<p>Interesting article in the Educational Section of the NY times.</p>
<p>key points:</p>
<p>
[quote]
But with the recent elimination of early admissions at Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia, students may be tempted to apply early elsewhere and try to wriggle out if one of those three comes through later. Eric J. Kaplan, interim dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, warns: We still are going to have the expectation that if someone applies early and is admitted, they are committed to Penn. There is no leeway just because Harvard and Princeton have eliminated their early admissions programs.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
**Early decision commitments operate on the honor system, but there are safeguards to discourage students from going back on their word. High schools often sign off on applications, and they dont want to lose face. They know their actions can impact future classes, **says Ms. Hall, who contacts the school if an early student fails to enroll at N.Y.U.</p>
<p>Many colleges rescind acceptances if they discover bad faith. If we find that you lied to us and applied to our regular action process holding an admission from an early binding place, says Marlyn McGrath Lewis, admissions director at Harvard, we would either not admit you or we would withdraw our offer.</p>
<p>Some colleges, like Franklin & Marshall, exchange early-admit lists. Ms. Lewis says she throws away the lists sent to her. Who tips her off then? We usually find out from alumni, classmates, lots of different ways. We have a couple every year and we withdraw their admission, not because we are enforcing some rule at another college, but because we cant trust the student.</p>
<p>Hmm, I don’t know. It just seems that where you apply to college should be a private matter. I don’t think you’d want nurses or doctors to gossip about your medical conditions in the hospital.</p>
<p>Sure but it’s probably in the language of the commitment you sign: probably there is allusion to the school’s ability to confirm, etc. If you did ED, you probably already gave the school’s the right to check.</p>
<p>And while someone may consider it private, the schools see it as a means to keep this privilege (and it is a privilege) secure and limit cheaters. You can’t, in one breath say: I want an ED decision but I don’t want schools to have a process to protect themselves from ED cheaters.</p>
<p>Medical conditions are different. These are confidential and privileged. That’s more akin to your transcript or your test scores.</p>
<p>However, just as patient names are not confidential (except in certain circumstances provided by law), neither is your name as an applicant or as an admitted student. These can be exchanged.</p>
<p>nice to have some links on this Sybbie – especially since we have numerous kids every year who make posts claiming that school do not enforce the ED or that it is easy to get out of.</p>
<p>I was at an applicant reception in the midwest for an Ivy where a very arrogant kid and his mom were bragging that he’d already been accepted ED to another Ivy, but was still applying RD to this one. People said “I didn’t know you can do that.” and the mom said they could because her son was so very special. He did not get in RD. But I’m sure there are others with this mindset!</p>
<p>LOL: someone probably told the admissions rep that evening! It would have been a wise thing too – one less person to compete against – especially one who was playing against the rules. </p>
<p>I’m glad he didn’t matriculate at my alma mater b/c it didn’t have ED.</p>
<p>"Medical conditions are different. These are confidential and privileged. That’s more akin to your transcript or your test scores.</p>
<p>However, just as patient names are not confidential (except in certain circumstances provided by law), neither is your name as an applicant or as an admitted student. These can be exchanged."</p>
<p>well it’s like having a “high risk for heart problems” list. sure, it’s just your name that’s on there.</p>
<p>The take-home point for students seems to be that if you apply ED to college at the second-highest level of desirability, gain admission to that college ED, and then decline to attend for any reason other than sheer inability to afford enrolling at the college even with its best financial aid offer, then you had better be ready to attend a college at the third-highest level of desirability in the end, and you can FORGET ABOUT attending a college at the highest level of desirability. That seems to be what happened last year. Some students who self-reported gaining ED admission and then declining the ED offer ended up at fine state universities. None ended up at a top Ivy League college or Ivy-peer college. </p>
<p>Or does someone have a verifiable (preferably, journalistically reported) counterexample to what I just wrote?</p>
<p>Actually, it’s more akin to hospitals exchanging chart information for a patient who has been treated at one hospital and then admitted at another. It’s done all the time and is legal. It’s not information released to the public.</p>
<p>I agree with Chedva and DespSeekPhd that exhanging lists isn’t like medical information at all. Leaving aside analogies, schools are exchanging lists of students who have contractually bound themselves to attend if accepted. Applicants choose to apply because there can be advantages to early decision. We expect colleges to honor the agreements they make with students. (Imagine the outrage if a student who was accepted ED had his offer rescinded to make room for a more impressive RD applicant.) Students should honor their agreements as well.</p>
<ul>
<li>in fact if one applies RD elsewhere after being accepted ED,
… one’s ED institution may not give one a choice in the matter :)</li>
</ul>
<p>The trick, so to speak, would be gaining and maintaining acceptance at a comparable or better school after breaking ED. That doesn’t seem to happen much if at all.</p>
<p>If we find that you lied to us and applied to our regular action process holding an admission from an early binding place, says Marlyn McGrath Lewis, admissions director at Harvard, we would either not admit you or we would withdraw our offer." "We have a couple every year and we withdraw their admission…because we cant trust the student.</p>