<p>It’s not uniformly thrown out as you wrongly suggest. A central admissions office pre-screens applications for internal minimum GPAs/Scores before it even gets to the professors (who ultimately decide the admits and fellowship decisions</p>
<p>I realize that. But, that’s not the undergrad office. And I doubt that the grad admission office is looking up whether the person ED’d 4 years earlier and had to decline for financial reasons. And even if they did, so what? The decision at that point was largely driven by the parents not being able to pay. if this is a funded PhD program, then that wouldn’t be an issue. </p>
<p>Grad schools want the best, and if a grad applicant had to decline an ED offer 4 years earlier because of affordability, who cares?</p>