Don’t do this haha :) When students apply Early Decision to college, they are essentially saying “this is the place I am sure I would like to attend." So, when they are hit with that acceptance in December, they are literally done with the college process by being required to attend this college under their ED agreement and they must withdraw all other college applications. There are many consequences that could arise from students attempting to get out of their ED agreement but the one that is fully supported with evidence is Blacklisting. While it is disputed whether or not students themselves get blacklisted from other colleges, colleges who have seen students wiggle their way out of ED contracts are known to blacklist their high school due to counselors having “low-academic morals.”

The only way to safely get out of an ED contract is that it mustn’t be intentional. For instance, if a student has a family emergency and must stay closer to home, letting the college know of this emergency should be met with understanding. Also, if a student receives their financial aid award after being accepted and realizes that they cannot pay this cost, refusing to attend this college should also be a valid response. Under any circumstance, ED contracts are serious and should not be taken lightly. While emergencies do occur, students should not actively seek out ways to apply and then reject ED contracts (I.E do not apply ED to multiple schools or keep your RD applications open despite getting in ED to a school).

In terms of Questbridge, students should only do the Match process if they are sure they want to attend "this" college. If not, and they attempt to attend a different college, not only is this frowned upon, but a student has also taken a spot from another student who may have had that college listed first as their dream college (this is because colleges only have a certain number of spots to match with in each application season). The acceptable way to get out of the ED contract in this instance would have fall under some sort of emergency, a financial burden would not occur because the match is a full-ride (despite some fees that may occur).