I’m in a bit of a predicament. I applied ed to northeastern, but need tons of aid and am wary of the potential package. My stats would probably be around the 40-ish percentile if admitted, so I’m not sure what additional help I could get in addition to need based aid. Should I switch my application from ed to rd? Northeastern is likely my top choice, but I have other options. Thanks.
If Northeastern is truly your top choice, if I were you I would not switch, because the ED reading process is already in progress, and Northeastern might interpret your request to switch to RD as a loss of interest on your part and reject you RD. If the financial package that comes with your ED acceptance is inadequate, you can reject it and apply RD to other schools; you will not be able to go to Northeastern then, but you are not locked into attending if it is truly unaffordable with the aid they give you, and if you have asked and they are unwilling to increase the aid.
If, however, you want to fish for merit aid or compare aid packages from multiple universities, and this is so important to you that you won’t mind giving up Northeastern if needed, then switch to RD.
“My stats would probably be around the 40-ish percentile”
Have you run the NPC? If you did and the results are good enough that you would take it, then you probably should stay with ED. If you have run the NPC and the results are not good enough for you to take it, then you should probably switch to RD. If you have not run the NPC, do so today.
One daughter applied to Northeastern with stats that were way better than the 40th percentile, but with no hope of need based aid. The offer than came back made it the most expensive school that either daughter got an acceptance from (tied with BU, but $25k/year more expensive than anywhere else). As such I don’t think of it as a generous school.