If I get accepted Early Decision for another college do I have to withdraw my USNA application?

franknd said:
While this thread is a year old, the issue may arise again, and I wanted to add some thoughts here.

Reviewing some of the comments, I think a few of you were being a little too harsh, perhaps because you don't totally understand ED. From the Common App ED agreement, "Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may decline the offer of admission and be released from the Early Decision commitment." Thus, contrary to some advice here, there is NOTHING contradictory about simultaneously applying to one institution ED and simultaneously pursuing a service academy appointment. Now if you are accepted ED to the institution, then you will be required to review their financial aid package, perhaps even haggle over it (see linked article), THEN decide whether or not to accept the ED offer. If you accept it, then you should withdraw your service academy application unless that is an exception to that institution's ED program, which it might be. But you have to ask them this. If you decline the ED offer, then charlie mike on the service academy application.

I welcome contrary thoughts, but I believe what I just described is entirely ethical and within the spirit of the program.

www.forbes.com

Can Students Get Out Of ED?

Early Decision (ED) notifications will be released within the next few weeks and many students might start to double guess their binding decision. Here's what you need to know.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com
Click to expand...

It says right in the article:

  • You can only apply to one college early decision. The rest you can apply under early action and regular admission. Note – restrictive early action is not allowed.
 
Excellent and very helpful post @franknd . There is definitely lots of confusion about applying ED, especially with respect to the financial aid package caveat. I expect folks get confused if they've not had a kid apply ED and had to sign the contract (and get the notice it isn't binding if you can't afford it after getting your financial aid offer.) But, yes, the kid would have to have decided that school is as Plan A as whatever SA or SA's he or she is considering.
 
Yes, what franknd wrote is correct for those applying for financial aid. Regardless of the actual reason the applicant is technically within the rules to reject the offer for financial reasons, although rejecting a full scholarship might ruffle a few feathers. It's just a question of personal honor.

Those not applying for financial aid are required by the rules to accept the offer. As the Forbes article states there is not much the college can do, but the high school college counselor and fellow students rejected from that college (and those applying in the future) will be pissed. This happened in DS's high school with an ED application/acceptance to an IVY League school.
 
And good luck to all those kids out there debating applying ED this week (if they haven't already)! The delay in the AROTC and NROTC initial boards has made making these decisions even tougher right now I imagine.
 
franknd said:
While this thread is a year old, the issue may arise again, and I wanted to add some thoughts here.

Reviewing some of the comments, I think a few of you were being a little too harsh, perhaps because you don't totally understand ED. From the Common App ED agreement, "Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may decline the offer of admission and be released from the Early Decision commitment." Thus, contrary to some advice here, there is NOTHING contradictory about simultaneously applying to one institution ED and simultaneously pursuing a service academy appointment. Now if you are accepted ED to the institution, then you will be required to review their financial aid package, perhaps even haggle over it (see linked article), THEN decide whether or not to accept the ED offer. If you accept it, then you should withdraw your service academy application unless that is an exception to that institution's ED program, which it might be. But you have to ask them this. If you decline the ED offer, then charlie mike on the service academy application.

I welcome contrary thoughts, but I believe what I just described is entirely ethical and within the spirit of the program.

www.forbes.com

Can Students Get Out Of ED?

Early Decision (ED) notifications will be released within the next few weeks and many students might start to double guess their binding decision. Here's what you need to know.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com
Click to expand...

I’m very familiar with how ED works. My oldest knew going ED would increase her chances of acceptance to her dream school. She did get accepted ED, and it was one of the best Christmas presents she’s ever received.

My middle child has ED-like stats BUT her first choice was a SA so she didn’t apply ED.

We’re not saying you cannot apply ED to a school and a SA at the same time. You absolutely can.

We’re saying IF an SA is your first choice, then you have no business applying ED. It’s that simple. We know the purpose of ED. The purpose is not to hedge your bet when applying to an SA.

Let’s face it, some people want the benefits of the ED (increased chances for admission and knowing a decision early in the admission cycle) process as a hedge against a potential SA (or any other school - Harvard, Stanford, etc...- for that matter) denial. No one is getting fooled here.
 
I agree with above. Applying ED to a school of your choice and seeking nominations and appointments from the academies are not the same thing.

No one applies to the academies ED as it is not a thing.
 
I would never pass judgment or speculate on why some kids apply ED. Not my business really. But I imagine for some kids they truly have more than 1 "plan A" - like my own son. He wants to be a Navy or Army officer. Period. And he can see at least 4 different ways to make that happen. He has "put his best application forward" for 2 SA's and 1 civilian school for a better chance to make that happen. Frankly, I am super grateful and proud that he can see and is open to all available options. Deciding to apply ED1 wasn't an easy decision, especially after he spent all summer working on his other 2 SA applications. He spent time with one of the ROTC units at his choice civilian school in order to help make that decision. It was a well thought out, deliberate decision. He will be THRILLED with an acceptance to any of them.
 
Holden100 said:
I would never pass judgment or speculate on why some kids apply ED. Not my business really. But I imagine for some kids they truly have more than 1 "plan A" - like my own son. He wants to be a Navy or Army officer. Period. And he can see at least 4 different ways to make that happen. He has "put his best application forward" for 2 SA's and 1 civilian school for a better chance to make that happen. Frankly, I am super grateful and proud that he can see and is open to all available options. Deciding to apply ED1 wasn't an easy decision, especially after he spent all summer working on his other 2 SA applications. He spent time with one of the ROTC units at his choice civilian school in order to help make that decision. It was a well thought out, deliberate decision. He will be THRILLED with an acceptance to any of them.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you in that ROTC and SA lead to the same outcome.

My feeling is that a kid will apply ED to a school because he/she will go if offered an admission. The kid loves the school because it’s the absolute first choice. There is no other school that is better than the ED school. That’s always my going in assumption.

There are other threads on this forum that make it obvious people use the ED option inappropriately- and come up with reasons to justify it. Not saying this thread is one of them.
 
I guess I haven’t spent the time to read those threads. I would think if a kid applies ED, signs the contract, has his parents sign the contract, gets in and applied for and gets whatever FA he needs, then he’ll be more than happy to go there. I would hope those kids and parents have spent time talking about this. But, again, not my business what other kids do, or why.
 
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It is the position of USNA that if you are accepted ED, you must withdraw your application for USNA. I has this issue last year with a candidate and this is what USNA said.

I realize there are all sorts of ways to lie/not be transparent, such as using the financial aid issue as an out of your commitment. Not a great way to start your adult life. Or to guide your child.
 
Commitment to what exactly? Probably the most 'judgey' of posts. How in the world can you know what is the situation of anyone, other than your own kid @usna1985? Not super helpful.
 
usna1985 said:
It is the position of USNA that if you are accepted ED, you must withdraw your application for USNA. I has this issue last year with a candidate and this is what USNA said.

I realize there are all sorts of ways to lie/not be transparent, such as using the financial aid issue as an out of your commitment. Not a great way to start your adult life. Or to guide your child.
Click to expand...
You understand that that "out" is written in to the contract, don't you; and it's there for a reason? It's certainly USNA's business if they choose to impose additional requirements on to their application process, but their added requirement is not dictated by the ED program. And if they think it is, then it is they who have a reading comprehension problem.
Finally, I thoroughly disagree with the idea that it is a positive good, much less somehow noble, to encourage one's children to handicap themselves in what amount to lopsided negotiations, particularly with bureaucracies.
 
And, as stated so many times already, commitment to applying ED involves a sufficient financial aid package for those who asked for FA. There is no dishonesty. As a parent you submit a FAFSA and CSS profile AND they are aware you are applying for an ROTC scholarship. My kid went even beyond that and completed the additional scholarship app. Best app forward.
 
Thank you @franknd. Sometimes I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone when reading these threads. It’s not “my way or the highway” in the real world for everyone. Options are there for a reason. I appreciate your insight.
 
Holden100 said:
Thank you @franknd. Sometimes I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone when reading these threads. It’s not “my way or the highway” in the real world for everyone. Options are there for a reason. I appreciate your insight.
Click to expand...

I hate to break it to you but, in the military, there are many “my way or the highway” situations. That’s the “real world” for us in the military. You think I wanted to leave my family behind when I went to Afghanistan or Iraq? I did sign up for it. I had to do it the government’s way (my way) or face UCMJ (highway).

As staff officers, we recommend. The commander is the one who is paid to make the hard decisions and assume risk when necessary. What he/she says goes. It’s HIS/HER way or the highway.
 
This is about deciding a college decision for a 17 year old kid. They aren't even adults yet. Let's not be overly dramatic, seriously.
 
For the record, BOTH my parents served in Vietnam and my husband was an outstanding Marine. I get it. So does my kid.
 
franknd said:
You understand that that "out" is written in to the contract, don't you; and it's there for a reason? It's certainly USNA's business if they choose to impose additional requirements on to their application process, but their added requirement is not dictated by the ED program. And if they think it is, then it is they who have a reading comprehension problem.
Finally, I thoroughly disagree with the idea that it is a positive good, much less somehow noble, to encourage one's children to handicap themselves in what amount to lopsided negotiations, particularly with bureaucracies.
Click to expand...

Again, as I’ve mentioned before, people like to justify actions by saying things like well the game is unfair so I’ll game the system to even it out.

Last I heard, the game is owned by the schools. They own the game so they make the rules. We decide to play or not. You choose to play their game, then you play by their rules. Simple concept. No one says you have to apply ED to a Duke, Vandy, Hopkins, etc... if you don’t like lopsided negotiations with ED. Go to State U that allows EA. Go to Univ of xxxx that has rolling admissions. My oldest didn’t like the odds with Harvard admissions so she didn’t apply. Had she not like ED lopsided ness, then she wouldn’t have applied.

For the most part, ED financial aid comes close to EFC. There are EFC calculators on every school website. If the EFC says you will contribute $10k and you apply ED, then you will accept a FA package that has you paying $10k out of pocket. For the most part, the FA packet is no surprise to people who do their homework so the “financial out” of ED is rarely used.
 
Do you sit on the Admissions or Financial Aid boards at any of the ED schools? If so, that would be super helpful info. Otherwise, please stop judging/speculating on other kids’ circumstances.
 
And, again, GOOD LUCK to any kid debating this next week to apply ED. Do what's best for you and your situation. Weigh all your options. Talk to your folks. And thank you for your future service.
 
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