So lets say you got in the ED school. But the other schools you already applied send you acceptances. Can you just ignore the other schools and pretend nothing happen and go to your ED school? or do you have to this special withdrawing system?
You will need to 1) decline admission at the other schools that offered, saying you have an ED acceptance 2) withdraw application at any other colleges you applied to. You could possibly endanger your ED acceptance if you do not follow these steps.
“special withdrawing system?” Nope. They are called “emailing” or that rarely used app, “telephoning”
For many schools, when you log into the portal there is a “withdraw my application button”.
Keep track of whether you get acknowledgements. My D got into her ED1 school and emailed the other 7 schools she had applied to. Most of them responded to her email and acknowledged her withdrawal. Some schools had an option on the portal but most did not. Some didn’t respond. USC proved especially difficult to withdraw from. After emailing and telephoning (but not reaching a person), she finally contacted her local rep who took care of it.
As soon as one receives an ED acceptance (well, a couple days would be fine), he is supposed to notify (politely, would be nice) ALL the schools where he has applications pending that he is withdrawing his candidacy. This is essentially mandatory. This should have been done VERY soon after that ED acceptance was received! Failure to do so is not fair to fellow applicants, it can anger the institutions, it can tarnish your secondary school’s reputation with universities, and it has been suggested that some colleges share this sort of infomation.
@TopTier well that’s not completely necessary if you don’t have your financial aid packet yet. But as soon as it is determined that your financial aid (can be based on the estimate) is sufficient, you are supposed to withdraw from all other schools.
@guineagirl96: I respectfully disagree. That’s why EA applicants should/must thoroughly and accurately complete the university’s NPC. With that result – and schools virtually always meet or exceed the NPC’s FA estimate in their formal package (in fact, it’s binding in some situations) – the student is able to do just what I suggested.
@TopTier, a student can get out of an ED agreement if financial aid is not sufficient. There is no guarantee the NPC will be perfect, you can’t expect someone with a low EFC to commit to a school without seeing how much they will pay. The disadvantage is that ED applicants cannot compare packages as they must accept or decline their ED offer before seeing other school’s offers.
Have to disagree with post #7, it was not our experience.
NPCs were thousands of dollars too generous for both colleges my son was accepted to and got FA packages from. You cannot seriously think that someone should base whether they can afford a college or not on the NPC.
It is extremely risky to consider the NPC as reliable.
The wording for my son’s ED school is that the FA must be “satisfactory”. It’s not, but he really wants to go there.
As for having to accept before you see other FA offers, that’s assuming the student did not apply EA anywhere. My son had two FA offers, so at least we knew that although the ED school was thousands of dollars higher than their NPC, the EA school was much worse. Neither predicted accurately by NPCs, and the difference between them was wider as well.
@TopTier I have to disagree with your statement, my classmate got in UPenn ED and she was unsure of the NPC being accurate because there is a disclaimer saying these are estimated not final. In other words, it’s the average award amount for that EFC. She called admissions and explained her situation, the AO she spoke to laughed when she asked if other colleges notified if a student hasn’t told them that they were accepted to UPenn. The AO had jokingly said “you think there is a giant college group chat where we figure out what colleges you apply to and get accepted to as ED… Taking your application out of their pool helps others, keeping it in and getting accepted but you don’t respond by 5/1, they just take you out of the accepted and put you down for wait list. They use this system for accountability.”
Basically it would be unhelpful for you not to decline after 5/1.
@jamesjunkers (re post #8): Which is precisely why he/they should not apply ED. If an individual is not certain a specific institution is his first choice, with no doubt or equivocation, AND if he is not sure the financial arrangements are viable, he simply should apply RD, not ED.
I wholeheartedly agree with TopTier on this one. I see a trend on CC of students applying ED and then trying to “play the field.” If you are not sure on finances and do not want to be locked in then apply RD. In my opinion, the strongest students apply EA or RD specifically to retain control. ED is a concession of control in return for an edge.
The OP here was admitted ED over 2 months ago and it is long past time that they honor the agreement that their guardian and guidance counselor signed with the ED to withdraw from other schools. I am surprised the guidance counselor has not forced the issue already, given that OP says the high school sends a lot of kids to prestigious schools and would thus be concerned about protecting its good reputation.
I do understand some personal situations will not perfectly fit the NPC calculators. So ED recipients can decline the offer and move on or try to negotiate. But it should not be an issue 2 months after notification. Especially in this case where OP has posted elsewhere that finances were not an issue and did not apply for financial aid.
Part of the college application process is being professional and declining offers that you cannot use in a timely manner so some other student can benefit. Not sweating the detail does not reflect well on the ED student. All it takes is a quick, polite email.
If you want to be able to compare financial aid packages then you apply EA and RD.
The recent trend to colleges taking so many more ED, however, is part of the problem. People see colleges gaming the Yield figures to enhance their Ranking and that the ED edge is real. But an ED applicant knows what they are signing up for. Or should. Your ability to compare FA packages is slim. If you don’t accept those slanted terms then don’t apply ED.
@2plus2ition, how do you know OP was admitted ED? S/he never specified this wasn’t a hypothetical scenario. If s/he was admitted ED and didn’t withdraw apps, then yes, there is a ptoblem