I received a PM from a student who is considering moving his app from ED to RD because he is anticipating some financial changes in the new year that might impact his ability to commit ED to a school. His app is ready to go and the deadline is TODAY (Nov 1st). He is nervous that moving his application from ED to RD will flag it to the school and hurt his chances because he does really want to attend this school, if possible.
I’d love to hear what everyone thinks about this! What would you do?
It’s my understanding that you are not under any obligation to attend an ED school if you can’t afford it. I would not change from ED. It definitely will impact his or her chances.
Depending on the university, RD will have a lower acceptance rate than ED. The moving the application will not result in an incremental reduction in chances.
One can decline an ED offer if the FA does not make the option affordable. While no FA offer can be negotiated based on what might happen, if financial circumstances change for Y2, colleges are generally receptive to reviewing the numbers based on new circumstances, particularly if the application itself fell under Need-Blind.
If the student hasn’t submitted the app, I don’t think there’s much of an issue changing to RD.
It is true their chances might be higher in the ED round at some schools.
Are the parents involved in this decision? What do they think? If there is a good chance the school won’t be affordable after the coming financial changes, I would probably not apply ED. What’s the point of wasting that opportunity, just to pull out if they did get accepted?
I’ve seen some colleges saying that denying admission to an ED acceptance will hurt your chances at other schools because the schools communicate with each other. Don’t know if this is true are not but you can read about it if you search up “What Happens to Students Who Back Out of Early Decision Offers” on US News.
Schools do NOT communicate admission decisions with each other.
Source please. And “I heard from a friend” or " I saw it on Reddit" don’t count. Because I highly, highly doubt any college has said that.
I have no FA experience personally, but I think you can decline an ED acceptance only if the FA does not match the NPC? (vs it not being affordable)
Example: NPC at an $80k/year school shows $50k but you can only afford to pay $35k. The school grants $30k in aid. I don’t think that allows you to break the contract.
Perhaps if there’s an actual material change in finances, there’s a way to let the school know? Vs an anticipated future change.
This is the problem with “Asking for a friend” posts, because all the info was not initially given.
Yes, the applicant needs to do due diligence and run the NPC. However, there are many stated factors which can make the NPC unreliable. Whether these apply in this situation is unknown.
The applicant and parents will need to have a conversation with the FA office after receiving the offer, so it’s not at simple as writing an email saying, “Not attending; too expensive.” But at the end of the day, the college won’t force the student to attend.
I highly highly doubt that communicating anticipated future changes will impact an FA offer for Y1, but as I said earlier, it may impact future years if and when these changes occur.
Not true.
It appears he hasn’t submitted yet, so nothing is going to be flagged to the college.
It’s not so much he is hurting his chances by applying RD, but rather, that he improves his chances by applying ED.
I’d apply ED. As others have mentioned, if he can’t afford it, he can’t afford it. But he should also understand that some need aware colleges might reject him simply because he is applying for FA. This is more likely for students on the border between being accepted or denied. Need aware colleges are more likely to admit the students they REALLY want.
Perhaps some of these answers will help.
Having said that…at some colleges, the %age of admitted students is much higher in the ED round. But if you can’t afford to attend…getting accepted will do you no good.
If finances are an issue, perhaps it’s better to be able to compare net costs amongst multiple offers…which you can’t do with an ED acceptance.
I think OP who reached out to @CC_Joy is showing maturity and should move his app.
He is unsure of the finances - and that is reason alone to not ED (at most schools). Some say - if the finances don’t work out you can leave - almost promoting that (I think NYU is one) but its intent is binding and OP has doubt that they can go in binding.
Yes, at most schools, ED has higher acceptance rates. But those rates are also inflated by certain classes such as athletes applying early.
Some kids might get into a school ED but not RD. Other kids will get into both.
We don’t know the student’s stats, school applying to or anything else. We don’t know if it’s need blind or aware. We don’t know the upcoming financial changes.
But the fact that they have financial doubt or concern - is alone - reason enough to switch to RD. Until a few years ago, ED meant binding - and schools would pressure you to hold. I saw one school’s stats - and less than 1% of kids admitted ED did not attend. It was like 492 of 495.
Today it seems that the “binding” part of ED has been lessened. But I don’t think it should be - and I don’t think this student should apply ED.
Good luck to the student.
From Forbes:
While it might seem far-fetched that colleges will communicate with each other, it is a real possibility. In 2016, Katharine Fretwell, dean of admission and financial aid at Amherst College, said that her college and about 30 other colleges, share lists of students admitted through early decision. She said that she is likely also to share names of students who were accepted during ED, but choose not to attend to due to financial aid or other reasons. Currently, the Justice Department is investigating this issue of colleges sharing information.
This is NOT what Fretwell is referring to. She is referring to the practice of students (aided and abetted by their guidance counselors) who apply to more than one ED or REA college when the colleges specifically note what is and isn’t allowed. Apply to an REA college AND your own flagship U for a special scholarship program? Check to see if it’s permitted. Apply to Yale, Princeton, JHU and Northwestern early (Yale and Princeton are the Hail Mary’s, JHU and Northwestern are the more “realistic” but the kid doesn’t want to “lose” the alleged early advantage at Yale and Princeton)?? No, that’s not allowed.
This is NOT what the OP is describing. Colleges will not know that a kid “intended” to apply early but changed his application- just apply RD. And colleges will emphatically NOT share, or know- that the reason for the change was financial.
^^^^ this
I am of the opinion that ED contracts should be taken seriously, rather than viewed as “I’ll give it a try and if I can’t afford it I’ll skip out. They can’t force me to enroll”.
So, 2 things:
1/ [quote=“simon3, post:14, topic:3621606”]Katharine Fretwell, dean of admission and financial aid at Amherst College, said[/quote]
then-dean
2/ Nowhere did she say, “and that denying admission to an ED acceptance will hurt your chances at other schools” which was the problematic part of the post for me, not that some colleges share lists. What one chooses to infer from her statement is different from saying she said
Colleges can see in the common app that the student added them to their list and the application round they selected….this is prior to applying.
But I don’t think that tagging a school as ED then changing it before applying will hurt the student.
I’d love evidence that ANY college in the US has enough resources to do a forensic dive on when/where/what they got added to the list.
I typed which article I read that from on US News. They have cited representatives from Williams College, Amherst College, and Virginia Tech. Again, I don’t know if it’s accurate or not and but I didn’t “read it on reddit”.