<p><a href=“http://admissions.syr.edu/apply/enrollmentoptions/[/url]”>http://admissions.syr.edu/apply/enrollmentoptions/</a></p>
<p>Thumper: It says “typically prior to January first” not “early January”</p>
<p>Thumper</p>
<p>“ED candidates are typically notified of their admission decision prior to January 1.”</p>
<p>Therefore the “clearly stated” deadline for this college is January 1st. The correct way to proceed is for the candidate is to have an ED II application prepared and then submit it online at 11:50 pm on January 1st.</p>
<p>Soze from your link (which takes you to “enrollment options”…look on the right side and click on “Early Decision”. </p>
<p>It clearly states there that the deadlines have been moved and EDI candidates will be notified by “early January”.</p>
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<p>I think that in most years, your son would not be able to change to ED II after the deadline.</p>
<p>But this is not just any year. This is the year of the massive Common App screwup. If your son’s ED I school was a Common App school, the problems with the Common App might have accounted for their late notifications.</p>
<p>Given the special situation this year, I don’t think the prospective ED II school would be offended by the special request (especially if the e-mail includes a sentence like “Unfortunately, I didn’t hear from my ED I school until January X – I guess they were late processing their ED applications because of the Common App problems.”). The prospective ED II school might not be able to accommodate a late switch from RD to ED II status, but I don’t think they would be offended that he asked. Lots of people are having problems this year, and colleges must be receiving lots of special requests.</p>
<p>Thumper: You can’t move the goalposts after the game has started.</p>
<p>Thumper</p>
<p>If a college does not have a clearly stated deadline for notification of acceptance then the common app ED agreement cannot be enforced.</p>
<p>IF a college notifies a candidate of admissions after the “clearly stated deadline” then the ED agreement is no longer in force.</p>
<p>The responsibility for these two things rest solely with the college. </p>
<p>Note that January 1st is early January.</p>
<p>Moving a deadline after an ED application has been submitted is not a “clearly stated deadline”.</p>
<p>Then sputter with Syracuse University. or get some other applications submitted RD. it sounds like you are not happy with this university and the ED deadline change they needed to make. </p>
<p>Nothing is preventing your son from applying to other schools RD. nothing. Actually, that could have been happening at any point in time.</p>
<p>P.S. January 7 is also “early January”.</p>
<p>Thumper: January 7th is not “prior to the first of January” nor is it “by Christmas” the first is what was (and still is) on the website at the time my son submitted. The second we were told by the AD at an info session in November.</p>
<p>Your son could withdraw his ED application. Then he would be free to submit an EDII application. </p>
<p>I think he should just submit the whole raft of RD applications. I am uneasy at the thought of having to debate which college to apply to EDII, given all the advantages applicants give up for an early decision. It really should be the clear favorite. If he has to debate the colleges’ merits, it would make more sense not to apply to any EDII.</p>
<p>I do think it is bad style on the part of the college to have notified everyone else before the winter break, leaving only one student in limbo. In your shoes, I would be furious too. However, submitting two ED applications at the same time is a good way not to be admitted to either college, as well as being explicitly against the rules.</p>
<p>Periwinkle: Don’t “the rules” apply to the colleges as well?</p>
<p>Thumper</p>
<p>January 1st is a clear deadline.</p>
<p>“Early January” is not.</p>
<p>Because it appears that Syracuse will not be compliant with the common app ED agreement by missing the January 1st deadline then the OP should be free to apply to another school ED II on January 1st.</p>
<p>There is a possible complication with doing this. If the OP does not withdraw the ED II application prior to being notified of acceptance then they would be expected to go to the ED II school.</p>
<p>There is no need to withdraw the application. If Syracuse wants to guarantee the applicant will accept the admission offer they simply need to notify the applicant prior to January 1st.</p>
<p>As you’ve cited the college in question’s deadlines for notifications, they’re still abiding by their stated deadlines. </p>
<p>I do think they should have someone in the admissions office who could handle calls from applicants in your son’s position, especially if everything was delayed by the problems with the Common App. </p>
<p>However, in order to send off an EDII application, doesn’t your son’s counselor need to sign off on it? As most schools shut down for break, EDII applications have to be ready to go before the high school shuts down for break. So any notification date after mid-December makes EDII impossible. </p>
<p>Given that it is such a strange year, it might be possible to contact the EDII school’s admissions office, and explain the situation. “I haven’t heard from the EDI school, can I convert my RD application to EDII slightly after your posted deadline?” After all, the intent of EDII is to give students who have been deferred or rejected from their EDI schools a chance to choose a new binding favorite. So, the EDII college might be more flexible than the EDI school. Your son can’t be the only student in this situation.</p>
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<p>Actually just the opposite. The stated deadline was January 1st, which they will miss.</p>
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But, soze, to continue the sports metaphor, I think the problem you have is that *you *can’t both play in the game and be the referee. I don’t think you can unilaterally decide the ED I agreement is no longer in force. And I think you’re taking a huge risk if you decide your son can just ignore it, no matter what this college (and others) may think.</p>
<p>I also think you’ve got a huge logistical barrier with the counselor’s form the an ED II application. If I were the counselor, I wouldn’t sign it until I saw written confirmation that the ED I agreement was no longer in effect.</p>
<p>But, you know, this is America. Your family can make their own decisions. Knowing only what I’ve read in this thread, I would have my kid contact the ED I college to try to have the application moved from ED I to RD, and have him submit RD applications.</p>
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<p>But if the student isn’t going to submit any ED II applications, there’s no benefit in switching the ED I application to RD (unless the student or parents are now so uncomfortable with the ED I school that they don’t want to have a binding commitment to it if he is accepted).</p>
<p>Marian, after this fiasco, I wouldn’t want my kid bound to that university. JMO, of course.</p>
<p>I’ve known student to change ED to RD before they heard the results. I don’t think it should be an issue. I think that’s easier to do than the reverse.</p>
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<p>I tend to agree with you. And yet – perhaps it’s important to remember that the admissions office and the rest of the university have little to do with each other.</p>
<p>It’s like my daughter’s apartment complex. When she was renting her apartment, the leasing office screwed up things right and left. They even assigned her to an apartment that wasn’t going to be vacated in time. They had to amend her lease and put her in a different apartment in a different building.</p>
<p>Based on her experience with the leasing office, I thought she would have endless trouble after she moved in. But this was not the case. Questions have been answered courteously, repairs have been made promptly, the public areas are impeccably maintained, and not a single rent check has gone astray. Evidently, only the leasing office is incompetent. Everybody else is OK.</p>
<p>Similarly, at this university, perhaps only the admissions office is incompetent.</p>
<p>It gets worse. Apparently, the university has created an EDII program, due to the Common App problems. [url=<a href=“http://admissions.syr.edu/apply/earlydecision/]Admissions[/url”>http://admissions.syr.edu/apply/earlydecision/]Admissions[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Applicants who apply EDII by January 1 will hear by February 1. </p>
<p>So, it sounds as if they’ll be notifying EDI and EDII candidates throughout January.</p>
<p>I’m guessing what they are really doing is holding back some ED 1 notifications to see if they get better candidates in ED 2. </p>
<p>Not cool.</p>