<p>Hi,
I'm in love with the college I've applied ED I to and hope I get in.</p>
<p>However, I have been encouraged to try my options out in my home country even if I do get accepted. If I get accepted, am I required to stop looking at college in my home country also?</p>
<p>If I finally enroll in a college in my home country, will I legally wrong? Because my home country doesn't know anything about ED and I will withdraw all my US applications if accepted.</p>
<p>PS: Personally, I want to withdraw all applications to colleges in my country if accepted, but my relatives might not be very happy with that.</p>
<p>This may depend on the country, and the universities involved. Other writers have reported instances when US students who were admitted ED to a top institution in the US, and then wanted to attend the top UK institution that had admitted them later in the year, had their UK admission rescinded because the UK institution found out about the US ED admission.</p>
<p>In your specific case, because you do not know that you will be able to attend your ED college because your family may not permit you to, it would be better for you to ask that college to move you to the Regular Decision group.</p>
<p>ED really, and truly, is ONLY for students who absolutely plan on going to the college/university if they are admitted. If you have any question whatsoever about whether you would indeed actually be able to attend, you should not apply ED.</p>
<p>No, it’s not that my family will not permit me. My family is with me. They just want me to try colleges in my country (which is a LOT of hard work). I just want to know whether I will be able to tell them I that I am bound to this agreement or not.</p>
<p>What they want me to do is to get loads of offers and then let me go wherever I want, so long as it is affordable. I don’t want to get loads of offers, I just want to get my one ED decision or (if I get rejected) at least one of my matches/reaches from the RD.</p>
<p>I don’t know why my relatives want to me have loads of options before I chose where I will go, even though I might get accepted at my dream school well before I hear from anywhere else…</p>
<p>Anyway, even if it doesn’t stop my from looking at colleges here, I will try to convince them that I don’t want to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>All this is presuming that I get in, which is not guaranteed…</p>
<p>Thanks again for the useful information. :)</p>
<p>“What they want me to do is to get loads of offers and then let me go wherever I want, so long as it is affordable.”</p>
<p>LISTEN TO THEM!! </p>
<p>What you think is affordable right now, and what your family determines is truly affordable after all of the offers are on the table are two different things. Don’t forget to factor all of the potential expenses into your Cost of Attendance (COA). Often the figures posted on college and university websites are very optimistic. What will it cost for YOU to travel to and from the US to study? Will you come next fall and stay here for all four years without a trip home? Will you travel home for every vacation that is longer than three days? Is your dream college/university in a climatic zone that means you will have to spend $XXX for a new winter wardrobe?</p>
<p>There is no guarantee that you will get into a single one of your reaches or matches. You absolutely must line up at least one rock-solid safety (most likely in your own country), or come up with a clear plan for how you will spend next year if you are not admitted anywhere.</p>
<p>It isn’t like I don’t have safeties in my own country, I just don’t want to pursue the most competitive ones in my country if my parents and I are happy with the aid package. </p>
<p>We will be able to judge it reasonably well, I believe, because we know someone who has attended college in the same region with similar costs and are in touch with his parents. I plan to come back only once a year, the cost of which we have taken into while making a estimate of how much we will contribute (International students are asked for an estimate of how much we will contribute). The colleges/universities I am applying to show a comprehensive cost of attendance, which, I have checked with a graduate of my ED college from my city, is pretty comprehensive ( - cost of traveling to/from the US, which as I have already said, my family has accounted for)</p>
<p>Getting into the most competitive colleges in our country is a lot of extremely hard work. I am doing that now, but should I be admitted ED, I want to stop working on that. If I am not admitted at any of my matches/safeties in the US, I will then be completely in my countries’ system - which means that I will be working towards getting admission in my reach schools as well as ensuring I have safeties here.</p>
<p>I don’t want to go to the US just for sake of going abroad, and even if my parents are willing to pay more than it would cost here for a safety in the US, I will not enroll. There isn’t a point in going abroad to study in a “safety”. It is my love of the liberal arts system that drew me to apply to the US. If I am not admitted to an LAC that I consider good, I will do my best to ensure I get the best education in my country.</p>
<p>It is my extended family that wants me to get loads of good offers, mainly because they want to show off that their ___ got ___ offers from ___ great universities. I’m not interested in this kind of showing off.</p>
Just as a word of caution, your financial aid offers will most definitely be less generous than your self-estimate. (Or in other words, I have yet to meet someone who was pleasantly surprised by their financial aid offer, international or not.)</p>
<p>Although I know it is possible that they can ask for more, I know that I’m going to appeal an offer that asks my parents to pay more than we have planned for or (if EFC doesn’t come down) decide not to enroll at the college. I strongly believe that my parents can shown their need for greater need based aid if the EFC exceeds X dollars.</p>
<p>Finally, if I decline my ED offer because of a high EFC and my RD colleges also end making college unaffordable, I believe I have enough strong backups in my home country, leaving me with little to worry about.</p>
<p>It looks to me like you really have thought this out. Congratulations on being so level-headed! Or should I congratulate your parents on bringing up such a level-headed kid?</p>