Worth it to apply ED?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
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<p>Hey everybody! I'm debating where to apply ED so that I can make the most out of the opportunity that ED gets you, admissions-wise. I LOVE Swattie, but I'm not sure if it should be my ED. Here goes:</p>

<p>Applying to Wake Forest, Wesleyan, Washington and Lee, Georgetown, Princeton (yep, dreaming!), Dartmouth, Haverford, Arcadia, Duke, Yale, and, of course, Swarthmore :)</p>

<p>End goal here is law school for international law (therefore, preference for schools with law schools attached!), and I plan on majoring in Econ. and International Relations/Studies/WhateverOtherTermTheyUse ;)</p>

<p>SAT's: 2210 (770 M, 720 CR, 720 W) one sitting, 2270 (770 M, 780 CR, 720 W) super-scored</p>

<p>Need Merit and/or Financial Aid, family makes $200,000/a year</p>

<p>Schedule: as hard as can be, except not taking Calc this year, math just isn't my thing, even though I'm pretty good at it</p>

<p>GPA: 4.7/5.0; 4th in Class of 430-ish</p>

<p>300 hrs of community service
President of Environmental Club, member of another, participated in Envirothon
President and Founder of a nonprofit for recognition of a unique historical event (gets too specific lol)- this is my life and passion here!
Coach Youth Soccer, played at the school for one year (crazy coaches!), also participated in rec teams until I couldn't anymore :(
NHS member
Attended a leadership group-type thing</p>

<p>Bad thing about all these EC's is that I only started most of them my junior year because I moved freshman year- never got the jive of things! Obviously did this year though! </p>

<p>Essay would be about my nonprofit...</p>

<p>I think that's about it! Input as to whether or not Swattie would be a wise ED choice, or which college WOULD be a wise ED choice, is super-appreciated! Thanks a bunch! :))</p>

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<p>If you want to go to swarthmore, there isn’t really a downside to applying ED. I am not sure what the chances of your getting aid are if your family makes 200k, but if for whatever reason you feel the aid package isn’t enough, you can decline the ED offer.</p>

<p>Also, I am not sure what the upside would be of going to a university with a law school. They are almost certainly not going to hire you to do research, and you almost certainly would not be able to take classes there…</p>

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<p>With your family’s annual income, unless there are unusual circumstances you probably won’t get need-based aid from any school. So–can you afford full-pay at Wesleyan, Georgetown, Princeton, Dartmouth, Haverford, Yale, and Swarthmore? (And likely Duke unless you manage to get their ultra-competitive full-ride, for which ED will only hurt you.)</p>

<p>Of your list, only Wake Forest and Arcadia give out significant merit aid. Washington and Lee has a few full-rides, but they are also ultra-competitive. I’m guessing that you don’t want to ED to Wake Forest or Arcadia, so consider whether you could even accept an ED offer to a need-only school that offers you no financial aid.</p>

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<p>FYI - there are some cultures at Princeton (say maybe among a third of the students) and even more so at Dartmouth that are ** completely incongruous**, with the culture of Swarthmore.</p>

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<p>^ would you mind sharing which cultures are incongruous? Swarthmore definitely is different, but you almost say incongruous as if it’s something terrible! I’m just worried I missed something…</p>

<p>And thanks to the rest, I have been thinking about whether or not I can accept an ED offer I can’t afford, and that’s making me reevaluate my choices a tad! Need based aid :confused: too rich for aid, too poor to pay</p>

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<p>Right. Princeton (and probably Dartmouth, Georgetown) has a strong (and what I’d characterize as toxic) subculture that seems to celebrate wealthy rich white dudes while putting down all others (at best insidiously). These students seem not to be academically inclined (relatively) but rather interested in partying and maintaining their (likely inherited) privilege. </p>

<p>Indeed, as a Swat alumnus, I find this (sub)culture to be abhorrent. It is not entirely pervasive, as there are many students at Princeton who’d fit in well at Swat, but it’s pervasive enough, for instance, to send gays to what I’ve heard described as a Princeton-internal Craigslist men-for-men personals site to facilitate hookups, because meeting in social settings isn’t apparently cool. This doesn’t happen at Swat. This example is perhaps relevant to a non-gay person because the environment at Swat seems to foster more self-awareness than the environment at Princeton.</p>

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<p>Thanks for explaining! I appreciate the info</p>