Ntang wrote:
The question I'm facing is, after shamelessly selling myself just to get into each of these schools, what possible new merits do I have to showcase that would affect their aid offers?
I bet you can come up with other selling points. For example, I discussed coming from a working class background and how important that made education for me, and thus how committed I would be to the experience. I also talked about contributions to the community that I planned to make. You might look at essays for XY to get ideas for Z, and vice versa.
Ntang wrote:
The only thing I can think of is that nearer the deposit deadline, their pool of available aid money will have replenished somewhat as other admits decline the school's offer to go elsewhere, freeing up their awards for others. Maybe it would pay to hold off until March to start asking for more cash? Does that make any sense?
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Hmmm. I dunno. I would guess that at this point, the schools are more likely to be worried about yield and filling the class. As they get closer to R3, they have a better idea where they are and might decide that you're not so important (or that you are REALLY important). With the student loan situation what it is, I would guess that schools are fairly worried at this point, unless they've come up with viable alternatives. I'm just guessing, of course.