There could be some cases where a no-FA ED applicant could have affordability problems after an ED admission, such as the parents getting divorced and giving what was to be the kid’s college money to their divorce lawyers’ kids.
This is why we did not consider ED.
We do not show financial need under formulas, but we are also not willing to pay full price without merit aid at higher-priced schools because we need our savings for other things. It did not seem ethical to apply ED and withdraw based on inadequate financial aid based on our personal budget dictating that we needed more non-need-based merit.
For us, that took ED off the table.
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I don’t find it ethical, but I don’t find quite a few things(don’t want to mention them and get off topic) ethical that a lot of parents do here in my HS to further their ambitions. I try to stay sanguine when I hear these things, but OTOH am conscious that these kids might well be taking my kid’s spot. I try to comfort myself by saying that it matters WAY less than people think where you got to school for your undergrad. I have family members who are very, if not exceptionally successful(all with doctorates)who went to some very ordinary schools that would be sniffed at by many here.
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Don’t confuse my tro-ll with me not following the rules myself… this is not a game I would care to play even if my child or I was competitive for this.
I’m just shedding some light on this conversation that seems a little naive about a concern that seems like a made up problem caused by schools need to keep low admissions and high yield for external ranking entities. The title and conversation seems to convey that the “rules” don’t seem enforceable, thus low risk high reward.
I would gladly pay money to watch them take down the “cheaters.” If would expose a lot of stuff. I just don’t see this being worthy of a 60 min investigation that the population would give a hoot about or the schools themselves want exposed.
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One of D’s high school classmates did a similar thing (they are both college juniors now, so this was a while ago). The valedictorian of my D’s high school got into Columbia ED, but did not withdraw her EA app to UNC or her RD apps to Dartmouth, Penn, and Duke because she “just wanted to see” since she was going to turn them down anyway and Columbia would supposedly have “no way” of knowing if she failed to withdraw her other apps . Financial aid was not a concern for her (she did not apply for financial aid) and had no doubts that she would enroll at Columbia. Just wanted an ego boost, even at the potential expense of other applicants.
Disgusting
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If schools cared, they’d just eliminate ED and make it ‘fair’ for everyone. Schools don’t care and want the advantage for themselves too - to get the best students or best athletes.
Schools like the ED system. Students like the ED system. Nothing is going to change.
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Shame on her GC for sending mid-year reports to the RD schools.
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I’m curious about how GCs know that students are accepted ED. Do the colleges send a notification to high schools after they accept an ED applicant, or is it the responsibility of the student to inform the high school. I understand that at some high schools there are relationships between GCs and selective colleges, but at many public schools this isn’t the case - especially at those that rarely send kids to selective colleges. I’m not saying it’s right, but it seems it would be pretty easy for a student to just not tell them.
That was the case at my HS, but may not be universal
I don’t think that is the case everywhere. My son’s college counselor didn’t know about his ED acceptance until he told her about it. Our college office constantly sends out emails reminding the kids to forward copies of their acceptance letters and scholarship awards.
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Generally colleges don’t notify GCs about acceptances…although they may at schools where there is a close relationship (which is not the norm).
Someone mentioned about midterm reports above too…it’s often an admin in the GC office sending those out and if the student hasn’t communicated any acceptances the admin just completes their tasks. More colleges are also allowing applicants to upload their semester grade report, no GC/dept involvement necessary.
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That is not the case at my D’s (public) HS. The GCs don’t get notified of admits other than by the students themselves. This also means our Naviance data is not all that reliable because it’s all based on self reporting.
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At our HS students have to notify their GCs about admissions decisions (including ED). Our GCs only know where kids are applying (and whether it is ED, EA etc) - not the outcomes. A lot of kids do report back but it isn’t captured 100%.
the GC’s know which kids are applying ED and should certainly know when the ED decisions are released. I don’t think it is asking too much of them to keep a little spreadsheet and reach out to these kids after the decision days to remind them (maybe several times) to withdraw their other applications. this seems to me to be within the bounds of their job descriptions, as it impacts the applications of their other students. I’m not sure why we are protecting the GC’s so much. Yes, they are very busy this time of year. that’s the job.
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I agree, it’s their job and they should be doing due diligence, keeping track of apps and status, providing advice, etc. - I’m just saying that at a lot of public schools they aren’t really doing all that.
That’s not a defense of GCs, merely an observation. And I’m sure there are many excellent GCs out there as well doing an amazing job.
Is it really their job to do that? I have never seen a job description for a GC so I wonder. Our GCs meet with students once in senior year to make sure they are on track to apply to colleges that are reasonable and that’s that. They don’t track apps and status. Neither of my kids got any advice from their GC. What do the GCs do? Well there is scheduling for kids in the other three years of high school plus incoming 8th graders, dealing with kids that are failing, dropping out, have difficult family situations, etc. My impression is that they are pretty busy and if your kid isn’t in need for some reason, they get ignored.
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The problem is that the Average student:counselor ratio is 470:1, and nearly 20% of students don’t have access to a school counselor. Part of this is due to budget reasons, part because many guidance counselors also have social emotional counseling responsibilities, and that’s where they must necessarily focus their time.
https://www.nacacnet.org/globalassets/documents/publications/research/researchstateratiosreport.pdf
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Maybe in theory, but a typical counselor with over 100 students per grade level (over 400 total) and other types of counseling besides college applications may have more difficulty keeping track of such things than a prep school’s dedicated college counseling staff.
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I was told that exactly. They have to deal with kids who need things. I actually insisted on one meeting with my D’s counselor, and it was 100% useless. I’m glad they are available for kids that need more counseling, but I felt I had zero support from them. This was a public HS in a southern state that didn’t encourage kids outside of the big D1 football state schools. My kid went to Amherst, and the talk around school was that why were they going to a small, community college type school in the Northeast. 
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