<p>My dad called once and they said I could change it to regular decision or withdraw my application completely as long as I did it before the decision comes out. </p>
<p>Do you think it would hurt my chances if I changed it to reg decision on this short of notice? </p>
<p>And I know that ED is legally binding but what are the consequences for backing out on ED if I were to get accepted and not want to go anymore?</p>
<p>I am not planning on backing out on ED I am just curious on what would happen.</p>
<p>Well… Applying RD is always bit less helpful than applying ED. When you apply ED the school knows that this is your first choice and it gives you “bonus points” since they know if they accept you, you will be coming to their school. Rather than a candidate who applies RD, whom they are unsure if they will attend. Typically, the RD pool has a lower acceptance rate and is also more competitive. </p>
<p>As to backing out of ED, it depends on why you back out. Let’s say for instances the school you applied to ED is not affordable, in which case you can back out and there are no associated penalties. If however you backed out simply because you did not want to go, the college may be able to sue you for all or part of the tuition you would have been expected to pay.</p>
<p>I don’t think they would sue you. It’d be too big of a hassle. However, they could blacklist your school and prevent any future NYU applicants from your school from getting accepted. That’s what happened with my school and Stanford. No one in my school has been accepted to Stanford in over 5 years. And my school sends many kids to ivies and top tiered schools each year.</p>
<p>didn’t you know what early decision means? it’s binding! you HAVE to go if you’re accepted unless it’s for financial reasons. and esthetique-that’s so unfair that they’d blacklist an entire high school…that makes no sense to me!</p>
<p>Students will only be released from the Early Decision agreement if they believe their estimated financial aid package does not enable them to attend. Students must be aware that applying Early Decision will not enable them to compare financial aid packages from other universities. If comparing financial aid packages will be necessary for a student, the student should apply under our Regular Decision program. NYU will still reserve the majority of our admission offers for students applying for Regular Decision, so students should not feel pressure to apply Early Decision if finances are of concern.</p>
<p>Backing out for reasons other than finances (or no reason at all) will absolutely affect both you and your school. You can lose acceptances to other schools because different schools work together to ensure people are following the ED rules. More importantly, I college will blacklist your high school because it is your guidance counselor who allowed you to apply to more than one ED (by sending transcripts to both schools) or allowed you to apply to schools after you were accepted ED, and because it’s really the only way for colleges to transitively punish students and scare them into not backing out.</p>