With regard to admissions…make sure the student checks their student portals. Very often, the status changes there well before a mailing is received.
@momofsenior1 I disagree strongly that the student in question is doing something unethical. It is completely within the rules to withdraw an ED application before notified of the outcome. There is nothing wrong with applying simultaneously to one college EA and another ED unless the rules of one or the other college specifically forbid it. There are a number of EA colleges that do forbid applying EA if the applicant also applies ED somewhere else (including Georgetown and Boston College). (There are also the four SCEA colleges that forbid most other EA applications as well as ED applications, but they are a special case, and that’s not who we are talking about.) As far as I know, there is only one ED college that has ever forbidden simultaneous EA applications – that was Brown, and it withdrew that idiosyncratic rule a decade ago.
Of course, if the applicant receives an ED acceptance, the student is bound to attend the ED college, provided the financial aid offer is adequate. However, if the applicant withdraws her ED application and converts it to RD before being notified of the acceptance, that rule won’t apply (and she is hardly likely to be accepted ED in that event). I guess everyone can imagine that taken to the extreme of minutes or seconds, and I think everyone would want to avoid that. That’s what this thread is about – avoiding that.
It’s perfectly rational for an applicant to say “I want the best possible chance to attend one of these two colleges. I will apply EA to College A, which has an EA program, and ED to College B, which doesn’t. If I am accepted ED at College B (and assuming the financial aid is acceptable), I will be happy to go to College B. However, College A is probably my first choice, and if I am accepted at College A before College B (and assuming the financial aid is acceptable), I expect to convert my College B application to RD. That way I will either go to College A, or if College B accepts me RD I will get to compare financial aid offers and think longer and harder about which of the two colleges I should attend.”
There’s nothing especially holy about ED. It’s actually kind of a scuzzy system that benefits the college much more than any applicant. People who apply ED should be prepared to enroll in the ED college if accepted there ED, but that does not mean that they must be committed to that college as their “first choice” in their hearts, or that they must not pursue any strategy (if any presents itself) that is within the rules and that may result in enrolling in some other college.
That said, I agree with others that the timing here is uncomfortably tight, and the OP’s daughter is not in a good position if the ED decisions are posted early. (I am pretty sure she would have to log in to her account to change her application from ED to RD, so she will have up-to-date information about whether there has been a decision when she does that.)
Also, if others have gotten positive EA decisions, and she hasn’t, that’s probably an indication that she shouldn’t worry about withdrawing her ED application.
@JHS Thank you for understanding my actions.
@SJ2727 Nothing is certain… I am just going by the dates on their website. I realize now this was a gamble.
@momofsenior1 I didn’t say the school was at fault… I am simply defending my actions. You said it was unethical. The school clearly gives her the option to change the application WITHOUT a cut off date.
@momofsenior1 thanks for the link. I know what we signed…a BINDING contract. My inquiry here IS IT WRONG to change the application. Has anyone done it and the result. Anyone can change their minds…the school will not ask the reason.
Yes your daughter can contact the ED institution and ask to be moved to the RD group, students do that every year. Once in the RD pool, she will be considered along with the other RD applicants.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a student changing their mind.
The problem is that your stated: “she applied EA to her #1 choice… and ED to her second choice. we were hoping to hear from EA school already and then change ED to RD”
From your statement, it seems like your daughter knew all along her ED school was the #2 choice. Sounds like lots of poor advice from the GC if they knew the ED school wasn’t the first choice.
At this point, what’s done is done, and hopefully if you have other kids in the pipeline, there is a clearer understanding about the intention of ED.
I truly hope that it works out for your daughter and she lands at a school that will make her happy!
This takes the cake. OP, your daughter is special to you, but not to an admissions officer. There is zero reason why an admission office should give you a decision before telling anyone else theirs, and doing it the way they choose to do it.
Your daughter is not the only one doing this. It’s not illegal. It’s not even wrong. What it is, though, is gaming. You are playing a game and it might not work in your daughter’s favor. You chose this strategy. It might not work. This is the chance you take, but you don’t get to bypass the rules of the game.
I am not an AO nor do I work in admissions. If I did though, and a parent called and asked me for the decision early, for literally no good reason, here are some thoughts that might enter my mind:
They must think they are special.
Is she serious?
I have half a mind to tell the AO about this because the parent is out of order. But I won’t say anything, because it’s not the kid’s fault that the parent called us. At least, I hope it isn’t.
There is a decision release day for a reason.
Patience is a virtue.
Sorry, you have to wait.
SMH
Of course, you can call the AO and ask for a decision. Should you? That’s a different story.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
OK, I think the OP has received enough feedback. I’m invoking the mercy rule and closing, since it’s just become a savage beatdown.