One thing that bothers me in this thread is the idea some people seem to have that indicates an adversarial approach to admissions.
I think students/parents want to get into the best fit college for them.
Colleges want to admit and enroll the best fit class for them.
Nobody is out to stick it to the other group.
Colleges don’t have a Jan. 30 EA notification date because they want to prevent applicants from applying ED anywhere else. In my opinion, they do EA because they want to be sensitive to having a level playing field for those who can’t do ED because the finances matter. They have a Jan. 30 date because that’s how long it takes them to process applications. To do it faster would require hiring more staff which bumps up tuition cost.
Colleges do ED because it lets them give preference to the students who are most excited about attending their school.
Colleges have to make a choice between offering ED or not.
Students have to make a choice about applying ED somewhere and thus committing to attending that school if admitted.
My sentiments exactly ‘theloniusmonk’! I think its equally important to think about the student. When ‘happy1’ and others keep talking about being ‘upfront’ it makes it sound as if this is something that isn’t allowed or is underhanded. The ‘system’ allows students to withdraw their applications prior to the ED decision being made. So Im not sure why this needs to be further discussed with the GC.
My original post was to determine if the withdrawal process was allowed. Could a student legitimately rescind their application as long as they do so prior to the acceptance/denial letters being sent out? Once that question was factually answered, there really was no need for any further discussion. Of course individuals can continue but it just makes little sense to continue to beat a dead horse. The facts are that you can withdraw the application.
As for the GC department, I have ZERO faith in their ability. My kids attend a large public HS. Its actually a superb public HS but the reason the school does so well- on all levels- is because the parents are very committed. “We” work hard (tutors, college counselors etc.) to get our kids into the best schools in the country and are very successful, but the GC dept has very little to do with it. So going to the GC and discussing any of this is actually completely out of the question.