Thank you to all the posters for their time
@happy1 I see, you’re saying it’s the intent that makes the difference. Eh. I’m not sure. I think it’s a grey area. On the face of it, there’d be nothing wrong with the actions he’s thinking about. It’s not uncommon to change an ED2 app to RD midstream. Applicants change their minds all the time. He may even decide to go the other way and roll the dice on the ED-2 school even if he’s accepted to the EA school. He’s keeping his options open. After all, it’s six months away.
Well said Brantly!
@brantley I do suggest the OP ask the pertinent questions of his/her HS guidance office and be honest with the guidance counselor about his/her intentions. On everything else we can agree to disagree – I do recognize that my view has been informed by the particular policies in place at my kid’s HS.
ED2 is exactly designed as a back up plan. If it was first choice it would be ED1. I’m surprised to see veteran posters questioning this. It has been forum wisdom for the entire time (forever, I think) that I’ve been here that a student can change their mind about ED BEFORE the acceptances come out.
There’s nothing underhanded about it, and I don’t understand why a HS would make that determination to not send them out, unless the ED school explicitly forbade a concurrent EA application. Many do not. It’s out of bounds for a HS to make that call.
Thank you Garland. I appreciate your time to reply. And for the record the ED school in question doesn’t forbid a concurrent EA application. So we should be good to go!
People in our HS apply ED2: 1) as their top remaining choice if they didn’t get into an ED1/EA/rolling school that answered before the ED2 deadline and 2) if they feel they need to show strong first semester senior year grades before putting in the ED application.
I don’t think know of anyone who has a problem with the way our HS does things and it may be a factor in why the school has such strong relationships with many colleges.
Anyway, the OP should do what he/she wants within the bounds of what his/her fully informed guidance counselor feels is appropriate.
Our HS guidance department was pretty upfront with kids and parents. They wouldn’t enable anything that wasn’t by the book. Not because of your kid- but because of all the kids that come after yours- next year and the year after. So a kid who was applying ED was doing so because it was his or her top choice, period full stop, and the ONLY reason not to accept is if the financial package was just unworkable. Not because you changed your mind, not because you like your ED2 school a little more, not because your BF thought your ED school was too far away and it wasn’t serious back in October but it is now that it’s December. And not because you were clever enough to have your cake and eat it too.
Financial reasons and that’s it.
Our guidance department would flip out at the idea that kids were not just gaming ED (i.e. applying to Penn ED even though you like Princeton more because if you don’t apply to Penn ED you might not get in at all, etc.) but also sequencing EA and ED2 down the road.
So Dunagaree- go in peace. But make sure you are transparent with the college counselors. If you burn that bridge you may not be happy with the result.
Someone upstream posted about what happens if the ED school announces sooner than expected? 5 out of 8 of my daughter’s schools released earlier than expected last year, some weeks earlier than we thought. AND interestingly, her top choice EA school (she didn’t apply anywhere ED), was LATE by nearly a month!
I also agree with @blossom. Your child needs a solid LOR from the GC. You don’t want to give that person any reason to be less than 100% positive about your student.
But @blossom, the OP is not talking about backing out of an ED decision; the discussion is about backing out BEFORE the decision. A quick CC search shows there are scores of discussions about people changing their minds about ED and turning the ED app into an RD one, as being a normal, fair thing.
I’m truly surprised by the answers here; it’s like a fully developed understanding that everyone on CC seemed to get has all of a sudden, in this thread, been seen differently. What has changed? Seriously, I’m puzzled.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2036174-withdrawing-ed-to-rd.html
Happymomof1: “Lots of students move to the RD list, or even withdraw the application entirely. Just contact the admissions office and ask them to move you”
College_query: "You don’t need a reason if you have not received a decision from your ED school yet - you can say something vague, like “due to recent events, I am requesting my application be changed from ED to RD.” "
Intparent: " You can contact them on Monday and ask to change your app to the RD cycle. But that may reduce your chances of admission – but if you don’t change it and are accepted ED, you MUST attend. But since it is prior to releasing the decision, you can change to the RD cycle. Let your GC know you are making the change, too."
Erin’s Dad; “I think it’s fine. You enter into an agreement with a first choice school (ED) get later info and decide they aren’t the first choice any longer, BEFORE you have a decision.”
Thumper1 “People change their minds. Some kids and parents think ED is THE answer…and that’s fine. But if your kid decides they might want some more time to make this huge decision…asking to have an application changed from ED to RD before decisions are slated to be released…is fine.”
3puppies: “As for the ethics of it, I would see no ethical problem in pulling your ED application and explaining you’d like to be considered RD, before a decision was made.”
I could go on and on. Respected posters have always agreed that pulling an ED app before the decision came out is ethical and normal. Why is this poster being treated like a pariah?
I have not had a K go through the application process, but if there are differing opinions on CC, I’d say there are likely differing opinions in the admissions world. In addition to consulting with your K’s GC, maybe the answer is to call the ED school and ask whether they would object to your K concurrently applying to an ED2 school? Transparency is the best policy.
Blossom- I feel very much at peace so thanks for your kind thoughts. I feel at peace because what I’m proposing to do is legitimate, even if you and your GC dept.and others would be aghast. Im not gaming any system, I’m just playing by the rules that were established by the schools. You may not like it, thats for you to deal with. When it has been explained to you several times that this is perfectly legit, it stuns me to see you persist. This thread is done. The question has been answered. I asked for fact based answers and fortunately for me, posters like Garland and others were willing to adhere to that request.
“Our guidance department would flip out at the idea that kids were not just gaming ED (i.e. applying to Penn ED even though you like Princeton more because if you don’t apply to Penn ED you might not get in at all, etc.) but also sequencing EA and ED2 down the road.”
It’s ok for the colleges to game the system by adding ED2 option and taking more kids via ED, but not for the students to game the system? College admission is already tilted to the colleges and ED tilts it even more by locking in students and parents. The GCs should be looking for the best interest of the students not colleges.
That’s the thing about posting on a message board.
You can’t always get what you want… to quote the sage.
I would be less concerned about my kid’s ed sequencing than displaying smug and condensing responses to people who took the time to respond to their question.
People can disagree and offer differing views that an be considered. That is the purpose of a fruitful discussion.
It would save everyone whole bunch of time If people can post both the question and answer simultaneously if that is what they are looking for in the end.
I don’t think the situation is unethical, but greyking did point out a possible snag. You have to accept an ED decision. So there is a small danger that if the ED result comes in before the EA one, your kid will be obliged to go to the second choice school.
Mathmom- I agree. I love that someone took the time to point out that possibility. Its definitely something to think about. But in all honestly the ED school is truly a school extremely well liked. So if that snag arose it wouldn’t be the end of the world therefore it might be worth the risk.
@theloniusmonk The feeling at our school is that the HS guidance office’s overall very strong relationships with many colleges benefits current as well as future students. So the guidance counselors don’t want to potentiality damage any one of these relationships these by allowing one student to withdraw an ED application… As the high school has an outstanding track record of getting students into top colleges and is clear about the policy upfront nobody has an issue. Again, this is one high school’s policy, but that is the reasoning. That is why I recommend the OP be upfront with his/her guidance counselor and that they agree on a plan of action together.
Ok but converting an ED application to RD is done, and not against college policy, so the GC couldn’t really do anything about that since it does not need their signature. Only if you’re converting RD to ED 1/2, do you need the GC.
So if a student really didn’t want to attend a college they got in ED, the GC would force them to go? Sounds like the GC is more interested in the school’s reputation than the students.