Countless senior-year afternoons are spent refreshing a computer screen, eagerly awaiting results from the colleges they applied to. Opening that infamous letter to see either confetti cross their screen or the dreaded alternative—“a record breaking number of applicants have applied…”—can bring out either the comradery of a community or ruthless competition between students, and more often than not, it’s the latter. Everyone knows spots are limited and the number of applicants to each school seems to be infinite, making every seat in colleges’ future freshman class worth fighting for.
But once you click that commit button and put down your deposit, it would be logical to think that the rest of the colleges you applied to wouldn’t matter anymore—who cares if you got in? The ‘what-ifs’ of your potential other paths should become irrelevant. And yet, people let the tempting curiosity of knowing if they got accepted into every school they applied to override basic morals. Although you can get a slight ego boost from knowing that your application was competitive enough to secure a spot, prioritizing this achievement simply isn’t worth slighting another student’s next four years.
While every student can keep their options open before they commit to one school, someone who was accepted into their early decision college poses a problem. When sending in an ED application, you’re legally binding yourself to that college if accepted. Once the ED contract has been signed, there’s no way to get out of it unless there are special circumstances. After being accepted to your ED school, not pulling your other applications is simply taking away spots from your peers. Because early-decision acceptances come out months before early action does, pulling your application may actually make the difference between another student being accepted or deferred. At the end of the day, colleges need to fill up seats in their upcoming class. When they see they lost a student from a certain state or major, they need to offer that seat to someone else.
On the other hand, committing during early action or regular decision means that your acceptance will probably come out only a few weeks, or even days, before other schools. At the end of the day, I can recognize that it most likely won’t make much of a difference in whether or not your peers get in. But, to be honest, it’s common courtesy. Don’t leave any room for your friends to question if they would have gotten in if you simply would have pulled your application.
If you had a variety of colleges to choose from before you committed, then congratuations: That’s a great accomplishment, and one to be proud of. But when you commit, rejecting your other offers is essential to ensuring that deferred students have a shot at a school they may be waiting on. It is, if nothing else, helpful to ensure that your peers have the opportunity to get into schools they are interested in.
Every senior knows the stress of committing to just the right college—you might as well relieve your peers of this anxiety now that you are free from that burden. If you’re so curious to know your decision, you’re not required to commit until May 1. I understand the pressure to get started on your next four years as soon as possible, but it’s not worth potentially sabotaging your classmates if you were to get accepted to another school that’s not even in consideration for you. If the school is in consideration, simply wait a few more weeks .
During this stressful season of life, don’t forget that you’re not the only one going through the endless cycle of college decisions. All of your peers are right there with you. With this in mind, pull your applications once you’re finally able to escape out of the depths of the college-applications cycle. We all want to finally commit to college, so make the rest of our lives easier.
