Early Decision Notifications?

<p>(I know this is a question for my counselor, but she was sick this week and it's a relatively minor thing, so I didn't want to email her on what will probably be a very busy weekend spent playing catch-up.)</p>

<p>Anyway, I plan to apply Early Decision II to my first-choice school. My question is: if I am accepted with EDII, how soon do I have to notify my other schools that they can cancel my application? Can I wait to see if I'm accepted, just for fun, or is that a no-no?</p>

<p>I mean, I know that I love my EDII school and I would not choose to go anywhere else if I were accepted, but I've spent so much time and energy on ALL of my applications that I feel like it's almost a waste if I never know whether or not I could have gotten in, you know?</p>

<p>For EDII, I'll receive notification by early February, if that helps. Thanks!</p>

<p>The deal is you withdraw all other applications as soon as you hear from your ED school. Otherwise, I think there would be too much temptation to second guess oneself, and the colleges know it. I understand the desire to see how the others would turn out, but the acceptance from your first-choice school should be validation enough :)</p>

<p>If you are applying for financial aid, you wait until after you’ve received your FA offer. If your EDII school doesn’t offer enough FA to make it affordable, then you can withdraw your EDII acceptance. You certainly don’t want to withdraw your RD applications at that point!</p>

<p>No one is checking to make sure that you immediately withdraw your RD applications. D1 withdrew hers a few days after receiving her ED acceptance, after we’d submitted her deposit and received acknowledgement that it was received. But no, you can’t wait to see if you’ll get in or not. Keep in mind that when you withdraw your apps, you’re making it possible for some other happy students to get good admissions news later in the spring. :)</p>

<p>“If you are applying for financial aid, you wait until after you’ve received your FA offer.”</p>

<p>Bingo! </p>

<p>You should not withdraw your other applications until you get your FA packet (not the FA estimate). Your are not obliged to matriculate at your ED school unless you can afford it with the financial aid made available. If you disagree with the schools FA calculation of what your family can pay, then you should meet with them to resolve the discrepency. If it cannot be resolved, you do not have to matriculate at your ED school. The cost of a school is a material term to an ED agreement.</p>

<p>Thank you so much, everyone! That’s exactly what I needed to know.</p>