<p>OP, being able to pay full tuition at Brandeis may help. My info may be a couple years out of date, but the school did go to a “need-aware” admissions policy. They guarantee that they’ll meet need for everyone accepted, but their financial aid budget wasn’t quite large enough to manage that. So, they admit the vast majority of the class without caring about who needs aid, up to the point when they run out of aid money. From that point on IIRC they will only admit those who aren’t asking for need-based aid. Maybe it’s changed recently; check with the Brandeis forumites.</p>
<p>But if that’s the case AND your parents are on board financially with this then yes, applying ED is a good idea. An ED application tells them that they are your first choice; not applying for aid means that you are telling them that if admitted you will absolutely attend. No guarantees, of course (fill out those other applications early!!!).</p>