<p>Can I apply restrictive early action to one school and early decision to another? Is ED really legally binding, or just morally so? if I get accepted ED, but decide on something else, do I have options?</p>
<p>Restrictive early action means by definition you are talking about a school that does not allow you to apply ED elsewhere. There are two types of restrictive early action: those that have single choice which means you cannot apply ED or EA elsewhere, and those that prohibit you from appying ED elsewhere but you can apply EA elsewhere.</p>
<p>You should not apply ED with the intent to change your mind. That’s dishonest. You should not apply unless you are certain you want to go there and nowhere else. You agree to be bound to attend if accepted and thus it is a contract you have made. However, ED colleges usually allow you to get out of ED particularly if financial aid package offered is considered too low by parents.</p>
<p>If you turn down your ED school in December when you get your aid offer, you can’t go back to them in April if you think it looks more reasonable in retrospect. You can’t secretly apply to RD schools and tell the ED school in April that you got a better financial offer elsewhere. If you were somehow able to accomplish this, the ED school would contact your RD school and that level of academic dishonesty would get the RD school to withdraw your admission. Unless you are really certain a school is your first choice and are reasonably certain you will get an acceptable financial aid offer, ED is not for you.</p>
<p>There is nothing whatsoever legal about ED; moral is the right idea, but with possible consequences as mentioned above. Then there is this:</p>
<p>[You’re</a> In. Can You Back Out? - New York Times](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/education/edlife/strategy.html]You’re”>You’re In. Can You Back Out? - The New York Times)</p>