<p>Out of curiosity, is it possible to cancel early decision to one school, and apply early decision for another school before any results are out?</p>
<p>The school would have to let you, since you signed the early decision agreement, and I doubt they'd bother to.</p>
<p>Ummmm... why are you asking here? Shouldn't you be in contact with the school you applied to? I mean there are some sharp folks on CC but I know of no soothsayers.</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant it more as a hypothetical question.</p>
<p>You can decide not to do ED if it's early in the game - for example, you've already sent your application but the official deadline hasn't passed yet, and you ask to be reclassified as an RD applicant. As long as they haven't started reading applications yet, you're okay.</p>
<p>If you want to back out after the deadline, the college won't stop you - they can't force you to enroll, and they don't want students who don't want to be there. What they will do is spread the word that you broke an ED agreement. That's something that other schools will take very seriously, especially if you then apply ED2 somewhere else. You destroy your credibility with admissions committees. That's why you shouldn't apply ED unless you're 100% sure.</p>
<p>I think it would be a good idea to talk to your high school guidance counselor before asking the college in question. There could be more than just your situation at stake. </p>
<p>Can you show that the ED school's financial aid offer was insufficient to allow you to attend? Is the other school you are interested in an in-state public that would certainly be more affordable? In that case, you can very probably get out of the commitment that you signed when applying ED with no hard feelings and no harm done to your guidance counselor's reputation or to the chances of others from your high school being accepted in the future by your ED school.</p>
<p>If you are having buyer's remorse or maybe changed your mind because you got an unexpected acceptance from an equally expensive reach school, it could get messy. Some schools are said to share lists of accepted ED students with their competitors with the expectation that the non-ED school will rescind any offers made to people on the list. Guidance counselors have to promise to explain the pros and cons of ED to you when you apply and they can be unofficially blacklisted at a college when a student backs out of an ED admission without a reason that the school will accept. Your high school may find it difficult to get anyone else admitted there for a few years.</p>
<p>Certainly a school cannot force you to attend, but they can refuse to return any deposit money that they have received and make life difficult by taking the steps mentioned above.</p>
<p>UGH! Or did you learn something about them that changed your mind? Some will let you reclassify...but you are "marked". If you want out and simply DONT want to go there, period, I see no reason they would stop you....but DONT wait until after decisions are out...and it may already be too late.</p>
<p>And I dont know many ED application deadlines that have not already passed....a very few EDII are still open. But this reeks of an indecisive person or confused person. Why do you want to change from School A to School B?</p>
<p>There are a number of threads on withdrawing ED. In short it can be done. However, it is not going to be easy, it does not create a lot of good will on the part of your GC, the world of admissions is a really small one. Colleges do share ED lists.</p>
<p>The OP asked about changing it before results are out. That's a very different scenario than the one in which you've already been accepted. </p>
<p>I believe that most schools will permit that. Of course, individual schools might not.</p>