My top choice school is currently Northeastern so I am really considering applying there ED. My only concern is that I’ve been hearing that if you’re going to need financial aid you might be better off doing EA. Does any one know anything about this?
Here is some of my info:
GPA: UW:3.7/4 W:4.2/?
ACT: 29
SAT: did not take
First gen
Ethnicity: Asian
Freshman
Honors English
Honors Geometry
Honors Biology
Honors Modern World History
Honors Spanish
Honors Latin
(No APs available to freshmen at my high school)
Sophomore
Honors Algebra 2
Honors Chemistry
Honors English
Honors Latin
Honors Spanish
Honors intro to philosophy
AP US History (only AP available to sophmores at my school)
Junior
AP Chemistry
AP Physics 1
AP Language and Composition
AP US History (2 yr program at my school)
Honors Trigonometry and Calculus
Honors Spanish (taken as an independent study since it did not fit in my schedule but I still wanted to take another year of a language)
Senior
AP Biology
AP BC Calculus
AP Literarure
Honors Astronomy
Honors organic chemistry
Honors biochemistry
Honors Spanish
I took as many of the challenging courses as my school offers.
ECs
Volleyball (10)
Tennis (10)
Book club dedicated to reading to elementary school kids (11-12)
Volunteering at Tufts medical center (9-12)
Math team (9-12)
National Honor Society (11-12)
I also work at a local hospital as a dietary aide and as a barista at a local coffee shop.
I am really interested in going to Northeastern especially because of the Pharmacy 6yr program. I don’t know a lot of other schools that offer similar programs so if you know any please let me know!! Not to mention, I am absolutely in love with the campus. Also, If you could tell me my chances for other schools like UCLA, BU, George Washington, tufts, and Umass Amherst I would really appreciate it! I understand that I’m not as competitive as some other candidates so I know doing ED or EA could work in my benefit so please let me know what you think my chances are! Thank you I appreciate it a lot!!
So would applying EA be a better bet for me? I understand that northeastern is a reach but are my chances slim to none? Thanks for answering the financial aid questions.
A reach in CC parlance means that you have a chance of acceptance. If you had a 32 ACT I would call it a match. No one can assign a percent probability of being admitted anywhere. I recommend that you apply of course.
My S had a similar ACT score. He got in but got no merit scholarship at all, though other comparable schools did offer merit. We did not apply for finaid after using online calculators. Due to much higher cost, did not even consider accepting the offer. Most schools gave merit, this was the exception. I am sure there are others who do get merit, but location and some unusual programs make this a popular school.
As far as Boston University, it is just as if not more competitive, and they are also often stingy with merit. GW gave my older child a large merit package, with somewhat similar background as you,
but that was about 3 years ago.
Also generally speaking, EA gives you very little advantage in admissions. You are not committing to go (and pay the full price) so they are not as biased to commit to you.
Youngest son was deferred EA, then admitted in April to NU.
If you really think your financial situation warrants financial aid, apply ED, and if they do not
give you aid relative to estimates on their financial calculator, you can back out due to lack of aid.
That is the only way to get out of ED, so you better do your homework and make sure you know
what is estimated BEFORE you apply ED. http://www.northeastern.edu/financialaid/aid/calculators/
@Clarinet16 Merit aid is given to entice students to attend. ED applicants are committed to attend by definition. Perhaps you can provide us with a list of schools that do award merit aid to ED applicants. It would be very informative to all.
@TomSrOfBoston, OP says he is a First gen, wouldn’t that be taken into consideration? @rlmc19 , you could try taking ACT again to improve your scores. There is one more test available before the ED?EA deadline
@TomSrOfBoston, I don’t believe your statement is accurate regarding Early Decision applicants have “minimal to non-existent” chance of receiving Merit aid.
@ClarinetDad16 Northeastern awards all scholarships and grants at time of acceptance be it in December or March. So the President of Emory is not familiar with all schools.
OP, here is how NEU handles Merit:
Students who are in the top 10-15% of our applicant pool are considered for competitive merit awards, including the prestigious Dean’s Scholarship. Recipients are awarded between $5,000 and $25,000 annually. All fall freshman applicants for undergraduate admission to Northeastern are considered.
I think it’d be smarter to apply Regular Decision and work on your standardized test scores. You’d probably have a better chance of getting more merit money if your test scores were better.