What exactly happens if you back out of Early Decision?

Parents Forum
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<p>Cogit, at the end of the day, no school wants to enroll a student who isn’t interested in being there. After all, there are probably students on the waitlist who are in love with that LAC at which you have a space.</p>

<p>Why don’t you draft a letter to the LAC explaining how you feel and go talk to your counselor. If you feel trapped, it might make you feel better to bring the LAC into the loop. Right now, you’re in no better position than the one you were in before this thread began.</p>

<p>Good luck to you…this will all work out the way it’s supposed to.</p>

<p>wjb, transcripts have to be official. If we’re suspicious (and it does happen now and then), we call the school directly to talk to an official.</p>

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<p>I didn’t say mid-year reports are not required at all.But a preliminary review of an application doesn’t require mid-yr report.</p>

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<p>“You couldn’t be more wrong” Hmmm… I just heard that somewhere else… Aha, that was on the Yahoo message board for one of the stocks I used to follow. Interns from hedge funds flooded the board with messages full of fake “scientific” info trying to scare the holders into selling, and my rebuttals of their statements were met with “You couldn’t be more wrong” answer.</p>

<p>OP, you will do well on Wall Street.</p>

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<p>I have the impression that HYPS + ? announced the changes in their financial aid policies after the ED application deadline this year. (Don’t know for sure . . . maybe someone could confirm or contradict this?) If they did change the fin aid rules post ED app deadline, but prior to their own application deadlines, then it seems to me that the people at HYPS + ? making the decisions did not adequately consider the potential impact on ED agreements elsewhere–or at least, on the feelings of those who had applied ED elsewhere.</p>

<p>I think the estimated family contributions can be quite steep. And I can definitely sympathize with someone who might be thinking, "But I could have gone to Harvard [Yale, Princeton, Stanford, ?] for FREEEEEEEE . . . "</p>

<p>That being said, if I were in the OP’s situation (or the hypothetical situation of the purely hypothetical individual who is merely hypothetically thinking about hypothetically breaking an ED agreement) –</p>

<p>I would honor the ED agreement, simply because I had signed it. The later changes in financial aid policies elsewhere don’t invalidate the agreement. Also, I would expect everyone in my family to honor the ED agreement, if he/she made it.</p>

<p>If my guess about the timing of the announcement of the new fin aid policies is right, then I think that the decision-makers at HYPS + ? have exposed students to a moral hazard–i.e., the temptation to break ED contracts–with their timing and they <strong>should have thought more.</strong> </p>

<p>(Actually, that could apply to the OP’s scenario, and for that matter, it could be my own motto, for other reasons.)</p>

<p>Ignore this paragraph in the OP’s case, since it was obviated by other posts. The OP seems to have a way to go around the normal procedures. But for others, it might apply: But, in any event, I think this is all moot if the mid-year reports were not submitted by the guidance counselor. And if the guidance counselor is ethical and also well-organized in terms of paper-work, they won’t have been submitted. No mid-year reports = no admission to create temptation.</p>

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<p>“Here is a hypothetical situation: a student is accepted to an LAC early but also applies to Harvard in the RD round.To her surprise Harvard accepts her and she decides to attend Harvard.She pays the deposit to the LAC but never attend the college.Is there ANYWAY Harvard will find out that she backed out of an ED commitment?”</p>

<p>Sure. Probably the most likely way would be when someone else from their school who was rejected to Harvard lets Harvard know what their classmate did.</p>

<p>And, yes, Harvard will rescind the admission or kick the student out. Some students learned this the hard way when Harvard allowed students to apply EA despite having applied ED elsewhere. Some students got in ED to their in-state public, and then were surprised to get an EA admission to Harvard. They tried to select Harvard over their state U, but Harvard wouldn’t let them.</p>

<p>". Son applied ED1 to a college. He was deferred until RD. I suspect that if he now gets in to ED1 college, he is no longer bound to attend. Is that correct? "</p>

<p>Yes, you are correct. The rules about having to accept your ED school apply only if one receives an ED admission. If one is deferred, and later is accepted, one can go anywhere one has been accepted.</p>

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<p>This is the process at our school:</p>

<p>We print a transcript.</p>

<p>the transcript has to have an original signature of the counselor (whose name appears at the op of the transcript, or the AP-Guidance and her stamp).</p>

<p>The transcript is sealed with an embossed school seal, which you can only obtain from the AP of Guidance (or her administrative assistant) as it remains under lock and key.</p>

<p>the transcript is sealed in an envelope.</p>

<p>The counselor signs their name across the seal.</p>

<p>the envelope is taped, then stamped “Official Transcript, Unofficial if Seal is Broken or Opened” Then it is stamped on each end with GUIDANCE stamp that also includes the name and address of our school.</p>

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<p>Dean J,I agree with you.I want to tell the LAC but I am scared that they will inform other schools.
I don’t understand why people here hate me.I didn’t commit any crime.I just didn’t want to buy a scare tactic.</p>

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<p>sybbie our school also follows the same procedure.</p>

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<p>@ cogitoergosum,</p>

<p>I don’t hate you yet. If you actually try to break the ED agreement, I might dislike you fairly strongly, though!</p>

<p>The reason to honor the ED agreement is not the “scare tactic,” that one or both colleges might find out–although they might. The reason to honor the ED agreement is that it’s the honorable thing to do.</p>

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<p>Sybbie – Thanks for the explanation. The process at our school is similar, as I understand it.</p>

<p>Cog – You signed a contract. No one forced you to sign the contract. You reaped the benefits of signing the contract – you got an early decision based on better odds than you would have had had you waited till the RD round. The contract whose benefits you reaped requires you to withdraw all your other RD applications. Period. You are breaching the contract, jeopardizing your own future, and potentially jeopardizing the chances of students at your school in the future at the ED school. Is it a crime? No. And the ED college won’t take you to court in a civil suit, either. What it is is unethical. Immoral. Dishonest. </p>

<p>Get it? I didn’t think so.</p>

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<p>^What if i change my mind?I do not want to lock myself into a school which I don’t like for FOUR YEARS.</p>

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<p>So transfer!</p>

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<p>Don’t you understand? The time to think about that has passed. You had to make that determination BEFORE you decided to apply ED! If you’re smart enough to apply to HYP, you’re smart enough to figure that out.</p>

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<p>You don’t have to attend for FOUR YEARS. You can always transfer.</p>

<p>The part I am having trouble wrapping my head around…</p>

<p>Didn’t your parents and your GC have to sign your ED application?</p>

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<p>I second wjb’s recent comment . . . and by “should have thought more,” I meant “should have thought more, prior to the ED application,” in the OP’s case. You’ve already made the decision, cogito, when you signed the ED agreement to begin with. Alea jacta est.</p>

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<p>^Yeah they signed it.some schools do not accept transfers others provide 0 aid.</p>

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<p>Cogitoergosum: Do you actually think you won’t like your ED school, or are you just having buyer’s remorse? Even if you do think you would like Princton/Harvard/whatever EVEN more, there are plenty of people who end up at second, third, even last choice schools and have a great time. Has something changed so drastically from the time that you applied ED that you are no longer than kind of person who is attracted to your ED school at all? If so, I strongly suggest talking to the ED school now and seeing what your options are. Dean J suggests that his school would rather not force someone to attend if they don’t want to be there, perhaps your ED school will feel the same way.</p>

<p>However, if you still think you could be happy at the ED school, I suggest not taking the risk of loosing all your acceptances. If you have to, treat your ED school the same way people who end up having to attend a not-top-choice school do: look into it, go to accepted student weekends, read up on courses you want to take, talk to current students, find out what makes it awesome/remember why you liked it it to begin with, GET EXCITED.</p>

<p>I highly doubt you’ve thrown your life away, and I doubt you will actually hate the ED school. As long as you go into it with an open mind, you will probably end up having a great time. Most people who apply to Princeton don’t get in, but I would bet that most of those Princeton rejects still have a great college experience and many are successful later on as well.</p>

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<p>cogitoergosum - It appears you applied ED because you wanted the “edge” that ED had in this particular LAC. This was no scare tactic; you viewed the ED edge as an advantage to you and you won. And by the way, by playing this ED edge, you took an ED spot from another qualified applicant. Now with the LAC edge “secured,” you now want to play another game. For your own sake, I hope you are honest with yourself in your intentions, whatever they are, and only you know that. In the end, none of us here in the forum have to deal with the consequences, you will. And, as consequences go, they may not necessarily be short-term in coming; consequences tend to crop up years later.</p>

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<p>I am not the type of applicant who get an edge because of ED.I applied early because of the so called tufts syndrome in the regular round.</p>

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<p>cogitoergosum, you have taken up one spot at your ED school, and you wish to take a spot at Harvard. If you break your ED contract and accept Harvard, I fear that you will end up taking another spot from another very deserving student . . . at the local community college.</p>