How to withdraw applications?

[Marian]

My kid got accepted ED. She is obligated to withdraw her applications to all other colleges.

How does she do this?

And is she supposed to do it for all the schools or only those for which her applications were complete? (She submitted at least some information to six other schools but only completed the applications to two of them.)

[daffymom]

When my son was admitted ED he wrote to admissions at every other school that he had submitted an application even if the application was not yet complete - missing recommendation etc. He informed admissions that he was withdrawing his application as he been accepted ED and kept copies of the letters. Several of the schools thanked him for informing them promptly.

[frostburg2010]

I'm a college freshman and the same thing happened to me last year. I just called the admissions officices of all the other schools I had sent applications to and told them that I was withdrawing my application or that I was declining the offer of admission that they had given me. Yes, it means that you wasted however much you sent for the application fees of schools that you are withdrawing the application for, but that's a risk we take when we apply ED.

[Venkat89]

Like 20 schools have my transcript and one of two teacher recs and nothing else. Should I inform these schools I got in ED?

[Alumother]

Marian - and you're not telling where.

[garland]

Venkater--my S did not formally inform a school which only had Part 1 (essentially name and address) SAT score, and student interview. They never got the actual app, transcripts, essays, anything like that. In March, they formally rejected him (upping their numbers). In retrospect, we realize he made a mistake, so yes, turn down even the ones that got just a few parts.

[AudiB4]

I would suggest a written notification. My Son did this for all the other schools after he was accepted ED. I even followed up with a call a month later and one school had not received the written letter so they had me fax the original. I was told that since ED is binding, not informing the schools is considered a real no-no and could cause a problem if they interpreted it as a deliberate way to get around it and see what other offers came through (even if it was just an oversight).

["just"aMom]

A simple note...

"Please note that I am officially withdrawing my application for the incoming class of 2011, I was accepted by my ED school, and must withdraw. Thank in for your consideration. Sincerely, Joe SS # 123-45-6789"

[mum07]

My D is mailing her letters tomorrow - 9 to schools who have received completed apps and 3 to schools who have partial ones (yikes!). She just wrote a short note requesting that her application be withdrawn. She did tell them the name of her ED school. Cornell has the best system - you can withdraw online easily.

[NJres]

Congrats!

[Venkat89]

I am telling my EA school that I am not attending, and am going to withdraw the two other apps I completed. I am not telling anything to the other schools because it's too much work. I'll take a rejection if they hand them out to people who have not paid the application fee.

[audiophile]

My daughter had three other completed apps when she was accepted ED. She e-mailed all three schools, two replied within a day wishing her luck. She called and sent a follow up letter to the third.

[Northstarmom]

"I am telling my EA school that I am not attending, and am going to withdraw the two other apps I completed. I am not telling anything to the other schools because it's too much work. "

? How much work is it to e-mail the admissions office? You could probably easily do that during some of the time you're spending on CC.

[frostburg2010]

And with EA, you aren't required to withdraw other apps, since it's non-binding. If you're 100% sure you're ready to commit to your EA school, just call or e-mail the admissions offices of every school and tell them you're accepted an offer at another school. They'll appreciate having knowing they can accept someone that they wouldn't be able to if they had to accept you. With housing limits schools can only accept so many qualified applicants. They also won't have to send you acceptance materials for no reason. Just call or e-mail so you can be done with it and enjoy the holiday and the rest of senior year.

[mjmom]

Last year my son was accepted ED and here on CC he was advised that there was no need to withdraw the incomplete applications. To our great surprise, in April he received 3 waitlists (one of them from a very top school) and 1 angry letter from another college about his unethical behavior. So it became obvious that colleges can consider even uncompleted applications.