.</p>
<p>One other person from my school who applied RD was rejected with a 32 ACT and a 4.1 gpa; she played varsity tennis, was an editor for the school’s nationally renowned newspaper and contributed tremendously to the theater club. She’s also placed at state sectionals and nationally for journalism. </p>
<p>I don’t know how BU’s admissions team evaluates an application, but I’ve definitely heard of competent applicants getting turned down. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any further inquiries about the application process, and I’ll do my best to answer questions.</p>
<p>asouth… BU is my number one school but I have to receive merit aid. I am worried I will get accepted ED and have to make a decision without knowing if I will be receiving a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>I’d probably apply for need-based aid and if you don’t get enough merit and/or need-based aid to make it possible then tell BU you can’t attend because of need-based aid.</p>
<p>Your two brothers in college would help with need-based aid.</p>
<p>yank, are you certain (i.e., running the BU FA calculator) you won’t receive enough need aid?</p>
<p>A lot of these points about BU (e.g., you should run BU’s price calculator) are valid, but they side-step a broader point that I happen to think is more important. If money is an issue for you (and it sounds from your initial post as if it is), you might be better off not applying Early Decision anywhere.</p>
<p>The terms of an ED agreement do indeed make it possible for you to back out if the financial aid offered by the school doesn’t make it affordable for you. But it’s a binary thing: yes or no. ED doesn’t give you the opportunity to comparison shop, to find your best bargain. You and your family will have to decide, “Yes, we can afford BU at this price,” or “No, we can’t afford BU at this price.” But you won’t be able to shop around and say, for example, “Well, we could afford BU at this price, but I liked Syracuse almost as much, and it would cost us $25,000 less over four years, so maybe Syracuse is a better value.”</p>
<p>Food for thought.</p>
<p>Sikorsky…thank you so much for that advice. It really makes a lot of sense. I have run the calculators and even with 3 children in college the financial aid is not enough. It really does suck because we live in San Diego where the cost of living is really high and we are definitely a middle-class family. Basically each of the kids in my family will receive about $7,200 in loans.</p>
<p>Every kid in college today needs to be willing to take on the $25k to $30k of total four-year subsidized federal student debt. It’s nice if merit money covers it, or if you can get into a no-loan school, but don’t give up a college education because you don’t want this debt.</p>
<p>I am planning on taking out loans just like my brothers. If BU costs about $56,000 and if I only get $7,000-$8,000 in loans…where does the other $45,000 come from.</p>
<p>Do you mean that your two older brothers don’t use all your EFC?</p>
<p>My family did our FAFSA and it came out with a ridiculous high family contribution. The loans that my brothers took out did not cover all their costs so my parents had to help and they had to get jobs.</p>
<p>Ok, I think I misunderstood something. An EFC near 3 x $45k would suggest high income or assets.</p>