Decision help: Oxford or Columbia?

[Dionysus58]

<p>

dionysus, the idea that you keep missing is that the idea of someone making a decision is irrelevant for someone who’s been accepted ED. he/she’s already made their decision. that’s the whole point of ED. if an international student is indecisive, they shouldn’t apply ED, even if they could escape the contract without penalties. it’s not ‘can’ one do this. it’s ‘does one have some form of ethics’. and columbia does care about one person breaking the contract (which is definitely not trivial), because if they allow one person to do it, it renders ED totally meaningless for everybody. honestly, i’m too tired to keep arguing with someone as stubbornly ignorant as you. you completely miss the point.

</p>

<p>You keep presenting the same argument, that breaking ED is in someway unethical so ought not to be attempted. That is a very narrow position to take; ethics are by nature subjective and wholly dependant upon the individual. A good case could be made to say that capitalism is unethical, yet it is vigorously embraced by most people. Ethics do not dictate our every decision, especially one such as this, which in the grand scheme of things is very trivial indeed.</p>

<p>

Quick note: Early Decision agreements are contracts. Do you know what happens when you sign a lease to rent a home and refuse to pay or back out of paying? yahh.

</p>

<p>How many seventeen year olds do you know who’ve committed to renting a house? None I imagine, because most people at that age are not sufficiently mature to make a decision like that. So why then are you advocating that such a person, who is not even old enough to drink alcohol in the US, be able to make such a decision and be forced to endure the consequences, even if it’s contrary to everything they want</p>