<p>Correction to the above:</p>
<p>Students do not “back out” of the ED. They have the luxury of NOT ACCEPTING the ED offer of admission (if the school is a Common Ap school) in December of January. The language added to the Common Ap is not an invitation to delay the reply to an ED offer of admission until April or May. As long as the school sends a financial offer in the same timeframe as the offer of admission, your choices are … accept or reject.</p>
<p>If you do accept the offer, you are still bound to ALL the remaining terms of the Ed, namely forced to withdraw all applications and not start any new ones. </p>
<p>All in all, the new language took the bite of the “binding” part, but did not open the doors for shenanigans. The percentage of students who stick to their ED choice is close to 100 percent.</p>