At many points on the RD Discussion Thread (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-rochester/1728181-rochester-2019-rd-discussion-thread.html#latest), CC users have made references to a priority notification going out to students who applied by December 1. However, I cannot find anything on Rochester’s website supporting these claims. In addition, some CC users have stated that priority review for merit aid will go out to students who applied by December 1; if this is true, I find it unfair that this was not made public, as I of course would have applied by December 1.
Again, no reference is made to December 1. So can someone please send me a link to a part of Rochester’s website that supports this claim (as opposed to saying “my friend knows someone who emailed a friend, who heard from an admissions counselor…”)
Though I don’t know exactly what priority review is, in my interview there was definitely strong suggestion to have the application in by early December or late November. The heavy suggestion was because the admissions at Univesity of Rochester look through applications as they come in and the earlier you submit the application, the more likely you are to get some of the scholarship money they have, since they have a limited amount of funds to give out. This is the only advantage I know of for the whole December 1st submission, though I’m sure it is not a solid deadline, and it’s why I submitted on November 26th just to be sure. Hope this helps.
@IndependentLan, if that’s the case, why wouldn’t they advertise it? I could’ve submitted my app in November, but I instead waited until mid December, because as far as I was concerned, there was no penalty for that. I guess I was waiting to see if anything new came up. I went on my interview in the end of December, after submitting the app, this it would have been impossible for them to tell me to submit it by December 1. It’s frustrating because UR is one of my top schools, but I can’t justify paying their tuition without some merit aid, that I am praying to get.
I am, from the sounds of it, in the same boat that you are with the tuition. When exactly did you submit though? Because from what I remember, most of the applications come in in late December because procrastination is king for the grand majority of us teenagers. I think you should be fine with the aid, should what I said be true. Their funds won’t dry up that quickly. With any luck, I’ll see you next fall.
I think that Rochester wants to have the apps spread out, so that they aren’t deluged. A few years ago when one of my older kids was applying, Harvard had a priority deadline of Dec. 1. There was no actual advantage to applying by that date; they just wanted some of the apps in early so that their staff could start reading them. I’m sure that Rochester will have merit aid available throughout the process. You shouldn’t worry about this.