"Binding" ED Bail-Outs?

<p>otis: Oh I personally think that the kid got his just desserts.<br>
I meant that it's sad that he was stupid enough to go behind the college's back and do that kind of thing, and screw up his life.</p>

<p>friend bailed out of Renssalaer for Rose-Hulman for a better financial aid package. he had no problem paying for Renssalaer though. he told me Renssalaer doesn't really enforce its ED policy</p>

<p>Are you allowed to apply to other schools after you turn in your app for ED? </p>

<p>I mean most ED give decision on December, 15 and Regular Decision usually must be sent by January 1st. So is it possible to send in apps for the regular schools during the wait period and then just withdraw if you are accepted ED?</p>

<p>Yes, you can do that. A lot of students submit earlier apps to rolling admissions schools, some submit apps to ED2 schools, all before they've gotten their ED decisions. As long as you withdraw them when (if) you get accepted to your ED school, it's okay.</p>

<p>The best thing that could happen for everyone is if they absolutely banned ED applications as unethical. I applaud Harvard for doing so last year.</p>

<p>EA is fine, its a genuine expression of interest, but is non binding and often does not come with a financial aid letter in the same package. </p>

<p>But ED is just evil.</p>

<p>Yes a friend who was admitted to Northwestern ED kept his application for UPenn in and when he got accepted, told Northwestern he could not afford to go there; afaik it was fairly easy.</p>

<p>This is why I don't really believe in binding ED anyway.</p>

<p>I think that if you're considering applying somewhere ED it's because you have a true geniune interest in the school. An interest that would hold you to your words. Plus if it isn't your first choice why would you do ED? It's risky to go behind colleges backs. Especially if you consider almost all, including some Ivys, work via Common App! A simple search on the server could tell the college what you did. Quite frankly not worth the risk. </p>

<p>x.</p>

<p>I think that if you're considering applying somewhere ED it's because you have a true geniune interest in the school. An interest that would hold you to your words. Plus if it isn't your first choice why would you do ED? It's risky to go behind colleges backs. Especially if you consider almost all, including some Ivys, work via Common App! A simple search on the server could tell the college what you did. Quite frankly not worth the risk.</p>

<p>My son's dream school is Cornell. He wants to apply ED but if he doesn't get scholarship $ we can't afford to send him. Should he apply ED if there is a possibility we can't accept due to finances? I'm not sure if it increases his chances or not. He has family that went to Cornell so maybe he'll get in regular admissions.</p>

<p>The ED contract says that you may be released from the ED agreement if the financial aid is not sufficient for you to afford the school. There is endless discussion and speculation about what is considered sufficient financial aid and who gets to decide what is sufficient and whether it means you won't get accepted to another peer school, and so on.</p>

<p>My opinion... if you honestly cannot afford to go and you're not being cynical and trying to have the advantages of ED without the committments involved, if your son knows for sure his #1 pick is Cornell, if you have researched Cornell's financial aid policies as they pertain to your family's assets and income and feel comfortable with them... then apply ED. If the money offer just puts it out of consideration, let them know immediately. Sometimes schools will work with you on that, sometimes you may have to say 'thanks, but we can't swing this.' </p>

<p>DON"T apply RD to a bunch of places and wait to compare offers later in the spring. Be honest, if you can't afford it, you'll know it. If you can, but it's more expensive than you hoped for, then that's a liability with ED apps, but your son will still be going to his #1 choice school.</p>

<p>Also, as I understand it, legacies get more of a boost in ED than they will in RD... I mean if your family connections to Cornell are of the sort to be considered "legacy." You can ask the admissions office about that.</p>

<p>Our high school has a very simple policy: it does not send any further transcripts, etc., to any school after a student receives an ED acceptance. Students and their parents each sign a statement agreeing to this before the school counselor will sign off on an ED applilcation. If a student or his family has a problem with the financial aid award from the ED school, they come in to discuss it with the gc who will contact the school on their behalf. If the problem is legitimate and more aid cannot be arranged, that is one thing. But if it is just because the student wants to hold out for a more prestigious school, it's too bad because the other schools will not be receiving semester grades, etc. and therefore it's unlikely the student will get accepted elsewhere.</p>

<p>Do they send acceptance results to the high school too?</p>

<p>I think they might, galoisien. A very strange thing happened to my son after he was accepted ED. He was homeschooled, but took a couple classes at the high school here. The counselors were in no way involved in his application. (In fact they refuse to assist anyone who is not a currently full-time enrolled student... which is fine by me, and makes total sense... I didn't want them involved in his applications anyway.) The counseling office does not send out transcripts, the students order them independently from the registrar's office. No counselor had written an evaluation or anything like that. My son was not even a traditional student at the school, and was not going to graduate from it either, he really just dropped in for a couple hours to take a class now and then. We didn't identify the school in any prominent way on his college application, although of course there was the partial transcript sent of the few classes he'd taken there. (He'd taken classes at other places, too, they also sent transcripts.)</p>

<p>And yet, a week or so after he was accepted a teacher from the school (who he didn't really know, and certainly didn't think knew him) came up and congratulated him. My son asked how he knew, and he said there was a list up at the counselors' office. Hmmmm...........</p>

<p>
[quote]
Our high school has a very simple policy: it does not send any further transcripts, etc., to any school after a student receives an ED acceptance. Students and their parents each sign a statement agreeing to this before the school counselor will sign off on an ED applilcation.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Our school operates under the same policy, if a student is accepted ED, no further applications are processed for this student. No ED application is processed with out the parent's signature so the parents signs that they understand the ED policy.</p>

<p>GC discusses the application with the school, and we must get in writing that the school has released the student from the ED agreement before moving forward.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Do they send acceptance results to the high school too?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yes, the college sends to the school a list of all applicants from their school and the out come of their application. (admit, deny, waitlist, withdraw)</p>

<p>Well, my HS doesn't appear to work that way. It wasn't one of them rich suburban high schools. ;)</p>

<p>ED is one of the perks of being wealthy. It allows rich people to buy their way to the head of the line, when their kids can't get there on their own. The schools love it because they get full sticker price. I liken it to AA, it cheapens their accomplishment.</p>

<p>.............................</p>

<p>
[quote]
Well, my HS doesn't appear to work that way. It wasn't one of them rich suburban high schools.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>My high school is an inner city title I (majority of students eligible for free lunch) and the application information still gets sent to the school.</p>

<p>
[quote]
ED is one of the perks of being wealthy. It allows rich people to buy their way to the head of the line, when their kids can't get there on their own. The schools love it because they get full sticker price. I liken it to AA, it cheapens their accomplishment.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>spoken like the truly uniformed.</p>

<p>With almost every elite college having either a low income inititaitve/middle income threshold where there is no tuition and no loan options, ED is not longer a perk of the wealthy unless you are talking about those that gather a wealth of information about prospective schools, the FA process, etc. But again, that is just due diligence.</p>

<p>
[quote]
spoken like the truly uniformed.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I apologize for coming off snarky.</p>

<p>maybe there may have been a time where the truly rich could afford to go into ED with a money is no object mentality, but the changes in financial aid policies at a lot of school have made many more affordable. It will take some legwork on your part along with some number crunching to make it work.</p>