First, I apologize if you’ve read this question. I am reposting under a more specific title.
Did anyone apply to a school RD and then receive an email from that school after their (November 1st) ED deadline offering to extend the ED deadline?
My son received an extension of EA/ED deadline from a school. He sent an email to the college admission office before EA deadline and said that he can’t finish the application before the deadline and so, will apply RD. Two days after the EA deadline passed, he received an email from the school saying the deadline has been extended to 11/10. The email sounded like they are extending it for everyone, so not sure if it’s just a co-incidence or not. The posted deadline on the school’s web site never changed, still saying “11/1”.
Thank you, @bogeyorpar , and good luck to your son! 
A few years back, a friend’s S experienced this. He decided to change his application to ED after the offer, and then was deferred (and eventually either rejected or waitlisted, don’t remember which now).
Thank you, @college_query . Makes one wonder what the point is in extending this offer to students. Why bother? Why not just leave the kid in RD?
Hm. Two things-
(1) I wonder if it’s a little test to see how much your D really likes the school. She obviously applied RD originally so it makes sense that there are reasons that she (or your family) decided to go RD instead of ED. Maybe the school wanted to see how much interest she would show if she chose to move up to ED. Yield is very important to some schools.
(2) Our S19 will only be applying RD and we are sticking with that. Your situation makes me feel like I don’t want him submitting his RD apps too early for fear they would offer ED and he would say no. I almost feel like that could be seen as a negative if you are specifically asked to move it and you decline.
Good luck to your D. I hope it works out!!
My son applied EA to a school and received an email about applying ED. Another school he had visited but didn’t apply emailed him about extending ED and consider applying. In the first case, he emailed the school (one of his top choices) and explained his strong interest, but would be keeping his application EA. He received an email back thanking him for his response and understood. The wording seemed to be positive not negative. For some schools it may be a way to try and get their ED applicants up? For my son it was a way to show continued interest. Can let you know how it works out…good luck!
@homerdog , I never thought about it that way (a test). I guess you could be right. I wonder if schools would bother with that? I will think about that when it comes time for S20. Btw… This is a very selective school (under a 12% admissions rate) so I’m not sure how that factors in.
@jcmom716 , interesting feedback about the extensions. This school does not offer EA so it seemed unusual to have this extension offered, but I guess it’s in the best interest of any school to try to increase their number of ED applicants. It’s nice that your son had the opportunity to show continued interest! Yes, keep us posted!
@college_query , any chance you remember and/or care to share what school that was? Someone mentioned UChicago did this (but the kid was accepted after switching to ED).
The school my friend’s S had the experience with was Colorado College.
Thank you, @college_query . I hope your friend’s son ended up at a great school regardless of that rollercoaster with Colorado.
Update: After accepting the invitation to switch her application status from RD to ED, my daughter was accepted to her ED school this week. Thanks, everyone!
Congrats!!
This actually happened twice for me this year with two schools, Ohio Wesleyan University and Goucher College. I was supposed to apply EA for them both but the workload at my school was really tough (I’m in the full IB programme) and so I was just going to RD for them both (since I would have time now, during winter break). After this though, I got a text message from Goucher (like last week) that said they would still accept it up until a 3 days from the app deadline, and that same weekend, Ohio Wesleyan emailed me that even though it would be late I could get a decision from them by the holidays. As you expected, I applied with these deadlines (and it was okay because the Common Apps went through even though I still had EA checked)
I like the theory that it’s interest, but do schools typically do that for a lot of people? it seems like a waste of time to only check for certain students, unless it’s random or they didn’t get enough apps to fill the class…
I think they sent the notice to anyone who checked “EA” but didn’t submit on time. The kids who actually act on the notice shows interest and self-selection, so they have a higher rate of admission.