Here we go again
(this comes up every year)
Most colleges do not understand when a student violates their agreement not to be committed to more than one institution. Whether or not they will do anything about it is debatable.
Here is a cut and paste from the last time this came up:
Many, many threads on this contentious subject. Read them and decide for yourself - nothing has changed since the last go around on this subject. It is not correct that most families maintain a Plan B, but if you do, make sure you do not get caught in an uncomfortable situation as some others have.
Here are the facts:
- If you make arrangements with the backup college beforehand and they agree to be the backup - no problem whatsoever.
- Almost all colleges consider it an ethical/contractual violation to use them as a backup without their knowledge. Most applications, including the Common Application, contain a clause that applicants agree not to be committed to more than one institution after May 1st.
- The two ways previous appointees have been caught and found themselves in an uncomfortable situation are: high school college counselor discovered violation or appointee told college when calling/emailing to let them know they wouldn't be attending.
- Virtually all colleges and high schools are institutional members and many individuals at those schools are individual members of the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) - USMA, USNA, USAFA, USCGA, and USMMA are members. The NACAC code of conduct states that it is unethical to be committed to more than one institution.
- There are known instances of appointees being threatened by colleges for using them as an unwitting backup.
- No SA has issued a policy on this practice and there has been no test case for how an SA will respond - there are no known instances of a college reporting the infraction to an SA.
You now have many questions - the answers are in the previous threads.