<p>Are they going to make it hard for you to attend your state flagship? No, of course not. Is elite School A going to let all the other school’s in its class know they offered ED to a student who then reneged, essentially informing all the other schools of a character flaw - the inability to keep their word., in other words, no sense of honor. Sure, and it wouldn’t be very hard for that student to get rejections that look just like the ones 75-85% of other applicants are getting.</p>
<p>A small percentage of kids do renege, most for financial or other hardship reasons. It’s probably less than 5% and more like 2-3%. They won’t hold it against anyone in those circumstances. But play games, and you and your school could have a tough time. There are rumors that a certain Ivy blackballed a certain elite HS in our area for a very long time. They could get kids in any Ivy but that one.</p>