How is backing out of an ED commit for another school any different than backing out of a school that you put a deposit on by May 1st for a school you were waitlisted on and got on offer for on May 15th? IE School A admits you ED and you back out versus School B admits EA and you accept/pay deposit, but you then back out because School C admitted you from their waitlist?
Very different.
You signed a contract for ED. You are saying if they admit you, you will go, period end of story.
Now there is an affordability release but one has to assume what the NPC says will be the price so this shouldnât really happen either but some come in higher than forecast, likely due to input errors.
EA has no commitment. If you give a deposit and back out, no problem although you are likely to lose your deposit.
Btw you wouldnât be on a waitlist if you were accepted ED because you would have withdrawn all apps. In theory, if the ED informed the WL school what you did, they could withdraw their offer.
Hope that helps.
Breaking ED is unethical. Breaking EA is not as you never bound yourself.
If you are not ready to decide, donât Ed.
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Firstly, backing out of ED isnât (and shouldnât be) common. When a family decides to apply to ED, they sign the agreement saying that they will commit if theyâre admitted. Presumably, this is after heavy deliberation involving financials and assurance that they want to attend.
The only time Iâve seen ED backouts is when the financial aid package provided after admission truly isnât enough, even after appeals and that whole process. Usually, the choice is because thereâs no feasible way to attend.
Compared to backing out of an EA admission, you didnât sign any agreement when you decided to apply to EA, so thereâs nothing lost for the University if you ultimately decide to go to another institution. If anything, they get a free $400 from your deposit. You shouldnât be backing out of an ED admission because you got into somewhere else - they should have applied to that ED school, ED should be for the school you are dead set on attending.
Itâs extremely unethical to get admitted ED and essentially ditch the school, and can have ramifications on your other applications or admission offers to other schools.
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This!
If the finances donât work out for ED, I think that is the only legit reason for declining an ED acceptance. Getting a better offer elsewhere is not.
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Beyond breaching a commitment / ethics, it is possible that certain ED acceptees may be fulfilling some specific institutional needs (athletes, musicians?) that may not be readily or as competitively met by applicants in other rounds.
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The first is unethical, unfair to other applicants, and may have repercussions for your high school.
The second is normal and happens quite often.
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Donât apply ED if youâre not 100% committed to going. Period. Full stop.
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I donât think you understand how serious this is. The callous way that you formulated your question just shows us how much you didnât know, nor think about the ramifications. You are young so I think you misunderstood but from now on this is what you need to know:
Your counselor had to vouch for you. Your school backed you up. The counselor, (the school), loses integrity. The high school and the university have a broken trust.
That university doesnât have to admit any future students, from your school, because they associate your behavior (lack of good faith) with what future students may do.
Itâs a big deal. The universities donât like being lied to. When you sign a form committing to ED, no matter what, you are signing that you will attend (itâs like handshake on a deal). You are backing out of a legal contract.
The universities have a clearing house for information on students. They can choose to develop and flag your name. They might not do that, but if you donât get an internship, or you donât get into grad school, nor get a job interview, youâll never know if it was because your name was flagged.
Youâre not an adult yet, unless youâve already turned 18? The minute you become an adult, and you sign anything, or ANY form, you are responsible to complete your part of that contract. You can no longer say, âWell I didnât knowâ.
Our adult children (30âs) still wonât sign anything without us reviewing it. This includes job offers, credit cards, purchasing cars and purchasing homes. Your signature as an adult, via electronic or virtual means, is asking someone to have faith in you and to trust you.
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This also confused me at first, but the OP didnât actually mention a scenario that combined ED with getting off a waitlist. The two different scenarios are:
- Student applies ED to School A, and is accepted. The student subequently backs out of their ED commit for unspecified reasons.
- Student applies non-binding to Schools B and C, is accepted to B and waitlisted for C. The student deposits at B, is then accepted to C off the WL, withdraws from B and deposits at C.
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The second scenario is what colleges refer to as âsummer melt,â and they expect some shuffling to happen as wait lists open up. You lose your deposit, so thatâs your disincentive, but if switching schools is worth that cost, youâre free to do it. ED, as others have mentioned, is an agreement that colleges take far more seriously. Itâs a commitment â ethically binding if not legally so. The only reasons to back out are financial (if a financial aid offer is not what the NPC predicted, or if thereâs a sudden change in your familyâs finances and the college is unable to adjust their aid accordingly) or a major change in life circumstances that you could not have predicted when you signed the agreement but now prevents you from following through.
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I believe this is the parent. In another thread, they posted that they were referring to their children.
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When you apply ED you are signing a contract. (usually the student, parent and school counselor) There are steps involved so one cannot say the âaccidentlyâ did it 
Though it is not legally binding- breaking contract can have many negative outcomes. (mentioned up thread already)
Paying the deposit on an EA acceptance and then backing out because you got off of a waitlist is allowed. When applying for schools on the common app- this is one of the things you agree to
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