Do people break binding policies for certain schools often? If so, how would the colleges you apply to find out?
Can you be more specific, what kind of policies?
I’ll quote this from MIT’s website
“However: if you apply to another school during Early Action that does have a restriction, MIT requires that you respect those rules. So for example, if you apply to another school that is “single choice” - meaning that you can only apply there during the early period - you may not simultaneously apply to MIT. But that’s just good manners.”
Not that it makes any difference how, but some schools talk to some other schools (from experience!).
I’ve also long suspected (and have plenty of circumstantial evidence) that colleges will punish the high school if a student violates an ED agreement–that is, future applicants from that school will be held in greater suspicion (in my experience it’s about four years–but again, this is just my suspicion and I have no proof that couldn’t pass plausible deniability).
^ Many years ago that happened at our HS when the counselor allowed multiple ED applications.
I was speaking with a friend the other week who had applied ED William and Mary and EA UVA. He didn’t know to withdraw his UVA application after being accepted and just heard he was denied. He said he didn’t care either way but that he was pretty sure all the schools in VA communicate about who’s been accepted ED. I don’t know if that’s true specifically but I would bet there is a way for some schools to communicate. I have also heard of schools blacklisting high schools if someone breaks their ED agreement.
I don’t think anybody will be able to tell you how often kids break ED agreements or how often the other schools they have applied to find out. Generally, you apply ED because you are absolutely positive that college is the university for you and not to test the waters. So, I would venture to say that for the most part ED agreements are kept. Of course, there will be kids who break them. It’s just bound to happen. The percentage is probably minor though and I don’t know how you would navigate it.
If you break a binding policy it says something about your moral character that will likely come back to bit you later in life.
The biggest problem is that future kids at your high school will suffer. That school will be blacklisted by the college. Plus, see above^.
If you are asking about whether you should disregard or ignore clear instructions from a particular school about its early application rules, the answer is no. In no possible circumstance is this a good idea.
But if I am correct and your real question is about how a school might find out, then think on this. Other posters have said that if a student does this and is discovered, this can harm the high school for others. Granted, someone who is willing to ignore a school policy may not really be valuing too much what may happen to others (just being utilitarian here).
Is it possible that an offer of acceptance can be revoked for this failure? Others may chime in with real experience, but I don’t know. I can see how intentionally failing to follow a policy is akin to fraud or deceit, and how it certainly can be. If you were caught cheating on a final in HS, could an offer be revoked? I bet it could and likely would. Same difference here—an intentional act to deceive or lie is never, ever good. And I personally have known people to have been dismissed from school for false or misleading statements on an application even after years of attendance.
As for how a school might find out (finally getting to that point), perhaps the actual schools in play talk to one another. Perhaps they don’t. But if we assume that an applicant is considering violating this policy out of self-interest, I daresay there are other people out there (other students at the same high school) who will have an equal self-interest in outing the person to the college. A high school guidance counselor certainly has an incentive to stop this and report it as well if it happens, and thus self-interested students could go directly to the counselor and make a complaint.
In the end, all the incentives point to obeying the policy. And I don’t begrudge you for asking at all. For all I know, this is not about you, but for a friend, and you are trying to get them to do the right thing. Perhaps you know someone who did this and you don’t want them to get away with it. I get it.
People do not often break binding policies. A binding agreement signed by the applicant, his/her parents and guidance counselor should not be taken lightly. If there truly is an unexpected financial issue that renders the ED school unaffordable (ex. the actual financial offer was way below what the NPC showed etc.) then the agreement can be broken, but there should be no other circumstances where that happens.
My D’s college publishes ED statistics and 98.8% of those accepted ED to her college ended up attending.
As noted above signing an ED agreement without fully intending to honor it would put into question the applicant’s moral compass and could lead to infomal negative ramifications for the applicant’s HS.
ED should not be taken lightly. It should not be used to try to “game the system” and get an early acceptance into a college. ED should only be used if 1) that one college is the applicants absolute top choice and 2) the college appears affordable.
What the college should do is require a net price calculator run, save the inputs and results, and require applicant acknowledgement in the ED agreement. The application fee can include the enrollment deposit as well. If the school admits with actual FA that matches or beats the NPC based on the same financial information, then the student is bound. If the actual FA is worse, then refund the enrollment deposit and unbind thevstudent. Refund also if not admitted.
I’ve seen many such cases, and when they occur, breaking the agreement is completely unnecessary, as the school will release the applicant from the agreement when presented with that information. I’ve seen students released from ED agreements for several different (serious and unanticipated) reasons, and in my experience, colleges are quite understanding of such cases.
That is likely not much of a deterrent against an unethical applicant, since the punishment falls on other people (those in the high school in later classes).
In the case of the one college I checked, of the 165 applicants accepted through ED1, 162 attended.
@marvin - We are saying the same thing, but you are certainly more precise in your wording – by saying the “agreement can be broken” I just wanted to let the OP know that in this circumstance the student has the right to not attend his/her ED school for this reason without recourse.
Yes, but it is a strong deterrent against GCs’ cooperation, which can be a sticking point in some cases. In general, though, you’re right.
@happy1 - yeah, that makes sense.