Getting out of Early Decision Agreement

I heard somewhere that an applicant can get out of the binding agreement if they attend an academy/enroll in ROTC/enlist in the military. I have tried to find more information with no luck so far? Can anyone provide additional info on this?

timetocarrigan said:

I heard somewhere that an applicant can get out of the binding agreement if they attend an academy/enroll in ROTC/enlist in the military. I have tried to find more information with no luck so far? Can anyone provide additional info on this?

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What "EARLY DECISION" agreement are you talking about? Are you talking about early admissions acceptance to another college. E.g. You applied early admissions in September to USC and got accepted?

If so; let me just say that I've never seen one college do anything negative because an individual changed their mind and decided on a different school after accepted their school. You might not get back any deposits or money you gave; but that's not a big deal. Now; if you accept a military appointment (Which is what you're worried about because the appointments don't come out until spring); then yes, MOST colleges have no problem releasing you.

Same goes for athletes who do a "Signing Day" contract. E.g. If you sign with Washington State in February to play football, then you can't change to another school without some NCAA penalties. HOWEVER: If you after signing with them, accept an appointment to an academy, there is no penalty. Because the academy doesn't offer scholarships. Thus; the NCAA will let you play for the academy.

Now; if the "Early Decision Agreement" has NOTHING to do with what i wrote, then I apologize. But maybe it will help someone with a different question. mike...

timetocarrigan said:

I heard somewhere that an applicant can get out of the binding agreement if they attend an academy/enroll in ROTC/enlist in the military. I have tried to find more information with no luck so far? Can anyone provide additional info on this?

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I think we need more specifics in order to answer your question. In any case, your first action should be to contact the school with whom you have the binding agreement. I'm sure they would be able to help you. Best wishes.

Sir,
One of my friends is a current midshipman candidate at the USNA Preparatory School. She did not know until two weeks before indoc that she had been accepted. She had already accepted a 4-year NROTC scholarship to and had enrolled in Virginia Tech. She knew that she wanted to go to NAPS, so she disenrolled from VA Tech and enrolled into NAPS. It is definitly possible to "disenroll to enroll." Hope this post helped sir!

Very Respectfully,
WingsOfHonor

@Christcorp - huge difference between Early Decision and Early Action and you seem to be using them interchangeably. Early Action is as you described where you simply apply early to a school and get a decision earlier. However, Early Decision is binding, meaning that if you apply (all of this has nothing to do with sports but many top schools, including some Ivies, offer ED) and are accepted that you WILL attend. The only exceptions are usually for Financial Aid (ie their FA package makes it not feasible for you to attend).

To the OP - I've heard the same thing - that the military would be one of the exceptions but also have never seen it in writing. I'll be interested to see what you find out - if that's something official, or if each school just makes its own policy regarding it. I'd agree that you just need to contact the school but understand why you wouldn't want to before you have the ED acceptance in hand.

Edited to add a link explaining the difference: http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/college/earlydecision.asp

+1 to marciemi

There is a difference between ED and EA. EA is not binding, you are just eligible for an earlier response.

That being said.

Don't rely on any forum. Contact the school you are applying to for ED. Ask them, get their name, notate the time and date for the WHAT IF scenario. Seriously it is easy...typically all you need to do is place the school's name and add .edu From there you can get the direct phone number to admissions.

You can't throw out 100 ED apps because of the way the system works. You are saying accept me and I will attend unless it is a Financial issue. Even than, schools like Princeton, Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins all of them have that covered from a financial perspective, and it is not as easy as one may think to wiggle out of the ED.

Call the admissions office to see if SAs are their loop hole.

True, that it is "Binding". However, a lot depends on what the school is offering and reality. What I mean is; you can be accepted early and you can make a decision to attend "X" school. However; if the school isn't offering you the financial means after you've decided on them; but now change your mind and say: "I can't afford to attend your school"; you aren't going to be forced to go there. Even some where they offered full ride scholarships, I've seen individuals back out of and simply change their mind. And the school, while it may be "BINDING", didn't do anything about it. Why? Simple. They have plenty of others waiting for a slot; it isn't costing them; and they can't actually force someone to go to their school. So yes; you can say it's binding; but I'm telling you from first hand knowledge to 3 very prestigious schools, that if you change your mind and really want out, and you talk to the school; they will most times simply release any obligation and wish you well.

True - in actuality, you have very little chance of the school taking any kind of action against you personally because you don't attend their school. The catch is in other schools finding out about it and withdrawing their offers. Technically this is supposed to happen. So if you are accepted ED to Cornell, bend the truth a little and say the FA wasn't good enough and they find out you went to Princeton instead, they will inform Princeton, who will (in most cases) withdraw your offer. (Of course this assumes the FA was similar).

The other catch is that if schools find out you did this with the approval of your guidance counselor/school (which they can tell if you apply to two ED schools that require something from the counselor), they can blackball your high school from allowing students to apply to that school for some number of years. Check out College Confidential - it has definitely happened. Not the OP's situation, but just a warning.

Also, when my sons were looking at applying ED, not only the student, but the parent as well had to sign the application stating they understood all the ramifications and what the penalties were. This really isn't something to mess around with, so I'd definitely talk to the school in the OP's case. It may even be possible to do so without giving a name.