<p>I have read from various online sources that students who break their Early Decision agreements are blacklisted by the school and sent out to other institutions. Are schools allowed to do this to a student if he/she does not feel that the financial aid package provided by the school is not sufficient or really feels strongly against going? I have looked at the statistics for the 2007 Cornell ED acceptances sent out and the yield rate. It seems that last year, a little over 10 people broke their ED agreement with Cornell and decided to go elsewhere, out of the 1,100 or so that were accepted. I am sure that this also occurs at other schools. Does anybody here have any experience with this?</p>
<p>i don’t know where these other students went…but i’d think if someone is looking at another ivy after breaking their ED agreement with cornell then they’ll be very disappointed. for while you can point to an inadequate financial aid package, these schools will say that you should have withdrawn your applications after being accepted to cornell. but, as you pointed out, people can and do break their ED agreements.</p>
<p>Wait, are you saying that some people withdraw even before receiving a decision? I don’t think thats necessarily as bad as withdrawing after knowing you’ve been accepted.</p>
<p>I was accepted ED to University of Rochester and broke my agreement b/c they gave me an awful financial aid package and wouldn’t revise. I don’t think I was put on a blacklist…I got into Cornell :-)</p>
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<p>What’s defined as inadequate? Couldn’t most student use this as an excuse?</p>
<p>well…unfortunately for me, my parents have credit issues so they couldn’t borrow the amount that U of R was asking us to borrow. Cornell gave me a lot of free money and it’s cheaper than U of R since I’m an NY resident in CALS. I think you’d have to show a lot of documentation that the fin aid package was inadequate…</p>
<p>wow, interesting info, as we were always told specifically that you cannot use a poor financial aid offer as reason to decline ED, legally-binding acceptance. maybe it’s based on a school-by-school case. all the schools say, if you cannot pay the full price, then don’t ever apply ED!</p>
<p>Some high schools will not cooperate in processing your apps to other colleges if you break an ED contract without a good reason (like inadequate financial aid).</p>
<p>Your ED school would need to release you of your contract. Once they do, you could then continue with your RDs. If you do not come to an agreement with your ED, then they could blacklist you. You are not required to withdraw your RD apps until you have seen your financial package from your ED school. If it fall short, you should try to work it out with them as soon as possible.</p>
<p>I was the first kid in my family to go through the college app process…so we had no idea what we were getting into. I really wanted to go the U of R and that’s why I applied ED. My parents were willing to do what it took…but you can’t do much to fight credit issues when it comes to getting the money to pay. The U of R fin aid department wasn’t willing to work with us and I didn’t want my parents to go bankrupt b/c of me. Of course…had I truly understood the costs of college I would have never applied ED to U of R. And…I don’t recommend breaking ED bonds :-)</p>
<p>When my kids applied ED I negotiated with the schools in advance and got in writing that they could break the ED agreement if the financial aid was inadequate. That’s not the scenario that played out, but I think that’s fairly typical of highly selective colleges. They don’t want to keep a kid who can’t afford it. However, you have to do this before the RD decisions come in so the schools do know you’re sincere.</p>
<p>About HS’s not processing, I also negotiated this with GC. She said if it was alright with the school it was alright we her, so we covered all bases.</p>
<p>My son was an ED to Cornell and he was an athlete. If you apply ED to any Ivy League you are ineligible to attend any other Ivy League school. It does not matter if you were accepted or not. So be very careful about early decision in the Ivy League. When my son applied ED to Cornell they essentially guaranteed that he would be accepted which he was.</p>
<p>There is a definite advantage if you are a sought after athlete that wants to attend an Ivy League school. Each Ivy League school uses academic indexing (AI) to determine the best students for their individual schools.</p>
<p>^^That’s interesting to hear. I applied ED to Princeton (when they still offered the ED option back in 2003)…was deferred to the regular pool and I ended up at Cornell…</p>
<p>haha…I hope they don’t find out and kick me out now…I’ve only got 3 months left :-)</p>
<p>also…I should probably mention to those who have been reading my previous posts on this thread and are confused by my responses…</p>
<p>I applied ED to Princeton first…was deferred…then applied ED round II in December to U of R b/c they give you two deadlines for ED in case you couldn’t make up your mind 1st time around…</p>
<p>“My son was an ED to Cornell and he was an athlete. If you apply ED to any Ivy League you are ineligible to attend any other Ivy League school. It does not matter if you were accepted or not. So be very careful about early decision in the Ivy League”
i know countless people who did not get into their ivy early decision shcool and got accepted and went to another ivy reg decision. there are 1000’s of examples in the acceptances threads. maybe i am mis-reading your statement, but once your ed school rejects or deferrs you, you are free to go wherever you get accepted…ivy or other.</p>
<p>5757 is absolutely correct. You could even apply EA, just no SCEA, while applying for ED.</p>
<p>perhaps the difference is in the “recruited athlete” status…it seems that I had heard from a athlete’s mom that a recruited athlete’s application goes to the coach, not the adm office …so they would not be applying until the coach gave their file to the adm office??</p>
<p>anyway, for the non-athletes, don’t get too annoyed - it is a very stressful process for the athletes also…coaches promise the world and oh well, things didn’t work …</p>
<p>the NYT had quite a series on this topic a least a year ago, following recruited athletes at Haverford I believe…</p>
<p>I withdrew apps from all the other schools… but now im unsure about my state one… under the agreement i am supposed to withdraw it and believe me I WANT TO… i really want to go to Cornell and i simply dislike my state school and just wanted as a safety 
but last semester i got a C in Spanish… its the hardest foreign language course our school offers but… i never got a C before… I’m so scared that Cornell is going to reject me now… and therefore is extremely not sure about what to do with my state app… should i withdraw it??</p>
<p>Suggestions? thanx…</p>
<p>As for breaking ED agreements because of lack-luster financial aid, that’s completely fine. I got accepted ED, and I remember the letter enclosed with my unoffical financial aid package as well as the forms for submitting a deposit said that you can be released from your ED agreement if things don’t work out financially. You just need to talk to the financial aid office and/or office of admissions</p>
<p>There is a loophole in ED agreements about what happens when the money is severely inadequate. Realize, that this is in a situation with little/no money–where you were expecting much. I think that’s the only major FA situation that qualifies for the loophole.</p>