Julie Shields Rutyna: [00:00:00] webinar on a topic that we get so many questions about, and that is should I apply early decision or early action for the college admissions process? And so tonight I’m just thrilled to have here with us an expert on this topic and many other topics, uh, Drew Carter, who is the director of recruitment at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.

And we rely on Drew for so many things, so many, um, admissions questions and topics, and so I think this is gonna be a great conversation and one that I, I think you will learn so much about this evening. And because I know it’s a hot topic and you’re all interested, we’re gonna jump right in. So I think maybe to start, Drew, maybe you could just maybe give some definitions and maybe talk a little bit about early decision, early action, regular [00:01:00] decision.

Drew Carter: Sure. I mean, one of the, um… I was talking to a group of students at a high school today actually, and, uh, a student asked a question about applying early, and I think that is one of the most confusing parts about this, is that applying early is used as this sort of like, as this, um, sort of commonplace vernacular around college admissions.

But, um, but people aren’t always as clear whether they’re talking about early decision or early action, which are two very different application plans. Um, but when people talk about applying early, it, it can be a little bit confusing. So let’s, uh, let’s differentiate, uh, between the two. So, um, both early action and early decision typically have earlier deadlines, um, and by earlier means usually before whatever the sort of the final deadline is.

Usually that would be called regular decision. Um, early action and [00:02:00] early decision could have, uh, deadlines to apply as early as October 15th for some southern schools, um, November 1st or November 15th, uh, a little more commonly. Um, so they both have early deadlines to apply, and then they both have early notifications of, of the student’s decision on their application.

Usually it’s, um, around the holidays. Around the Christmas holidays is usually when, um, students are notified of their decision. So there’s all the things they have in common. That’s early action and early decision. The, the big difference, and it’s a big one is, um, what happens if a student is admitted. So with early action, um, the student has applied early, they’re notified of their decision early, usually by the holidays, and if they’re admitted- That’s it.

They have until the national deposit deadline, which is May 1st, to decide if they would like to enroll at that school or another school. So, [00:03:00] um, the advantage to the student there is they’ve applied early, they’ve found out their decision, and then if they were admitted, they have months and months to decide whether or not to enroll.

Um, that’s in stark contrast to early decision, which is similarly has that early application deadline and early notification. But the opposite case exists there, where if you’ve applied early decision, uh, you’ve only got one early decision application at a time active, and that’s because it is, um, the student has committed to enroll at that college if they’re admitted.

Um, I described it to a group of students today. I said, “It is the marriage proposal from the student to the college.” You know, you only say that once. You only say that to one person at a time. Um, if you’ll have me, I’ll have you. And so the, you know, it’s a, it’s a, it’s only for certain kinds of students, but it is stark contrast, right?

That student has committed to enroll if admitted. And so once that student is, if they are [00:04:00] admitted, then really their, their, for the most part, their college application process is done. And, um, in a perfect world, they withdraw all their other applications, and by the Christmas holidays, um, or the new year, they’re, they’re ready to share their news with their family and to just go back to being a senior.

Um, so that, that fits to this time of year. The conversation is a lot about either early action or early decision Students can have, um, many early action applications at a time active, um, because they’re not, um, because it’s not a binding application, so there’s no problem with applying to five, six, seven, 10 schools early action.

Whereas with early decision, because you’ve committed to enroll, you only apply to one. Um, regular decision is the, what- what for most schools is their, their latest application deadline. It can be, um, early January, it could be mid-January, or sometimes as late as early or mid-February, uh, at some [00:05:00] schools. Um, and that is the sort of the standard application deadline, and the notification of the decision usually comes to the student, um, the third week of March or sometimes as early as, as very early April.

Um, and, and that is similar to early action in that, uh, it’s not a binding application. The student applies, they find out, and then typically they have until May 1st, um, to decide whether or not to, to enroll at that school if they’ve been admitted. That’s the national deposit deadline. Um, so those are the three most common, and I think, um, as I, as I started this answer, the, the real differentiation there is when students or parents or families or counselors say applying early, um, it, it, it takes a follow-up question to say, “Well, do you mean early action or early decision?”

Because they have some things in common, but the commitment part is the exact opposite, and that’s the part that takes clarity. Um, most schools offer either early action or early decision. [00:06:00] Um, an increasing number, still a minority, but increasing number now offer both early action and early decision. Um, so that can be a little bit confusing for families.

It was a little bit easier when you either did either or. Um, and pretty much everybody offers, like, a regular decision deadline as well. That make sense? I, I talked in circles there for a little bit, but…

Julie Shields Rutyna: No, I think that makes perfect sense. It actually provides so much clarity, but I’m gonna now try to Yeah I’m gonna pick out a little bit more.

We sometimes also hear a couple of other terms, like early decision one, early decision two-

Drew Carter: Yeah …

Julie Shields Rutyna: and something called restrictive early a- action. So maybe before we go on, you could just define those as well. Sure. Yeah.

Drew Carter: So, uh, we’ll start with y- ED one and ED two, early decision one and early decision two.

That just means that a school has chosen to offer two [00:07:00] separate rounds of early decision. Um, so we’ll use the school I work at, for example, Holy Cross. We have a, a, a November 15th deadline for early decision one, the first round. We notify students of their decision usually around mid, mid-December, and then we have a second round of early decision with a deadline of January 15th.

So this begs the question, why two separate rounds? Why not just one? Um, well, we’ve, we’ve always had that, that early round right in November because students would like to… typically they’d like to find out before the New Year holiday, um, uh, if they’ve been admitted and if their, if their application process is done.

Um, we offer a second round for a few reasons, and most schools do. For A, the student who’s been a little bit, um, late-er to identify a first-choice school, maybe they didn’t get the chance to visit schools over the summer, and it wasn’t until the fall that they really narrowed in and, and they just weren’t able to meet that, [00:08:00] that November 15th deadline.

Uh, sometimes, uh, the second round of early decision makes a little more sense ’cause the student really wants to, um, submit their first quarter grades with their application and, and that may not have been completed in time for an ED one application, or they wanted one final glorious try at the SATs or the ACT exam, and they wanted to submit those in their application and, and their test date wouldn’t make it in time for that ED one deadline.

Um, additionally, it, it, it’s fair to recognize the fact that providing two different rounds of, of early decision gives students an opportunity to apply to a college, ED one, and if they receive bad news that they have not been admitted, there’s still time to activate a second early decision application and submit that, uh, for the, for an ED two deadline.

Um- [00:09:00] So the, there’s the… It’s worth clarifying that I said you can only have one ED application active at a time. Um, you can apply early decision multiple times, but it has to be in separate rounds, and you can only have one active at a time. Does that make sense?

Julie Shields Rutyna: Yes, yes.

Drew Carter: Um, and then you know what? Let me…

My, um, Zoom is trying to close and, and install updates. Let me postpone this. Hold on. Okay, I think it worked. Um, and then you asked about restrictive early action, okay? Or single choice early action. Um, it’s a kind of a small number of schools out there that offer early action, but they are putting a restriction on it, and they’re saying, “You can only apply to us and no other schools early action.”

Um, it’s not a big number, and usually all the schools that, that have this as an application round, [00:10:00] um, have some really good information and even sometimes some, like, brief videos on their website to explain it because they understand that it’s not, not too common. Um, and you know, they’ll tell you what, what they mean by some of the rules and, and sometimes school counselors can, can help explain some of it.

But it’s still a non-binding application. You’re not committed, um, but you have committed to that school that they are the only school to which you have submitted an early action application. Again, not a large number of schools offer that as an application round.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Thank you. So then let’s say you’re, you’re working with a student, um, yeah.

When, when would you say that it makes sense for a student to apply early decision?

Drew Carter: Yeah. I mean, there, there’s sort of a, a, a lot of boxes that need to be checked before applying to early decision because it is, you know, I described it before as the marriage proposal, right? It is a, it is an invitation to a commitment, right?

The student is [00:11:00] committing to the school that they will enroll if admitted. They certainly have to have, like, done as much research as they feel like they need to do on that school and all the other schools on their list. Um, they have to have had time to sit and sort of marinate with their f- their sort of reflections on those schools.

Uh, the Jesuits would call it a discernment process. Um, they have to have, like, certainly talked to their family and their school counselor about, about this, th- because there’s, there’s a, um, a form that needs to be filled out as a part of the application that the school counselor has to sign, that the parents or guardian have to sign, and the student has to sign saying that they understand the, the commitment part of an early decision application.

And they’ve also had to have hopefully had a, a conversation, um, as a family about, uh, about how they’re gonna be financing the education and [00:12:00] what, um, approximate costs might be at that particular school. That’s a big part of the equation certainly, and, um, the good news is that that’s a part of the equation where there’s a lot more information readily available to students, you know.

Um, y- I mean, you and I are young, so we, we didn’t work, uh, professionally in, in higher education or anything like that, um, 15 years ago. I think we were both in high school 15 years ago. But G- I mean, 15 or 20 years ago, people were just in the dark. There was like… You would just sort of guess at how much, um, a particular college might cost or how much aid you might qualify for.

Um, but now schools have calculators on their website where you can input some of your family’s information, get an early estimate. There are some schools that are, are, are, um, even making it a little more personal where, where you can connect with a financial aid counselor and, and sort of game out what it might cost if you were admitted to help make you [00:13:00] the decision, to help you make the decision about whether or not you want to apply early decision.

That’s not a large number of schools, but there’s, there’s n- never harm in asking. Um, so that, that- Financial piece. I think it’s possible to get a, not an exact answer, but, um, to get a lot of information and sort of an approximate answer about what it might cost. And, and with all that information, then if the, if the student says, “This is my first choice,” we have an understanding as a family that, uh, we have a, a vague idea of what it might cost if I were admitted, and we can make that work as a family, then that, that very well could be the right kind of situation where a student would want to apply early decision.

Um, one of the advantages obviously is finding out early, and the other advantage like that sometimes students identify that they are competing in a smaller pool of applicants. Typically, the pool of applicants for early decision is smaller than it is for regular decision, and, um, students at times see that as an opportunity [00:14:00] to compete in a smaller pool of applicants, and they might identify that as an advantage.

Julie Shields Rutyna: That’s great. So conversely, you know, it might just be all the opposite, but when does it not make sense for a student to apply early decision?

Drew Carter: Um, I mean, I think for the student who says, “I, uh, I think this is my first choice, but I’m not sure,” that, that’s probably not the right moment. A student who’s, um, maybe visited a few schools but still has schools that they, they want to continue to research, um, and might like one of those schools they visited, but still has work to do on, on researching schools, on doing the, what do they say, the research and the me search.

Um, you know, that sort of like looking at schools, but also reflecting on, on their reaction to those schools. Um, uh, you know, a family that has not talked about, um, the cost of education and, and family resources and, and how that’s gonna, um, how [00:15:00] that’s gonna work. Um, so there’s, you know, there’s many sort of, um, many sort of breakers that can trip there that sort of would, would sound the alarm to say, “You know what?

Maybe early decision isn’t right for us.” But, um, I think with the proper homework and the proper sort of, uh, discernment process, I think it’s possible for families, especially even starting, you know, even if we’re in the fall, especially for a, a second, uh, early decision round, um, that later deadline, certainly possible to get there by the, by either November, December, or January of the student’s senior year

Julie Shields Rutyna: That’s great.

And I was going to ask you about the benefits and drawbacks. You’ve covered some of that, but one of the questions I’m really, uh, trying to get to, because this is one we get all the time, is- Hmm … students wanna know, “Will applying early decision help me in the admissions process?” Yeah. So you’ve said a little, but if you could say a little more about that.

Drew Carter: Yeah. I actually, I mean, I was at [00:16:00] a, at a, a, a school here in Massachusetts at 2:00 this afternoon, and, um, the young woman who was there at my visit was a senior, and she was very direct and asked me that exact question. And I, you know, I, I sort of laid out that at most schools, that there, there can be some differences, but at most schools, um, when you’re applying in an early decision round, and let’s just take their, their first round, that ED1, um, A, uh, you are, uh, usually competing in a smaller pool of applicants.

Um, B, you are also, by applying early decision, you are, uh, very clearly demonstrating to the college that you, uh, that, that they are your first choice and you plan to enroll. So there’s no, there’s no mystery about whether or not you’re interested or not. Um, and then the third thing, at that point, um, they have not filled any percentage of their freshman class yet, which if you apply [00:17:00] regular decision, that’s just not the case.

They have already filled a percentage of that, of those freshman class seats in their early round. So com- competing in a smaller pool, um, very clearly signaling your interest in that college, and, um, and that all the s- all the seats in the incoming class are still available, those can be compelling reasons why a student might wanna do it.

And, and, you know, it’s sometimes I think, um, schools don’t typically publish what their separate acceptance rates are, both for early decision and regular decision. Um, but I think if you were to see those rates, I think more often than not you would see a higher acceptance rate in an early round than in a regular round.

Um, it is worth recognizing that typically it, it is stronger students applying, not always, but typically, um, those are some strong students applying in early decision. But there’s lots of, lots of spaces available in the freshman class. [00:18:00] They’re… All those students are strong, um, uh, have strongly signaled their intention to enroll, and it’s a smaller pool.

So there’s a lot of things contributing there, and if the, if the, um, if the student has really gone through the process and, and, and thought about it in the right way, then it certainly could make sense for the right student.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Great. And another, another big question that, that students and parents want to know is when a student applies early decision, uh, will they get more financial aid, less financial aid, the same financial aid?

Drew Carter: Yeah, I mean, that’s a great question to ask specifically of a particular college or university. What’s your, what’s your policy, um, around financial aid and merit scholarships in your early rounds? Um, and I think typically what you might hear, at least as it revolves around financial aid, typically what you might hear is that they’re, um, they award financial aid in the same [00:19:00] way in early rounds as they do in regular rounds, but it’s certainly worth asking.

Some schools prioritize merit scholarships in early rounds. Other schools might prioritize merit scholarships in r- in regular decision. So it’s a really important question to ask. Um, some are very specific and very transparent and it would be on their website. Um, if you don’t find, you know, specific information about merit awards and financial aid by round on their website, it’s definitely, it’s a, it’s a super easy question to ask and a pretty straightforward answer that you would receive.

Um, I think it’s fair to, to feel or, or, or to, to be a little suspicious, but I think usually, you know, your sort of fears are put to the side by just asking a representative from the admissions office or even from the financial aid office. Um, people are usually pretty upfront and, and they’ll share the appropriate information with you

Julie Shields Rutyna: That’s great.

So we’re getting some questions, but I just want to ask, [00:20:00] um, I want to ask one more question about early decisions specifically. So you did a good job explaining that, uh, there are so many tools now for families to really look into the affordability of the college and see if they feel comfortable with that, such as the net price calculators, you know, and the calculators- Mm-hmm

on the college websites, and maybe talking to the college, all of that, that all those tools are available, and families should, should really do that research. Um, what if they do that and they feel like the cost seems comfortable to them, they think they can do that, but then they get the aid offer from the school and it isn’t?

Yeah. What, what would you say the next steps are? Yeah.

Drew Carter: I mean, certainly connecting with representatives from the college. Depends on what school it is, if it makes sense to start with the admission office or it makes sense to start with the office of financial aid. Um, or start with both and see who, who wants to follow up, because, um, there’s certainly, um, there [00:21:00] certainly may have been information missing from the application for financial aid, uh, perhaps incorrect information, um, incomplete information, um, or you’re just looking for clarity on how the, the financial aid award was, was, um, was calculated.

Um, and usually you, you can, you can, um, get pretty good, um, response rates from those folks. Um, remember fewer people applying in these early rounds, so fewer people calling and emailing, uh, for feedback. Um, and usually there’s an opportunity to appeal to say, “I think, I think the incorrect information was, was, um…”

was submitted on, on, on behalf and, um, you know, we have questions or follow-up, and usually there’s a, a pretty good turnaround on that information. Um, you know, I, I think there are times when, you know, we are– this is an email generation, but there’s times when a phone call works pretty well. Um, [00:22:00] I think th-this is a good situation.

I was, I was telling a group of families last night, I said, “That, that’s a good situation to, uh, for the, for the parents to let the student know that they’re gonna reach out and connect and try to find out more information.” Um, usually an email sent to financial aid, admissions, or both to say that you’d like to set up a time to talk to ask additional questions about the financial package that was received.

And then sometimes there’s some paperwork to follow after that conversation. But don’t be afraid to, like, reach out. There– no one, no admission office or financial aid office is gonna feel put off by you sort of asking follow-up questions or asking for clarity. Um, they’re there to help and, and they’re happy to have that conversation with you.

Um, but always best to, like, try to figure out what the, what the easiest way to get answers and, you know, if it takes an email to find out, do you have to set up an appointment for a phone call or something like that? They’ll usually give you the information about the best way to, to schedule that kind of conversation.

Julie Shields Rutyna: That’s great. And, you know, because I got flustered [00:23:00] at the beginning with my technology, I didn’t remind you that we do have a Q&A section. Some of you have found it. Um, so if you do have questions, please, uh, please put your question there. And I do have a few, so I think I’ll, I’ll just start and ask those.

Um, there’s a question, can you apply early decision at the same time as applying to a safety, a regular decision school?

Drew Carter: Absolutely. Um, if you apply early decision, which is that binding application, the student, um, can absolutely have regular decision applications active and can actually even have early action applications active, um, and very often usually do.

Um, I would strongly recommend any student who said that they were applying early decision to Holy Cross and they weren’t submitting any other applications, I would tell them uh, that they need to get themselves correct and submit some other applications to other schools. Um, absolutely. So that’s completely normal.

You just can’t have [00:24:00] multiple early decision applications active at the same exact time.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Great, and then once they, if they get admitted early decision, they, then they’re sort of promising to withdraw those other

Drew Carter: applications. Yeah. And then you, you would submit your deposit to that school that you were admitted to, and they do…

You would notify the other colleges that you have active applications that, that you have submitted a deposit to a different school, and they wish you well, and you withdraw your applications, and you go back to just being a high school senior.

Julie Shields Rutyna: That’s great. And then we have a q- a question. Someone says, “Early decision is now pretty clear,” so now you know.

Yeah. You’ve, you’ve been very clear. What are the pros and cons of early action?

Drew Carter: That’s a good question. Um, the… One of the, uh, I mean, the advantage is, um, the student, uh, is forced to complete their application earlier, um, and they find out their decision earlier, like I said, typically usually by Christmas or New Year’s holidays.

Um, the cons can [00:25:00] be, A, if the student, uh, is incapable of sort of meeting that earlier deadline. B, uh, it could happen where the student, the student’s academic profile would be strengthened- By submitting their fall grades, um, from senior year and maybe one additional test score that they might, uh, take during, uh, an SAT or an ACT administration, um, in October or something, and those scores wouldn’t be available.

So really it’s just, um… You know, I, I used the metaphor the other day with students, I said, “Sometimes the banana’s not ripe yet and you wanna wait just a little bit longer.” Um, if, if additional information would strengthen the application, then sometimes then early action’s not ideal for the student.

Regular decision would be ideal ’cause it’s a later deadline, and there might be a more, a stronger, um, image that the student could present in their application. Um, school counselors, um, can… are really helpful during [00:26:00] that conversation because they have an idea of, of what the s- the student’s academic profile looks like and how it might compare in the application pool at a particular college, and whether it would be strengthened by additional grades and test scores, or whether w- whether it’s, um, whether it’s enough information.

School counselors do, I think, really like recommending early action because it does give the student some feedback on how their application’s being read and kinda where they’re, they’re fitting in this year’s applicant pool. Um, and it’s certainly possible to have early action applications at some colleges, and maybe at other colleges be applying in their regular decision round.

So, um, I will say deciding where to apply, you know, to what colleges, that seems like a big decision, but I think deciding which rounds to apply to those colleges is just as important. And, um, also that’s a, that’s a wonderful moment for the school counselor to help advise, uh, the student and the [00:27:00] family because they have the most complete information on the student’s profile and admissions policies and procedures.

Julie Shields Rutyna: That’s great. Um, and we received this question, I think it was, uh, earlier today. Uh, a s- a family, a student asked, “Should I… Is it… If I am applying to a reach school that I’m really not sure, you know, if I will be admitted or not, is that a bit of a waste to apply to that school early decision?”

Drew Carter: Yeah, that’s a, that’s a great question.

Um, we certainly… That is not uncommon for a student to, um, use the ED one round to really shoot for the moon, understanding that if they, uh, are not admitted, they could apply to a more realistic college or university during their second round of early [00:28:00] decision Um, there are certainly students who do that every year.

I think whether or not that makes sense, um, it is possible that some schools are, are more selective in ED2 than they are in ED1. And so there are times where maybe it would have made more sense to use their ED1 round to apply to that school that wasn’t such a reach, um, because that school may become more of a reach in ED2.

Um, so I generally think that if, if you’re seeing information that suggests that a school is, is, is a real reach, um, you know, check in with your school counselor, see if they agree with you that it is a real reach. Um, sometimes you just gotta trust what you read and maybe go for the more realistic school in ED1.

N- [00:29:00] not every student could be convinced of that. You know, sometimes students just wanna take a shot for the moon, and I certainly understand it, and as long as they’re okay with the fact that, um, E- that ED2 is not always the same as ED1, but they feel, um, that their application could be competitive in an ED2 round at a different school, then I understand it.

Um, it’s a conversation to be had as long as you’re being honest with yourself about your chances at both of those schools.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Yeah. Well, I think we have time for a few more questions. Um, bri- briefly, someone asked, uh, “Can a student who applied early decision or early action, was not admitted, still apply during the regular decision

Drew Carter: process?”

Great question. So, um, there’s usually a couple different decisions a student would receive on their application in an early round, uh, whether it’s early action or early decision, okay? So a- admit, that one’s obvious. Thumbs up, we’re good to go, [00:30:00] okay? Um, deny It didn’t work out, and deny means you’ve, you cannot apply again, and your application will not be reviewed, um, a second time in that application cycle.

Um, a pretty common decision though is a deferral, and that’s where the school is saying, “We are gonna take your application from this early round and move it into regular decision.” Um, usually in those cases there’s nothing for the student to do. Um, it’s not an admit and it’s not a deny, it’s just a shift of the application into regular decision.

Schools do that sometimes because they wanna, you know, compare that student against the pool that, that, that’s to come in regular decision. Sometimes they’re unsure of, um, of what their regular decision pool’s gonna be like, and they might defer a large number of students. Or sometimes they wanna defer that student to get more information, fall grades from the senior fall, a- an additional test score that [00:31:00] was on its being submitted from an SAT or an ACT.

So there’s a lot of different reasons, but I will say that, that middle decision of deferral, um, it, uh, it can be hard emotionally because it’s, you know, it, it’s not a yes, it’s not a no, it’s somewhere in the middle, and students have to figure out, um, what, how, how they now feel about that college and understand that they still need to be working on other applications to other colleges.

Julie Shields Rutyna: That’s great. And then can you just say a word about the fact that, um, if a student is admitted early decision and withdraws the other applications, that they don’t have a chance to compare award offers from other schools?

Drew Carter: Yeah, I mean, I think that is one thing people think about is like what is college gonna cost, and then are, are, are there gonna be different costs across different colleges if we’re fortunate enough to be admitted?

Um, I think everyone loves this idea of, of comparing costs, but, um, they forget [00:32:00] that you still have to be admitted to these schools to then find out what the, the various packages would be. So, um, yeah, when you’re, when you’re admitted early decision, you know, you’ve committed to enroll and you withdraw your applications to other schools, and you don’t get that moment around the kitchen table with five acceptance letters and five award letters, and then a conversation about, um, what it would be like to attend each school at that price point.

Um, it can obviously, you know, in some world that’s a, a dream scenario, but also not a, not an easy scenario to achieve, to get admitted to five different schools and to get five different competitive financial aid awards or merit scholarship awards or both. So, um, yeah, you’re, you’re just looking at that award letter from that one college, and hopefully you’ve…

it’s not a surprise, you’ve been able to anticipate what that might be through all the tools available to you in advance.

Julie Shields Rutyna: And then someone asked are there any [00:33:00] couple of things, uh, that you could share that if someone’s applying early decision that they, uh, do or don’t do in the essay portion?

Drew Carter: Um, that’s a good question.

I think the only advice that I would give differently if a s- student was applying early in their essay is, and I’m gonna, I’m gonna speak to the, like, the main essay on the Common Application or the Coalition Application, and that’s not to write your essay to that early decision college. Um, there’s no need to refer directly to the school.

But, you know, people at Holy Cross in the admissions office are not impressed when the student uses the, the words Holy Cross in their essay. Um, the essay should be about you, not the college, um, on the Common App. And so it should be an essay that would fit within your early decision application to that college, but also fit in any other application to any other [00:34:00] college as well.

So, um, the, the best, the best idea then is to make sure the essay’s about you, not about the school, and not to refer directly to the school because there, there are scenarios where you may end up activating that application to other colleges, and you don’t want to… You don’t want other colleges to see you talking about Holy Cross in your application essay.

So that’s the only difference I would say there. And it, it does happen from time to time each year, but, um, make sure the essay’s about you and not about the college.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Great a- great advice. And so I think this was so helpful. You answered so many of the questions that we receive on a weekly basis, and you answered all the questions from the folks.

I just, I did get one question saying where can you find the, uh, overall general financial aid 101 webinars, uh, from MEFA? And we have a lot of them right now, so if you go to the mefa.org website and click on webinars, you’ll see all of the webinars coming [00:35:00] up on all kinds of financial aid topics. And then, uh, you can also scroll down and see past, past webinars that have been recorded for you.

So there’s, there’s a wealth of information there, um, that you can continue to learn from and hopefully enjoy. And, uh, I know I enjoyed this one, so thank you, Drew.

Drew Carter: And subscribe to the MEFA podcast, right? Like…

Julie Shields Rutyna: Abso- absolutely. And yes, yes, we are s- we have great information on social media. In fact, um, on Instagram we put a lot of information out about scholarships, so that’s great, and we do have a, a great MEFA podcast with, with lots of topics, and it’s just called The MEFA Podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts.

So thank you. Thank you, Drew, and thank you all for joining us tonight, and we’ll see you. Thanks,

Drew Carter: Julie. Have a great night, everybody.

Julie Shields Rutyna: All right. Bye-bye.