The ED admissions policy is designed to eliminate your options.

Welcome to my brief series on-
Understanding the Motives of College Policies

"ED"- the Early Decision Application is a college policy designed to serve their interests, not yours. 

ED allows the student to designate one top preferred college for which to apply under special circumstances. It requires the student and a parent to agree to withdraw all other applications upon receiving an ED acceptance and to make the deposit by January 31st.

This puts the student and family in a highly compromised position. Upon withdrawing all other applications, the student eliminates their options. This is exactly what the college wants to have happen. 

Such is the case now in thousands of families across the college-bound world. 

Without having options, the student-family was left to make the January deposit and accept the full-cost price of the college.  

The policy is driven to provide the college with two major benefits.

1. The college achieves a much higher conversion rate of acceptances to enrollments.
2. The college increases its number of full-cost paying students.

This policy serves the interests of colleges in fulfilling their business model. They are in total control and they love it.

I'm not against using ED as a strategic move to support the student-family goals. I am opposed to withdrawing applications and eliminating options in supporting the financial goals of colleges.

Why? Because 17-year-old minds can change many times in the six months from when they submitted their ED application in October to now when most families make their final college decision. Therefore, I like having options!

Being that choosing a college is one of the most important decisions of a lifetime, purposefully eliminating options doesn't make sense to me.  

When considering college policies, it's beneficial to know the motive of the policy and how it affects you.