Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:58     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:Or you could be like my sister in law who spent every last dollar they made and now because BIL was laid off their kids will get a full ride. Didn’t save a dollar and were rewarded.


You too could choose to take that risk.

I don't recommend it but it's an available choice for everyone.

Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:57     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Those schools should switch to common app. Common app doesn’t allow more than one ED.

I love ED and hope it lasts at least long enough for my second child! It’s a great option for kids not wanting to play the field. DD had a very realistic first choice and wanted an answer as soon as possible. It was great.


Oh, Common App is very easy to get around. You apply apply EA via the Common App and then just switch your "Decision Round" to ED in the school's portal. As you long as you can get a school counselor to sign the form, there is zero limit to the number of schools you can apply ED to.


Well that’s on the counselor then. I highly doubt a public school counselor such as our would allow it. Regardless, we used ED as intended and it worked beautifully for us. I’m so tired of upper middle class whiners claiming that ED won’t let them shop merit aid. Boo-effing-hoo. Kids with true need do fine in ED. Use the NPC and apply places you can afford. You’ll live.


+1

Why do some parents still not get this? T20 schools give little to no merit aid. Period. Use the NPC. If you cannot afford, move on and focus on public in-state universities or the schools that do give merit aid.

We ran this calculator when DS was born and now facing the actual cost, it turned out to be pretty damn accurate. We knew that if we wanted him to be able to attend an Ivy, we would need to save agressively. There is no way we would be able to afford a private college on our salaries if we had not planned ahead and saved. I have zero patience for upper-middle class parents who claim they are blindsided by the cost of college and they start whining about ED being unfair. https://vanguardcollege.ssnc.cloud/csp.php


+1

If you can not afford a school with ED, its package wont change for EA/RD. You still wont be able to afford it.
What they really want is "If my kid doesn't get a great merit package to something in the 20-50 range at a school we deem good enough, then I will figure out how to pay for the T20, but we want the opportunity to wait and decide".
Otherwise, they still wont be going to the ED choice.

ED works well. You run the NPC and decide "yes I can affrod it" or "no I cannot afford it"
Then apply accordingly. Everyone can do ED if they want. But merit ain't coming from most T25 schools if that is what you need.

Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:43     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We know someone that was accepted ED to a top 20 school but backed out when accepted to a service academy. Told the school his parents were getting a divorce and could no longer afford it, but given the excruciating process of getting admission to a service academy, I’m assuming the divorce was just the excuse.

No repercussions against his HS, that I’m aware of.


Oh, this will be allowed. The Service Academies do not offer ED or EA or SCEA. It's RD for everyone. Our DC went through the West Point application process - which a very long and demanding process. But also applied ED to a T20 private university. The ED admission came before the West Point decision. So DC followed the rules, and removed the West Point app, and attends the private university. However, there was an understanding that you can prioritize a Service Academy appointment over an ED acceptance. Absolutely no university is suing anyone for choosing West Point or Annapolis or the Air Force Academy. Especially if there is a change in financial circumstances - such as a divorce - which is very legitimate reason to defer from an ED commitment for any student. In the example above, nobody did anything wrong.



AI says otherwise:

Yes, a service academy will likely rescind an offer of admission if it discovers a student broke a binding Early Decision (ED) agreement with another college. This is considered a serious breach of ethics and integrity that service academies expect from candidates.


And my Uncle Sheldon says service academies won’t rescind admission. Just as credible.

Good god, people, use the brains you were born with. AI doesn’t “know” anything! It’s just slopping together answers from stuff it finds on the internet—like DCUM! No one here knows what service academies will do in this scenario, but now the speculation on this thread will be part of what AI regurgitates.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:41     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:Here is the thing that seems like people are willfully ignoring in the ED argument. I agree BC does not offer merit ED, nor do they really offer merit in RD. That is also true of HYP and many other T20 schools. If you can’t afford it in ED you can’t afford it.

But there are a significant number of schools below that tier that do offer real merit aid, and also have an ED round. That feels like the spot where wealthy families have a distinct advantage to donut hole families. It is at that tier that it starts to feel like the benefit is designed toward the wealthy.


We aren’t ignoring it. We just don’t agree this is the issue that you think it is.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:38     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Here is the thing that seems like people are willfully ignoring in the ED argument. I agree BC does not offer merit ED, nor do they really offer merit in RD. That is also true of HYP and many other T20 schools. If you can’t afford it in ED you can’t afford it.

But there are a significant number of schools below that tier that do offer real merit aid, and also have an ED round. That feels like the spot where wealthy families have a distinct advantage to donut hole families. It is at that tier that it starts to feel like the benefit is designed toward the wealthy.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:31     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
An analogy of ED is utility price hedging. You can choose to sign up to enjoy a uniform, slightly lower electricity price for the next 2 years. You don't have to commit, but if you do you shouldn't complain that the electricity price could be lower later. It's admittedly a gamble, it's legal, and no one is forced to do that.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:30     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:ED is extremely popular in Virginia with all of the great public options. Extremely popular.


It's a part of the game that Ivies invented.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:28     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
ED is extremely popular in Virginia with all of the great public options. Extremely popular.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:28     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:That’s it. ED is for kids who have a clear first choice. Some kids know that by September if their senior year. Hopefully they have visited the school, researched financial aid, etc. by then. The kids who are less than 100% committed to any choice should not ED, just because they’re chasing prestige and want to avoid the unpredictability of the RD lottery. It may be hard to have to wait a few more months for a college decision. It harder to have buyer’s remorse and be enrolled at a college chosen for the wrong reasons.


THIS.

My firstborn did not ED. He just did not have a clear front runner. He did excellent RD- some T10s/20s/Ivy. This allowed him to fully compare options and not have a “what if”, buyer’s remorse.

My current senior has a clear cut #1 and applied ED. He has visited numerous times and knows the school inside and out.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:25     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:Some high schools are playing fast and loose with ED agreements. They knowingly allow students to apply ED to multiple schools if the parents press them.

Things must have been pretty crazy at Colorado Adademy for this to happen. I bet stories will start to come out.


+1,000,000

It’s not fair to the students and high schools that play by the rules.

Our Catholic HS is incredibly strict and parents and kids have to come in and sign the ED agreement. The school overseas the pulling of other applications once an ED acceptance comes in.

Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:25     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can hold two thoughts in my head at once. I can recognize that people should honor their ED commitments, and I can recognize that colleges are the ones who gain the most by filling a significant % of the class through ED. The vast majority of students do not benefit from this system.


Majority of students also don't benefit from financial aid and don't benefit from having hooks. Should schools eliminate all these? ED is fine, just like giving needy families financial aid is fine. No system is fair to everyone. I cannot afford a Maserati or Porsche and am totally at peace with my inability.


I’m not in favor of systems that encourage 17 years to lock themselves into paying $$$$ without considered choice.


NPC. NPC. NPC. You just don’t like what the NPC says you owe because you don’t manage your money wisely.


No, I can afford full pay. I can also afford the Porsche mentioned earlier. I just happen to think kids should actually spend thoughtful time considering their options than what I see in real life with the ED push everywhere. In real life, tons of parents with older kids have also told me that think there are tons of issues with the increased push for ED. It’s only on DCUM that I see it get defended as vehemently as it does.


So EA then. ED is not the only choice.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:23     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Don’t soft/unstated bans happen all the time, and wouldn’t they be almost as effective? At my kid’s private school, “everyone” knows that certain top 20 schools love our students, some like select students (= admit fewer overall, but an extremely qualified candidate has a reasonable chance of admission), but one hasn’t admitted a single student from our school in years, since a last-minute ED acceptee withdrew. The soft ban effectively still keeps kids from applying to that univ from our school. I don’t know the family and we did not discuss with the college counselor since the school didn’t interest my child. Are others aware of rumored soft bans at their schools?


Yes, there is a top10 school that does not accept from my DC’s big3. Everyone knows the name of the school. Rumor has it that there were 2 students that backed out of ED over a period of 3 years. I am not sure if it is true, but no one gets into this school. No one.


I wonder if I am thinking of the same schools? Do they sound like Puke and Sadwell? If so, thar dynamic has existed for a long time. My youngest graduated Sadwell in ‘22


Wow, in the last three years, the only person on public Instagram pages was an athlete. Seems like a long time to hold a grudge if this started even before ‘22.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:23     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Posters who complain about ED here want the cake and eat it too. What's why they're whining.


What does have your cake and eat it too mean in this context?


Your cake = get to ED and enjoy slight bump in admission chances

Eat it too = get to shop for merit after accepted ED


I happen to think there are more issues than the money issue. That’s the only one which will get people to stop and think.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:21     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:That’s it. ED is for kids who have a clear first choice. Some kids know that by September if their senior year. Hopefully they have visited the school, researched financial aid, etc. by then. The kids who are less than 100% committed to any choice should not ED, just because they’re chasing prestige and want to avoid the unpredictability of the RD lottery. It may be hard to have to wait a few more months for a college decision. It harder to have buyer’s remorse and be enrolled at a college chosen for the wrong reasons.


Many don’t have a clear first choice winner and still go ED anyway - that’s the issue. They are just trying to figure something out so they don’t get left out.
Anonymous
Post 10/26/2025 12:20     Subject: Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can hold two thoughts in my head at once. I can recognize that people should honor their ED commitments, and I can recognize that colleges are the ones who gain the most by filling a significant % of the class through ED. The vast majority of students do not benefit from this system.


Majority of students also don't benefit from financial aid and don't benefit from having hooks. Should schools eliminate all these? ED is fine, just like giving needy families financial aid is fine. No system is fair to everyone. I cannot afford a Maserati or Porsche and am totally at peace with my inability.


I’m not in favor of systems that encourage 17 years to lock themselves into paying $$$$ without considered choice.


NPC. NPC. NPC. You just don’t like what the NPC says you owe because you don’t manage your money wisely.


No, I can afford full pay. I can also afford the Porsche mentioned earlier. I just happen to think kids should actually spend thoughtful time considering their options than what I see in real life with the ED push everywhere. In real life, tons of parents with older kids have also told me that think there are tons of issues with the increased push for ED. It’s only on DCUM that I see it get defended as vehemently as it does.