But the ED commitment strictly refers to US schools, right? I wouldn’t withdraw the Oxford application just yet, if he’d really like to go. I understand that the US school would like to lock in the student completely, and the guidance councillor may be wary about being blacklisted, but acceptance by an international school is a risk the US school must accept under the ED agreement, just as you are allowed to accept a place at a US school as a safety by May 1st while you wait for the conditional offer of an international university to come through. ED cannot be more binding than an actual acceptance.