<p>Recent messages in my College Confidential "Ask the Dean" mailbox have suggested that a larger-than-usual number of seniors are backing out of "binding" Early Decision commitments.</p>
<p>Sometimes, of course, this must happen when need-based aid packages don't meet expectations. But I'm getting a vibe that ED bail-outs are on the rise for other reasons, too (e.g., no merit money, better $$ from EA or rolling-admissions schools, change of heart).</p>
<p>So here's the question:</p>
<p>Did you (or someone you know) ever turn down an offer of Early Decision admission? If yes, was it because the aid package made it impossible to enroll or were there other reasons?</p>
<p>And what response did this generate ... from the ED college? from the high school guidance counselor? from the court of public opinion?</p>
<p>We did not bail out, because we knew enough not to apply ED to any schools for my D. Financial aid was going to have to be a consideration, and every college advised that if Fin. aid would be important, we would need to compare packages, so not to apply ED. It seems many people today, so eager to get into their dream school, are willing to take the risk, even when they know financial aid will be the determining factor. But, then again, parents are not being responsible, or teaching their children to stick to their “word” by allowing this to happen. Heck, tons of kids today seem to think that cheating is what “everyone is doing”, that life, and college admissions, is a “game” and in general society just isn’t as honorable as it used to be…a definite sign of the times and the downward spiral of our society, in my opinion.
Great question to post!</p>
<p>In fact, one of the aforementioned “Ask the Dean” questions I received was from a student who has been admitted ED to a highly selective LAC. He said that his aid package was excellent, but he is now having second thoughts about his college choice for academic and career-related reasons. So he is considering reneging on his ED commitment anyway, although his reasons for doing so would not be ethical. He also mentioned that the career he hopes to pursue is politics. :eek:</p>
<p>^^ Clearly, it is possible to “renege” on an ED. It really isn’t a binding legal contract. However, I was under the impression that, at least among the most selective schools, they share their lists of EDs. Thus, for example, a Williams ED who wants to back out because they got into Harvard (this person would not have “withdrawn” her applications from all other schools, as mandated by the ED acceptance) might find herself in the precarious position of having dishonored her ED only to find that Harvard finds out about the Williams ED and withdraws her acceptance to Harvard. Thus, I have always thought that the hammer within the ED process was the ED list sharing that goes on (I thought!) among the schools so that it would prove nearly impossible to get out of an ED and still get into another school of similar caliber. Or, are admissions offices so overwhelmed that they never track this? If they don’t, then the only governor in the process would be the high school counselor or friends of the offender and, seeing the offender at a different college than the ED college, might call up and rat her out.</p>
<p>Yes, there are some colleges that do share lists of students who have been admitted ED. However, these colleges may not include the students who turned down the offer for financial reasons in order not to penalize them in the Regular Decision applicant pool elsewhere. </p>
<p>When I worked at Smith many years ago there were a couple occasions I recall when such list-exchanges outed students who had applied ED (and been admitted) to both Smith and a sister school. In these cases, the acceptances were withdrawn when Smith learned that the girls were double-dipping, and they were withdrawn by the sister school as well. But I also remember a student who reneged on her Smith commitment after being accepted by a very different college–one that had no formal relationship with Smith and didn’t seem to care that this girl had breached her ED contract. There seemed to be no consequences for this girl, except for whatever bad karma she may have accrued.</p>
<p>Although colleges will not take legal action against a student who backs out of ED for any of the wrong reasons, I have heard claims that this sort of action can sometimes penalize future applicants from that student’s high school. But I think that this would only happen if the college was convinced that there was some school/guidance-counselor complicity in an unethical move by the student. In most cases, the counselor cannot be held responsible for the student’s actions and may have unsuccessfully urged the student to make good on a commitment if there wasn’t a valid reason for the withdrawal. Some guidance counselors may threaten to withhold a final transcript from the college that the student has accepted, if the student has backed out of an ED commitment elsewhere. But that’s a slippery slope, so I suspect that most counselors won’t want to go there.</p>
<p>A kid backed out of Cornell ED from my school this year. He applied to two schools within Cornell and got into his second choice of the two. However, both were ED binding. So apparently he told them he was pulling out for financial reasons. The 12 kids who got deferred and rejected ED from there this year were all understandably furious. But he, being unethical, couldn’t care less. I lost whatever respect I had for the kid, and I sincerely hopes he doesn’t get in anywhere good RD. I didn’t even apply to Cornell, but his behavior was just so despicable.</p>
<p>I avoided any and all binding ED applications. </p>
<p>I know someone who backed out of ED at Wake Forest for a much better financial aid package and scholarship offer at Northwestern. She also just liked it better when she visited, which was after she applied to Wake.</p>
<p>Reneging on ED is a reminder of what a university is expecting of a young person. In my estimation it is too much for most teenagers to expect them to understand the consequences of such a decision so early on. EA w/no single decision is something I really do like, however. It gave my son peace of mind while making RD applications and the EA universities know they have got to put their best foot forward to snag him.</p>
<p>I am not surprised to hear that there is a rising number of reneging on ED offers. The prices of so many of these schools are in the stratosphere and so many families think they are going to get FA or scholarships. With the 401Ks down and the home equity down and the unemployment up, a lot of families are suffering from shock when confronted with the loans they will have to take on in order to go to their ED.</p>
<p>ED is stupid anyway and shouldn’t exist. ED is pretty much just used for students to attempt to increase their chances at the highest ranking school they apply to and favors wealthy kids who can afford the price no matter what aid they get. I have no sympathy for colleges getting burned due to this.</p>
<p>Personally I just didn’t have a college that I was so set on going to that I would do such a thing as a binding admission. Hell, I’m stressing out about only having until May 1st to commit.</p>
<p>I’m curious to see what is the policy on this. Most people say it’s not a binding legal contract, so what can happen, especially with regards to state school admissions?</p>
<p>Although I agree that reneging on an ED offer for non-financial reasons is mildly unethical, I don’t find it as terrible as some of the other posters because no party is seriously harmed. Although the colleges ends up accepting one more person which marginally increases the college’s acceptance rate and decreases its yield rate, that doesn’t seem like too serious of a loss for the college. Particularly, in the case of a change in career and academic plans the college would probably be better off with a different student as well.</p>
<p>Colleges can revoke admission at any time, and ED is widely agreed not to be legally binding, so I don’t see anything wrong with bailing on it. I actually find the collusion process Sally_Rubenstone claims to have participated in to be a far more ethically suspect convention.</p>
<p>Okay, marvin100, let’s review the so-called “collusion process” Sally_Rubenstone described:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is not “collusion.” This is a case where—surprise—someone who violated the terms of an agreement got caught! It is not “collusion” if one school shares information with another school in an effort to determine if applicants lied to them. </p>
<p>And as for this …</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Any philosophy professor worth his or her salt could wring a whole class period out of a discussion of whether an act can be “mildly unethical.” Regardless, a school might well question your utilitarian conclusion that “no party is seriously harmed.” You might not agree with what they consider to be “harm,” but that’s really beside the point. Accepting the terms of an agreement and then backing out on that agreement is not a good way for someone to start his or her adult life. </p>
<p>Bottom line: People should apply ED only when a school is the uncontested first choice. The terms are clear.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why people are saying that the ED agreement is not a contract, it absolutely is a contract!</p>
<p>In the admission process, the school withholds the right to recind your application at any point in time.</p>
<p>Now, when you sign the ED agreement there are two parts of the agreement:</p>
<p>-The school may or may not accept you
-Depending on if the school accepts you, you agree to withdraw all applications and send in the non-refundable deposit. </p>
<p>The school agrees to this, the student agrees to it (by signing it), the parent agrees to it and sometimes even the guidance counselor signs off on it. so it is in fact a legally-binding contract!</p>
<p>Now, no school really would care enough to enforce this contract. I think what they should do is have the applicants send in the deposit before they get their acceptance. If they are accepted, the school would keep the money. If they are not accepted, the school would send back or refund the deposit. People must be held accountable.</p>