Yeah, I'm aware, have helped friends through this process a lot. When I meant university, it was in the frame of Harvard's undergrad college (can't exactly apply to their Biz School or Law School or Med School without a UG degree). Indeed, for engineering and business, there might be separate applicant pools for different departments but the student still doesn't have to make up their mind on what specifc subject they'd like to apply to. If it's a science major they're preemptively looking at, they'd be applying to the general Arts and Sciences or Liberal Arts colleges within the wider university.
My point is, that university applications are looked upon within the frame of an overall 'class' and how different people 'fit' into this class and whether they'd contribute (with whatever unique talents or skills they have) to the atmosphere of the university.
Yeah, Harvard's SCEA admit rates are much higher that's true. Have way more friends that have been accepted SCEA than RD. And, nah, Harvard's isn't binding because it's not ED - it's called Single Choice (as in you can only apply to them early - except if you're also applying to state universities) Early Action. Not all unis have binding ED agreements, and those that do usually let you off if you choose an overseas uni instead or can't afford the uni.
Indeed, this is common knowledge. But even still, most applicants to top tier US unis will have solid grades, that's a given as people self-select out of applying in the same way they do in the UK. You also have to acknowledge that there are almost 5x more Americans than there are people in the UK.
Financial Aid is need blind and full need to international students at about 5 unis (Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale and Amherst), then there are need blind but not full need (Georgetown), then there are ~27 or so unis that promise to meet the full demonstrated need of an international student (i.e. they are very generous with their FA awards) but the requirement for FA is used as a factor in assessing your candidacy - doesn't mean they won't fully support you; if you're good enough, they will. Other unis outside of this either offer extremely competitive merit based awards (Morehead Cain, Jefferson, Robertson scholars), are stingy to everyone (NYU) or can just be luck of the draw for how much aid they're willing to dole out (most smaller, not as top tier liberal arts colleges fall into this).
Agree with your conclusion.
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