What To Do When You Have Been Accepted to Your ED College.

Congratulations! You have been accepted to your Early Decision college!! We are happy for you. You should be so proud of all your hard work to get to this point!

What should you do now?

1) Celebrate - a lot!!

2) Next, you must remember that this offer is binding. You have committed to attending this college if you are accepted. So first, you must triple make sure you can afford it. If you have applied for financial aid, please check your offer before taking your spot. Finances would be the only reason you might be able to get out of an early decision acceptance. If a financial offer is not what you expected, please reach out to the college’s admissions office before accepting your spot. Maybe there is something that can be done to make this college affordable for you. 

3) You should officially accept your spot in the Class of 2026. Read your acceptance letter for how to do this for each college, but it is usually done through your application portal and involves submitting a deposit. 

4) You now must withdraw all your other outstanding applications. We understand it can be tempting to know where else you are accepted, but you have promised to attend your ED college. You must withdraw your other applications. Look at it this way; it is also the “right" thing. You know you are not going to accept a spot at those colleges. Someone else is waiting on a decision from there. It can be their dream, and by withdrawing your application, you might be clearing the way toward their acceptance. So how do you withdraw your other applications? Many colleges will let you do this right in your application portal. If they do not, you should send a short email to your admissions representative and cc the general email to the admissions office. The email should look something like this…

Subject: Wonder Woman application withdrawal

Dear Mr. Awesome Admissions Rep, 

My name is Wonder Woman, and I applied to the Marvelous Marvels University regular decision. I am writing to you to please withdraw my admissions application. I have been accepted to another university (you do not have to tell them where you are going unless you want to) early decision. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. 

Sincerely, 

Wonder Women 

Application Number 11111

5) Please let your school counselor know that you have been admitted ED, withdrew your other applications and deposited and accepted your spot at X University. 

6) Please let your teachers and other recommenders know that you have been accepted and thank them one more time for all of their efforts on your behalf.

7) KEEP YOUR GRADES UP!! Acceptances are usually conditional on keeping your grades commensurate with where they were when you applied. 

8) Keep checking your email. Your new college will be sending you lots of communication in the next few months. There will be deadlines that need to be adhered to. 

9. Lastly, join a Facebook group for your new university Class of 2026. Start meeting your future classmates. Parents: there are usually Facebook groups for you too, and they can be a great source of information and camaraderie for you. 

10) Back to Celebrate!! Buy a t-shirt, a baseball hat, a sticker for your mom’s car, or your grandpa a sweatshirt. It is a gift to be done with this process in time to have a truly Happy New Year!!