Early Decision

Applying to College
1

Hello:

I have applied Early Decision to a school and I get the results back soon. However, I went Early Action to another school that I will get my decision a little after that. I am wondering even though I did not apply for financial aid and say I get back the tuition for the ED school and its say $50,000 a year, and I get the EA tuition back and its $20,000 a year can I make a case to back out of the binding ED agreement. Also if I receive the ED decision back and the EA decision back a month or so later. And say I pay that fee for EA but not ED, will the ED school tell the EA school and they back out of my application?

Thanks

2

You can be released from the ED school if you did not receive enough financial aid from them for your family to afford the ED school. If you did not apply for financial aid, but simply getting a better offer somewhere else, you may not break the ED agreement (unless there has been a sudden significant change in your financial position after the fact).

And yes, the ED school may make an issue of it with your school (your school looks bad because your guidance counselor signed off on your ED agreement) and, if the ED school or the GC find out that you applied elsewhere, they could indeed complain.

If you aren’t sure whether the ED school is worth the tuition they are charging, call them tomorrow and ask to change your application to RD, then see what else comes in. (It’s not uncommon for someone who applied ED to change to RD, by the way.)

3

Thanks for your reply. I mean I applied November 1 ED and its November 30 now. The decisions are sent out December 15th so I am wondering if I cancel the ED right now, what will happen?

4

You can contact the ED school’s admissions office immediately and ask to have your application changed from ED to RD. You could then submit a Financial Aid application for that school for the RD round.

Depending on the school, this may or may not impact your admissions chances during RD. Some schools have dramatically higher ED admission rates. Or the school may be need-aware, which could be a factor in being admitted if you are not a strong candidate.

Any particular reason why you’ve had a change of heart?

5

You can ask the ED school to convert your ED app into an RD app. It happens all the time (as long as you do it before decisions are announced).