<p>boyx3,High schools are REQUIRED to supply transcripts whenever the student asks for it.That is the case in my school.
Also I remember an article where a Harvard adcom said “ED stinks,why should we honor it?”.After all your argument about the moral of upholding ED commitment is not supported by the number one institution in the country.</p>
<p>While I agree that morally, a student who enters into an ED agreement with a school is bound to abide by that agreement – I did find this article from 2002 about Harvard and ED decisions. Interesting:</p>
<p>[The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: Harvard May Ignore Early Decision](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.harvard.edu/article.aspx?ref=214992]The”>http://www.thecrimson.harvard.edu/article.aspx?ref=214992)</p>
<p>“As early as next year, Harvard may allow students who have been accepted under other colleges’ binding early decision programs to apply to and enroll at the College, two professors on the Standing Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid said yesterday”</p>
<p>I have no idea if that is the current opinion of the Harvard admission committee, though – that was written over 5 years ago.</p>
<p>^^^^Thank you.It doesn’t matter when it was written.The thing is that Harvard decided not to honor ED back then.But several schools SCREAMED on Harvard.That’s why Harvard didn’t officially declared that it would not uphold ED.</p>
<p>The RULES are quite out in the open. Many students apply ED because they feel they will have and “admissions” edge. There is nothing at all unfair about the ED rules. There are no surprises.</p>
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<p>Nope, not at our school. Once a student is accepted ED, transcripts are sent to ONLY the ED school and no contact with any other colleges is made by the guidance office (who also is bound by that ED contract).</p>
<p>In 2002, Harvard did NOT change their policy to allow ED admits at other schools to enroll.</p>
<p>"After weeks of speculation that Harvard would allow students who had been accepted under binding Early Decision programs at other colleges to enroll at Harvard, the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid released a statement last week saying Harvard will honor the Early Decision system.</p>
<p>‘It is our expectation that students admitted elsewhere under binding Early Decision will honor their previous commitment and not matriculate at Harvard,’ the statement said." Harvard Crimson 7/26/02</p>
<p>[The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: Early Decision Policy Clarified](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=243415]The”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=243415)</p>
<p>Doesn’t look good for your hypothetical case cogito…</p>
<p>A student shouldn’t apply to a school ED unless it is their absolute clear first choice.</p>
<p>2boysima,your post proofs nothing.Harvard is very lenient toward students who do not honor ED commitments.They only say they expect students to uphold the commitment and not that they will enforce the commitment.</p>
<p>There are definitely cases where Harvard has admitted an ED-reneger, knowingly. The cases I have heard of are students it particularly wanted, such as URM or other hooked applicants.</p>
<p>Don’t know that it applies in your "hypothetical’ case or not. Just because they’ve done it for someone doesn’t mean they’ll do it for everyone. </p>
<p>It is also possible that the ED school will rescind the admission if the hypothetical student is on one of the circulating lists of students who have applied ED. Then, if the student is not accepted at Harvard, the student will also have lost the ED acceptance. Hmmm.</p>
<p>Go ahead and try. I think you will be more or less at the mercy of the ED school. If it makes a stink, Harvard will withdraw the admission unless you have an awfully good reason for backing out on the ED school (e.g., radically different financial aid awards). </p>
<p>I suspect someone, somewhere has gotten away with this, but it’s a huge crapshoot. It isn’t happening in any volume – when I’ve seen data on ED admissions, no college has more than one or two students fail to enroll per year, and the average is less than that. If one of any number of people – at the ED college, at Harvard or wherever else you want to enroll, at the high school – thinks you are behaving dishonorably, he or she probably has the effective ability to call the question. If that happens, do you really think Harvard is going to go to the mat in public to defend the principle that ED contracts are so unfair as to be worthy of complete disregard? I don’t think it will.</p>
<p>The interesting question is what happens if you try and fail. Would both colleges really withdraw their acceptances, leaving a student with nowhere to go? I don’t know. I don’t know anyone who has been enough of a gambler to want to find out.</p>
<p>My question is how will Harvard know this girl reneged a LAC ED?</p>
<p>I would advise the hyptothetical student to NOT tell anyone they were accepted to Harvard until they had decided what to do. Because even doing the right thing and honoring your original commitment might not save you if word got out that you failed to withdraw the Harvard app. People sometimes believe that you “took” someone else’s spot at your school. While they might object just to your not having withdrawn the app, they will certainly be ripped at you for securing an admission, even if you don’t use it. </p>
<p>Short translation. You will be ratted out. Bet the ranch.</p>
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<p>Then why are your asking us? If Harvard is so lenient towards cheaters, your friend should have no problems.</p>
<p>Post #1 – “Is there ANYWAY Harvard will find out that she backed out of an ED commitment?”</p>
<p>Post #12 – “I don’t believe Harvard will ever find out.”</p>
<p>Since you know the answer, why did you post the question? You asked for the opinons of others, you don’t like their answers, so you want to argue with them.</p>
<p>YOU ARE RIGHT - HARVARD WILL NEVER FIND OUT. SHE SHOULD GO AHEAD AND RESCIND HER ED AND MOVE ON WITH HER MATRICULATION AT HARVARD.</p>
<p>GO CRIMSON!</p>
<p>^^^^^I hoped to hear anecdotal stories.</p>
<p>cogito, the answer to your hypothetical question on ED is maybe you would get in trouble, maybe not. From your other responses I think you are really looking for a justification for an unethical position. It is not forthcoming.</p>
<p>Although theres obviously a chance that Harvard won’t find out and everything will be good…its still a kinda slimy thing to do. </p>
<p>The question I have is why did you apply ED in the first place?</p>
<p>As far as the system being unfair, etc…you have to realize that ED is a contract, a contract that you decided to be a part of…if you weren’t sure you wanted to attend the LAC, you shouldn’t have applied ED. Its your own fault, take your chances, but if Harvard finds out about it or the LAC makes a big deal out of it…quite frankly, you deserve whatever they decide to do…its a very unethical thing to do.</p>
<p>^^^The reason I applied ED is quite complicated and I don’t want to go into it now because it will single out my identity.</p>
<p>You got some anecdotal stories on another thread.</p>
<p>Stop shopping for the answers you want. </p>
<p>Others have already told you that:
1.) going back on one’s word is not a great thing to do;
2.) not abiding by the terms of a contract one entered into freely is not a great thing to do;
3.) many GCs will send out the final transcript only to the ED school;
4.) Harvard will need the final transcript, may not get it, wonder why, and contact the GC;
5.) some colleges retaliate against high schools by not admitting students from that high school in the future;
6.) the chances are excellent that one or both schools will find out that the student didn’t keep to the contract into which she entered freely;
7.) if one school finds out, the other is likely to find out, also;
8.) one or both schools may withdraw their acceptances once they find out the student didn’t honor the contract into which she entered freely.</p>
<p>How much more do you need to know? It’s a gamble. It looks like a huge gamble to me, and I’m a betting woman. I would not bet my integrity and college education on this, however, so wouldn’t take that gamble. YMMV.</p>
<p>Owlice is right, it is a gamble. The only answer is this: look yourself in the mirror and honestly ask yourself what you will do if the worst case scenario comes to pass and you lose your gamble and both seats? If you would be able to tolerate (a) the anxiety of this hanging over your head, and (b) having no college to attend in the fall, you should take the gamble. As long as you truly understand that the likelihood of getting caught is pretty good.</p>