A friend’s daughter was accepted ED and friend claims that the daughter was subsequently accepted into six more schools because “she tried to withdraw and they didn’t listen.” My D has had this experience with a couple of larger schools (one school actually sends an email asking if you are attending, and when you click “no” it asked where you will be going - she did all that and yet still gets email from them about visiting, etc.) but six schools? Is it that difficult to withdraw your apps, or, if accepted, say no? What is the best way to do this so that the college gets the message? D hates to think of someone not accepted because the school still thinks she may go there. (I told her it’s probably all calculated into yield and not to worry so much about it.)
It’s not unusual for some colleges to continue to process your application after you’ve sent an e-mail attempting to withdraw it, but six of them? I suspect the student forgot to send the e-mails.
Oh please. My kids either emailed or called the schools they were withdrawing apps from after getting in ED. They requested email confirmation just so their bases were covered (they wanted to have a paper trail in case ED school ever requested proof - we were being cautious). They often got nice notes back wishing them good luck, etc. I agree with Marian. The kid either didn’t send emails, or their email is on some other database. But it’s trivially easy to withdraw an app. It’s like cancelling a dinner reservation. It takes 20 seconds.
I know in my experience my daughter has withdrawn applications and still was getting communications from them. She even got communication from two state schools asking her to register for classes and she hadn’t even applied to those schools.
PG-it may be easy, but it’s also not a given that colleges process the withdrawn applications instantly. My D notified all of the colleges she would not be attending as soon as she made her choice back in February/early March. She is still getting scholarship offers, accepted students information, glossy brochures, etc. from at least three colleges. I saw the emails she sent. I believe that the student in the OP sent emails and that colleges are “not listening” because it’s happened to us. It has nothing to do with some kid hedging their bets or lying. It happens.
It may just be an email list thing. My daughter gets those type of emails from school she hasn’t even applied to. She also still getting emails from schools she turned down. Call admission to make sure but it may just be they haven’t removed her from the email list.
My son withdrew from one school through their website and then got a letter welcoming him into their honors program. several weeks later. He then sent an email letting them know but still gets stuff from the school.
My daughter committed to a school in the fall (athletic commitment) and wore the pink armband at competitions signaling the commitment, and still got calls. Some schools even admitted they saw the armband but ‘you know she can still go D3, right?’ Yup, they didn’t care and were willing to steal her for their school.
Some of it I do chalk up to school’s computers not updating quickly and so material still is sent out. Some of it is because the scholarship program is not coordinated with the admissions office so they don’t get the notice of withdrawal. Some of it, IMO, is that the schools just don’t care if you’ve committed elsewhere. If it isn’t an ED commitment, maybe they do still have a chance at wooing you with flowers and chocolates, or money and waterslides.
My nephew had this happen as well. At some point there is nothing you can do to insure that the systems of colleges record things correctly. I know that he did keep a record of his withdrawals (which were emails) for a while just in case someone questioned him about it down the road.
IME a lot of schools have terrible computer systems. It’s not anything particularly malicious on their part, probably just a combination of ineptness, lack of budget, and lack of priority.
My D needed to withdraw her SIR (statement of intent to register) at Berkeley. There was nowhere on their website to do it. So we called admissions and after listening to hold muzak for an hour, got put through to somebody who told us to call somebody else, who told us to call somebody else, who finally said all we needed to do was send her an email. Sigh. As I said, ineptness, lack of budget, and lack of priority.
My favorite story along these lines is that my daughter got rejected from UCLA. The funny thing is that she decided not to apply. I think what happened was that she submitted the Common App, but then didn’t complete the supplementary requirements for her major. They were substantial, and included a design treatment of a Shakespeare play and a portfolio review. She did the design treatment, but was submitting it 2 minutes after the deadline for that part. When their system wouldn’t accept it, she gave up. It was a lot of work, and I tried to convince her to contact the admissions office, but she wouldn’t. It turns out that they extended the deadline by a month after that night, but she wouldn’t budge. She also never scheduled the required interview.
I tell her it takes a certain talent to get rejected from a school that you didn’t actually apply to. The trick was she never formerly withdrew her application.
About 5 or 6 weeks after my kid was accepted ED at another school a large packet came in the mail congratulating her on acceptance to USC and offering her a chance to visit and potentially get a large scholarship. She was panicked at first that she’d forgotten to withdraw her application but when she checked she found in her sent items the e mail letting them know that she was withdrawing. So I can believe it can happen. But 6 times seems unlikely.