Should I apply Early Decision to UPenn Wharton, others?

College Search & Selection
1

My top three schools are Penn, Lehigh, and Villanova. I want to do business. If all three schools were the same price, I’d rank them Lehigh, Penn, and then Villanova (best to worst).

Here are their tuition prices (including room and board)
Penn: $69,340
Lehigh: $63,075
Villanova: $65,923

I would be happy going to any of these three schools, but since they are all around the same price, I feel obligated to go to Penn since it is the highest ranking. If my parents are going to spend 70K on my college, I feel that Penn would give the best return on their investment. This is why I started feeling that applying ED to Penn made sense since I would also find whether or not I was accepted earlier and that I’d have better admission chances.

However, there is always the possibility of a scholarship at Lehigh or Villanova. I’d choose Lehigh or Villanova over Penn in a heartbeat if they offered me a significant scholarship (30K+ per year). But I’m nervous because what if I don’t apply ED to Penn and then I get no scholarship money from Lehigh or Villanova? Then I would end up with significantly lower odds to Penn, and I’ll be paying Penn’s tuition price for either Lehigh or Villanova (which are lower ranking schools). I don’t want that to happen because then I’d completely regret not applying ED to Penn.

If anyone’s confused about my information, just PM me for clarification on anything. I’ll give some of my stats below if it helps with giving me suggestions. Thanks in advance for all the responses I get!

Family Background:
My parents make 200K per year. My sister is in college for 40K per year right now, and my brother is entering high school. I’m not sure if I’ll get much financial aid, but I’ll apply for it anyways.

My information:
ACT: 33 (UPenn says they will superscore it to a 34)
SAT II: Math 2 (800), Physics (750), World History (770)
GPA: 3.95 unweighted and 4.38 Weighted
6 AP’s taken so far (and honors classes), and I’m taking another 4 AP’s senior year.
My school doesn’t rank, but I’m in the top 5% of my class (my class size is 750 students)
I play the piano and organ. I do a varsity sport. I volunteer. I’m involved in many clubs and honors societies.

2

Purely from an application standpoint – if you want you can always apply to Wharton ED1 (if you feel confident you would be happy there) and if you don’t get in you can apply to Lehigh ED2. I think Villanova has non-binding EA so you can check each school’s rules but you may be able to apply to all three in some kind of an early program.

In terms of money, you should run the Net Price Calculator to get a sense of if you might qualify for aid at any school. --Are your parents willing/able to pay full freight? If not you may want to add to your list some other schools (ex. Fordham?) were you might be more likely to get merit aid or in-state public alternatives.

–Do they want you to compare finanical offers from different schools? If so then I’d skip ED applications so you can have that opportunity.

3

@christopher8956 and @happy1
Just to complicate it even more for you… first time this admissions cycle Villanova added ED, which is binding. They also have the non binding EA. Check out how Villanova awards academic merit. They only offer scholarships that need to be applied for. Many schools award it on your transcript grades without the need to apply for scholarships. There are specific parameters to apply for them.

Apply ED to the school that you absolutely want to be at.

4

Go sit down with your parents and have a hard money talk. If they make $200K, and are paying $40K / yr for your sister, adding $70K is not a runner unless there are savings accounts in the picture. You have a great profile - top 25% for Villanova & Lehigh; middle 50% for UPenn (as a whole). For a business major, though, internships and experience are going to count for a lot, and you want as little debt as humanly possible- debt will limit your choices after graduation more than you might think.

5

I agree with above. If you really want the prestige of Penn ranking apply ED1 to Penn. If you don’t get an admit, then apply ED2 to Lehigh. In the meantime, apply EA to Villanova. If a miracle happens and you get into Penn, go. If they offer you to little, and you get good money from Lehigh, then you can always get out of ED commitment for financial reasons. You will enhance your odds of admissions to both penn and Lehigh with this ED strategy. No school will hold you to ED admit if financial issues arise.

6

If Lehigh would be your preferred choice and merit money would sway you elsewhere if that reduced your costs beyond the EFC you calculate using Penn’s website, then I would not apply ED there. If you are strong enough to get into Wharton, there are definitely places with an excellent business education that will give you merit money. Unfortunately, your family is in the challenging position of making too much to get loads of need based aid and too little to pay $40K+ without there being some pain. Agree with collegemom3717 that you need to find out about college savings to date, run the net price calculator for those three schools, and see if the Penn EFC is acceptable for you to commit immediately if admitted. Penn is not going to match a merit award elsewhere so why bother if that is your hopeful straegy?

7

@yalegradanddad is right that Penn will not match any merit awards. No Ivy will or they would receive basically zero tuition every year.

You are an excellent student, but based on what you have listed above, I do not see the “something extra” that a student probably needs to get into Penn these days. You are definitely in the range to get admitted, but unless you have some state or national level awards that I don’t see here, I think it’s a long shot.

In contrast, I think you have an excellent chance to be admitted to both Lehigh and 'Nova.