<p>I am a rising senior in high school from Florida and have been contacted by several swimming recruiters for various colleges. Northwestern University has contacted me and has offered me a spot on their division 1 team with a 50% scholarship but I must apply ED. Duke University has contacted me and would love for me to be on their division 1 team but they do not offer athletic scholarships. The University does have merit scholarships (which provide a free education as well as a free study abroad) that I feel I am a competitive candidate for. Also UNC Chapel Hill has offered me to be on their division 3 team and they also do not have athletic scholarships but do have a merit scholarship (that provides a free education as well as a free study abroad) that I feel I am competitive candidate for.</p>
<p>Should I apply ED to Northwestern or should I decline the offer and apply to Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, and several other school regular decision?</p>
<p>If cost is the determinant for you, make the comparison based upon the scholarship offer from Northwestern and no scholarship from either Duke or UNC. The merit scholarships at Duke and UNC are very competitive and relatively few who are qualified will actually get them.</p>
<p>Northwestern is a fantastic school and they are guaranteeing you money. I don’t think the choice is that difficult :).</p>
<p>However, depending on your financial situation, you may also want to take into consideration the school environment. Which college do you like the most if you’re just looking at the environment, etc?</p>
<p>Northwestern is a fantastic school, and competing in the Big 10 would probably be amazing. Northwestern is Need Blind – Full Need. If your family is well to do, that 50% is a fantastic thing. If your family is low to moderate income, you might get 50% or more in aid without the swimming anyway.</p>
<p>Without the aid, what school would you pick? What do you plan to study?</p>
<p>Cltdad-good point!
barrk123- true!
CC123sb-What would you consider above average?
mangentalturtle- All three seem to be great schools that I think would be a good fit for me. The finances are a huge part of my decision because my parents are contributing 10,000 per year and I need to come up with the rest. So I do not know if I should wait and hope for a full ride from Duke or UNC or not be greedy and go with the 50%.
CuriousJane- My family does not qualify for need-based aid. I plan to study chemistry. I do not know which school I would pick without the aid. They all seem great to me. Whats your opinion with aid/ without?</p>
<p>Have you been able to visit any of the three schools? Have you thought about being in Chicago in winter – especially being from Florida? What do you know about the swimming programs? I would certainly want to arrange visits, if at all possible, before Northwestern’s ED deadline.</p>
<p>Add together a 50% scholarship plus $10,000 plus a $5500 Stafford loan plus whatever you can earn in the summer and part-time during the school year–and you still cannot cover the cost of Northwestern, so applying ED would make no sense. You need to cast a wide net to find schools that you can afford given the very limited contribution from your parents.</p>
<p>MommaJ, financial circumstances are a valid reason to turn down an ED acceptance. Should Northwestern not match the financial packages offered by other schools, the OP can turn them down on those grounds. I would apply ED to Northwestern, not just for academic and financial reasons, but also for the opportunity to compete in Division I athletics.</p>
Huh? If OP applies ED to Northwestern, he won’t know what the other schools may offer at the time he has to accept or decline the ED offer. That’s the problem. Besides, OP seems to already know what NU will offer and that it’s inadequate, so until OP explains how the shortfall could be covered, we have to assume NU is not going to work and he needs to explore other options.</p>
<p>Absolutely wrong. After being accepted to a school ED, one must either accept or decline the offer of admission (though they can only rightfully decline for financial reasons). A person * cannot * apply to other schools after accepting an ED offer. There is no way the OP would see financial awards from other schools before having to decide about accepting/declining ED at Northwestern.</p>
<p>OP, you * should not * rely on getting a full ride from Duke/UNC. Both are * extremely * competitive, and even though with stats that get HYP usually do not get full rides from Duke/UNC, especially Duke.</p>
<p>If you cannot afford Northwestern (it sounds like you can’t if your parents will only give 10k), then you should apply RD to Duke and UNC. You should also make sure to apply to several financial safeties - i.e. schools that will guarantee you a full tuition scholarship.</p>
<p>If the OP was admitted to NW, he’d have to withdraw all applications at other colleges. And it’s not certain that the OP would be able to demonstrate ‘financial hardship’ given his parents circumstances, and the amount he’d have to pay. And even if he could, since he’d have withdrawn the Duke/UNC applications, he’d be left with no college to go to for at least a year.</p>
<p>It seems like the NW-ED is too risky. Personally, i’d apply to all of them regular decision. You should also apply to some instate colleges like UFlorida as backups just in case. Don’t assume that any of them will give you anything.</p>
<p>Also, you need to decide for yourself how you feel about loans. Talk to your parents about how they feel about a PLUS loan too.</p>
<p>Better be clear about what “demonstrated economic hardship” means.
If your Expected Family Contribution is $25K, but your parents are only willing to contribute $10K, then it may be difficult to claim economic hardship just because there is gap between available resources and costs.</p>
<p>So, what is your EFC? Is it much more than $10K?</p>
<p>And what does “50%” mean? Is it 50% of the full COA, or just 50% of tuition?</p>
<p>That’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the ED process. Applying ED means the applicant is committing to that school, if accepted and if the financial package is within the applicant’s means. It does not mean that applicant can wait and compare it with other financial awards that may be better. And while there is surely some wiggle room around that, advising a student to apply ED with the intention of using that wiggle room to compare financial aid offers is advising the student to do something that is unethical.</p>
<p>OP has stated in another thread that his family does NOT qualify for FA. He will be covering the rest of the COA with loans.</p>
<p>Stats for Duke/UNC’s Robertson scholars usually consist of:
2300+ SAT/35+ ACT
4.0 UW, Most Rigorous Courseload (10+ AP’s is Ideal)
780+ on at least 2 Subject Tests
Unique EC’s / Community Service
Great Recs</p>
<p>If you fit into this criteria, maybe it is best you apply to elite merit scholarships at schools (Emory Scholars, Vandy Scholars, USC Presidential Scholarship, etc.).</p>
<p>Attending a financially feasible school should come first, swimming comes second.</p>