I have two colleges that I really like, but one of them is verrrrrry selective so I know my chances are super slim. Regardless, I applied ED2 to this college and I should hear my decision around mid-February. For my other dream school, I can convert my RD application to ED by submitting an ED agreement before March 1. That was actually why I risked it by applying to an extremely selective school first, because I thought if I were to get rejected, I could still apply ED to my other school. Since I’m an international applicant and the acceptance rates are very low for me, I really need the ED boost to have a good shot at my second choice school.
But my school counsellor recently told me that I shouldn’t do that as it would go against the ED rules, which state that I can only apply to one school in each ED cycle. She believes that the rule will hold true even if I have been rejected and thus released from the ED2 agreement from my first school, but she’s not completely sure. I feel like that doesn’t make sense, so can someone please clarify? I don’t want to go against the policies and risk it.
This is too long already, but I have another small doubt. If I get accepted by my ED school, I know it’s binding and if I were to reject the offer, I would basically be blacklisted from attending all other schools in the US for that application year. Does this apply to only the schools in the US territory or does it extend to branches in other countries as well? For example, I really like Yale-NUS College in Singapore; it’s basically a tie between this and my second choice school. Since it’s a half-American half-Singaporean college I’m not really sure if the laws still apply? I feel like they should but againnnn, my counsellor feels they wouldn’t. And of this, she’s pretty sure so
Who cares. If you are rejected mid-feb by University of Chicago then go and change your RD app to ED for the other school. Since you already got rejected by UChicago, not like they will even care what you do. You’ll just be a number to them.
If you get accepted by the school where you have applied ED2, you must go there. The only reason to not do so is if the FA is insufficient (and this should be known by running the NPC). This is a binding application-- the special consideration you get by applying ED requires your commitment on the other side. You and your counselor signed something to that effect when you submitted your application.
If you are deferred or rejected, you may convert your RD application at the other school to ED if time permits. And if you do, again, if you are admitted, you must attend.
Your GC is wrong. Many, many kids apply ED to a school and if they do not get accepted to that school, apply ED to yet another school. You are not permitted to have two outstanding ED applications (Single Choice Early Action and Restricted Early are treated the same way), but you are released from any of these schools once they make a decision NOT to accept you.
There are admissions programs labeled ED1 and ED2, at some school for the purpose of those who who either can’t make the earliest deadline and who do not get accepted to the first choice ED school and willing to make a commitment to another school with ED still available.
Mwfan1921, I didn’t mean a literal blacklist, but I can’t enroll at another school if I don’t accept the offer from my ED school (considering they give enough financial aid) right? That wouldn’t be a problem because I really like the places I’m applying ED, but I was just wondering if colleges outside the US like Yale-NUS and NYU-Abu Dhabi are also a part of the system of unis that make this deal amongst themselves.
Also, to answer your question, it’s Colgate University
Ethics aside, there is no policy prohibiting enrollment at another school if you break an ED agreement, whether it’s due to insufficient financial aid or another reason.
Thanks, I see on their website that Colgate will allow RD apps to switch to ED2 by March 1…didn’t know that!
I read that if you decline the offer from your ED school then enroll somewhere else, and the two schools find out, then both of them will rescind their acceptances. Is it really difficult and uncommon for the schools to find out or something? Or is it that the school that you enroll at won’t care about the ethics of taking someone who got into an ED school?
There’s no mechanism to keep track of students who decline ED offers, to my knowledge. There are no ED police.
Perhaps you are referring to/heard about a situation from a few years ago? Seems some schools were sharing names of students who accepted their ED offers (by depositing) with other schools…as a way to enforce students pulling their other apps and not double depositing. The Justice Dept said they would be looking into that in 2018 and since then, crickets.
Back when that name sharing was happening, the fine print of the ED agreement actually said that applicant names could be shared with other schools…so by signing the ED document, applicants agreed to that sharing of names. The sharing names thing is not in the ED agreement any longer.
There is a policy about enrolling at another school if you break an ED agreement unless it is due to insufficient financial aid. It’s why you get an admissions bump, why you sign an agreement to that effect, and why part of the agreement says that the ED school can share your name and ED application status with other colleges.
And yes, it applies to offshore locations: it’s still NYU / Yale etc to whom you have applied.
And yes, your GC is categorically wrong: once a school has rejected you, the ED agreement is null and void and you can apply EDII wherever you want.
If you break an ED agreement…which by definition means you didn’t deposit at the ED school, one can absolutely deposit/enroll elsewhere. It doesn’t matter why the student did not honor the ED agreement. Again, ethics aside…ED contracts are not legally binding at all.
Edited to add:
In the Justice Dept investigation…Schools were sharing/maybe still sharing names of students who deposited at the ED school, not those who applied and reneged. That could be happening too, but we are talking about a small slice of schools…and no school wants a student who doesn’t want to be there.
@Mwfan1921 I looked at five different schools in the Common App and all include the language “I also understand that with an Early Decision offer of admissions, this institution may share my name and my early commitment with other institutions.” It is part of a statement with a check-box under the Questions section for the college, after selecting ED as the preferred admission plan.
I had thought that the ED agreement was an actual PDF document, but it seems to have changed to this electronic-signature format from the last time I looked. If anyone knows, do parents and counselor still provide signatures (electronically, presumably)? I don’t see any indication of that.
@pandoraaa If you are rejected from school 1’s ED2, you can go ahead and convert your Colgate RD app to ED2 by their March deadline. (I find this kind of interesting, like ED3, except that it needs a different name, binding RD.)
I was looking at some specific school ED forms which had no mention of name sharing.
You are right…The common app ED PDF does have the name sharing clause…but with the ongoing Justice Dept investigation, I would expect there is not much name sharing going on bright now.
My understanding was that the schools implicated (and it wasn’t many schools involved) wanted to stop applicants from double depositing…not nab students who reneg on their ED app (I didn’t see this mentioned in any of the reports when that investigation became known).
There is nothing in NACAC’s CEPPs that prohibit a student who renegs on an ED agreement from applying/enrolling elsewhere. Of course I am not advocating or suggesting it’s ok for students to reneg on ED admission offers with affordable fin aid packages, but it does happen, infrequently.
Parents and counselors still sign as well, generally electronically.
Though conversation often lands on the idea of circumventing ED rules, in practice the policies can perform quite well. Hamilton, for example, recently enrolled 96% of its accepted ED applicants.
For anyone wondering, in the old standard ED agreement forms, the name-sharing sentence was included in the paragraph directly underneath the student signature line, not in the main body of the agreement.
