<p>I was accepted to Lehigh ED 2, but I also applied to MIT, Cornell, Georgia Tech, Vandy (got into a few safeties earlier on) for their regular decision pools. I have yet to receive my financial aid package which should arrive within the next few days... My question is, does it look bad on me if i wait to confirm my enrollment (yes i know its required ED) until i know the packages of the other schools assuming acceptance? I'm just afraid that if i withdraw all of my other applications as expected with an ED agreement that i wont be able to afford/attend lehigh and will be forced into settling for a safety when perchance i could've been accepted by Cornell, MIT, Vandy who would offer a better package and i would be able to attend. All of the release dates for the decisions are in approximately a month. Would lehigh look down on me if i sad i can't afford their package and cornell's is better solely because i was technically supposed to withdraw my application once notified of my acceptance? .... Please give me any advice that you can. I suppose i could just bank on getting rejected by the majority of them due to their nature, but then again i actually have a shot at them with my stats. Thanks again! </p>
<p>Oh, and please ignore the grammatical catastrophes and awful semantics -Im writing this in the five minutes i have before i leave to get my haircut...lol</p>
<p>You cannot wait to compare financial aid packages. When you receive the financial package from Lehigh and if you can possibly afford it, you are obligated to attend. </p>
<p>You asked Lehigh for an early commitment to you, and by doing so you made a commitment to them. A legal one.</p>
<p>You can wait until you get the package from Lehigh, but not wait to compare offers.</p>
<p>If it is unmanageable, then, you usually can be let out of an ED agreement, but you cannot wait to see if it is better than some of your other options.</p>
<p>You. But you should have a pretty good idea of what the offer will be as there is a net price calculator on the website. It shouldn’t be a surprise. When you see it, if you feel you can’t afford it, you can turn it down, but then it is bye bye Lehigh. You will have to hope for an acceptance and hope for financial package you can afford. It would make no sense to apply ED and then decline it really. Why apply ED?</p>
<p>You can’t wait to see the other packages. That is against the rules of ED. If you do that you will risk that offers will be rescinded. No school will want to take someone breaking another college ED contract after comparing offers. </p>
<p>alright well it seems to be unanimous as to what i should do then. But yes i did use the net price calculator and the price presented was affordable, however when i visited for a financial aid meeting they said my actual contribution (and it often is) could be much much different. Keep in mind this meeting was after i applied, and as you may assume, this news was slightly intimidating to me. Hopefully it all works out when i receive the package though,</p>
<p>Schools find out if you got into another school ED. So if you don’t withdraw your apps from Cornell, MIT, & Vandy then they will most likely rescind any offer of admission, as will Lehigh. Then you will really be stuck with your safeties. Best of luck with your FA packages, lehigh is an awesome school</p>
<p>So even if i accept admission to lehigh, pay my deposit before i get the decisions back, i have to withdraw the others? I cant just see if i get in out of pure curiosity? That seems a bit extreme if ive already fully committed.</p>
<p>Extreme or not, that’s what you agreed to when you applied ED. </p>
<p>You applied ED because it gives you an admissions advantage to your first choice school, the advantage for the school is that (unless unaffordable) you have committed to attending. Quid pro quo. </p>
<p>If you think you’re getting something for nothing, you better look more carefully, it’s rarely the case.</p>
<p>Pure curiosity? What’s the point in finding out what you might have had, since you can’t have it anyway? It doesn’t matter if another school might have been cheaper than Lehigh. You asked Lehigh to commit to you, and it return you committed to them. You have a contract. And as others have said, you take the risk of not being able to go anywhere if you wait for those other acceptances and offers.</p>
<p>Pondering in utter limbo about what could have been is far worse a punishment than any negative conviction i could have received. I realize this now and acknowledge my misstep, I should have just applied RD. But there is no sense crying over spilled milk.</p>
<p>Just enjoy Lehigh instead of looking at what might have been. You were accepted by a very good school. Look forward to good experiences instead of feeling sorry for yourself. </p>
<p>There are far worse mistakes that you will make along the journey of life, I’m sure. We all make them.</p>
<p>Wait: you don’t have to accept until you actually have your financial aid offer from Lehigh. So you don’t have to accept NOW (before you get their offer). However, when you do get that offer, and it should be within two days or so, you will have to talk about it with your parents. If it’s insufficient, you can call the Admissions/financial aid office and let them know that they’re obviously your first choice but your financial aid offer doesn’t make it possible for you to attend, and see if they offer more. You CANNOT reference any other school even if you got something from them in the meanwhile and you cannot just ask for more. It has to be “I want to come, obviously:ED, but I can’t because the net price calculator indicated x and the final package is $…,000 different”. Then either they change it, and you accept… or they don’t change it, and you turn them down, but then you have no idea whether you’ll get in anywhere else and whether you’ll get better financial aid anywhere else. In all likelihood, this will happen tomorrow or Monday, so you won’t have any other offer yet. Typically you’ll have a reply date, which may well be March 1 or before.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, couldn’t a family simply say they can’t afford a certain school that was applied to ED, even if they actually can, in order to get out of the agreement? While that would be illegal what are the barriers to prevent something like that from happening?</p>