<p>My son has been accepted Early Action (not Decision) to a college which, despite some regular action apps still being out there, he has decided he definitely wants to go to. The benefit to sending in a deposit now would be preferential dorm selection, which could make a big difference. Question is, if you give a deposit to an EA school, and then change your mind (which we sincerely doubt he will, but just in case there is something earth shaking in the regular application replies), is there any problem getting out of it--aside from the deposit being non-refundable? You are not making a legal, binding commitment like an Early Decision School--or are you?</p>
<p>Last year, a good friend of mine made a deposit for Johns Hopkins because the May 1st deadline was coming up. He was then accepted off the waitlist to the University of Chicago, which was his first choice school all along. He had no problem in getting out of going to Hopkins, with the exception, of course, of his lost deposit.</p>
<p>In general, no. You just lose your deposit. The times that I see a problem is when a student can't decide between two colleges and the parent puts down a deposit on both to buy some time. This generally happens in May. Some colleges specify that if you do this and they find out, they will rescind the acceptance.</p>
<p>You just lose your deposit.</p>