@Sue22 (and others) what do we think are the ethics of, say, getting a great package from a college and asking the EDII school to reconsider an app as RD, or withdrawing the EDII app altogether, before decision notification?
Is there wiggle room before one learns about an ED decision?
If I were an admissions officer, I’d rather know that an applicant no longer feels that he or she can abide by an earlier ED pledge than just get stiffed after acceptance. But I agree there’s an ethical quandary involved; that’s why people should be reluctant to file ED in the first place.
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.
As a parent of a kid who applied ED, I don’t think you should apply ED unless you are absolutely certain that the school is your first choice. The school, parents, and student all have to sign a contract in order to apply ED. Breaking that contract is not only unethical, but it can potentially harm other students from that high school who wish to apply ED to this college in later years.
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.
100% agree with moving the ED to an RD application before the decision has been made. It will be better for future students from your high school to move the ED to RD than to break an ED (even due to finances) after the decision has been made.
To me, changing an app from ED to RD or even withdrawing it prior to the ED admission decision is fine. What I find ethically questionable is waiting until the ED decision is made and then withdrawing it due to the ED FA being marginally less attractive than another offer.
I will be honest, there is nothing wrong with asking that your ED application be moved to RD, but I would really look at you side eye, because you are pulling the application only because you got what you feel is a better package from someone else (yeah I would question your sincerity and the fact that you were not serious about the ED school to begin with). A kin to committing to the prom with someone and backing out because a better looking/richer/more popular person came and asked you to go
Not quite. Prom is for a few hours and a few hundred bucks. College is for life and what, $100,000 plus.
Frankly, imo the whole ED thing a nonsense. Asking a 17-18 year old kid to “commit” prior to having full information is “unethical” as well. Heck, must 17-18 year olds can’t commit to dinner tonight.
I think the whole ED thing is inherently unfair and biased in favor of the wealthy, who can better afford to make decisions without worrying about the financial impact.
Disclaimer - My pups were not able to apply ED anywhere due to the restrictive nature.
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. However, I would ask the HS GC for his/her thoughts on the best way to handle this.
Agree, I think the signing the ED I or II agreement is more to make the point that if you say X school is your first or second choice (depending on ED), then you’ll go if accepted. But its not binding based on a variety of factors, not the least is financial aid. My D2’s friend asked that he be let out of his ED II “contract” before the decision came out in Feb a couple years ago because he got a likely letter from an ivy late in the game. It happens. X school, his EDII choice moved him to the regular round and he was eventually admitted to both, and accepted the ivy. Not sure in the end, if anything would have turned out differently, had he gotten an offer from the ED II college before he pulled out and converted his app to RD. In the end, you go where you choose to go. The rest is just gamesmanship. I don’t like EDI or II because I think it largely benefits the college, but I do see how and when it can benefit a particular student.
ED benefits the school not necessarily the student. Yes the acceptance rate is higher which then motivates others to apply ED again to benefit the school. I also too think it is unfairly biased towards the wealthy, causes confusion for those looking for a workable FA option and completely rules out anyone needing some sort of merit aid to make the school doable.
I don’t know the terms of the ED contract. I expect there would be language governing this very circumstance.
Without knowing the precise language, I would assume you are free to withdraw your ED application prior to the decision. I don’t see it as unethical. Am I missing something?
It might or might not have an impact on the outcome. That would depend on the particular school and its general acceptance rate, the strength of the application, the amount of need, etc.
@yourmomma the ED application isn’t made by the 17-18 year old alone. At least two adults are involved: the parent or parents and the GC at the high school. Presumably the adults understand the implications and can communicate them to the young person.
ED should be abolished. There is definitely an asymmetry between the onerous obligation placed upon the applicant and the trivial one placed upon the school. However, that doesn’t justify applying ED without a good-faith intention to follow-through, or violating an ED agreement without just cause.
Therefore if you ask for the application to be changed before a decision in made, there is no “contract.”
As an example of where this change is done frequently is with athletic recruits to Ivy League colleges. The ED/SCEA decision is sometimes changed as a result of Official Visits. No one in admissions will think twice about such a request.
There is no ethical problem at all in asking that an ED application be reclassified as RD. That happens all the time. Colleges are familiar with it. No one will bat an eyelash if you do it.
People do it for all sorts of perfectly valid reasons, like a kid getting cold feet about a particular school or a parent getting cold feet about its cost or a parent finally figuring out that the ED application may significantly raise the cost of college. Reclassifying the application – assuming you still like the school and want to consider going there – is the ethical, honest path to take. The unethical, dishonest path is to leave the application in the ED hamper – thus giving it a higher chance of acceptance, or at least so most of us believe – but planning to say the financial aid isn’t adequate if the applicant is accepted, unless by some miracle it is adequate. Or trying to string out negotiations about what changes could be made to a financial aid package until you find out whether you have won a big scholarship elsewhere. That’s unethical.
Doesn’t really matter. The kid still is making the decision, or worse being pushed to a decision. My kid changes his mind about which school he’s going to hourly. If momma had her choice, there would be only one choice.