<p>My sons’ highly competitive high school (in every definition of that word) always had a few students/families who tried to game the system.</p>
<p>The GC required the student and parents to sign an ED Application agreement spelling out how things were handled at the school.</p>
<p>The GC strictly followed the ED rules and would send out only ONE ED application. She would send out other RD applications only in accordance with the rules of the ED school involved–which she checked.</p>
<p>Once she received word that a student had been accepted at the ED school, she “locked” all of the other applications. This usually happened by mid-December. She did not send mid-year transcripts to those other schools. When mid-year transcripts are not received, most schools discontinue consideration of that application. The applicants generally will not receive any decision on these applications come springtime because they are incomplete.</p>
<p>IF a student came to her saying that the financial package was not sufficient, and came to her with a letter declining her admission–which she would mail–then she would unlock the other applications.</p>
<p>Something else for that family to consider is that when a student declines their ED acceptance–the student generally loses that acceptance altogether. Not always, but at a lot of schools. A student cannot just hold on to that acceptance to compare it to other acceptances in April.</p>
<p>So the father may really be outsmarting himself.</p>