Each college admissions cycle, students opting to apply via early decision are faced with an agreement that they, along with their parent or legal guardian, must sign, vowing to attend the institution if accepted.
While it is often described as binding, a new lawsuit alleges that colleges present the legally toothless agreement as one that carries the full force of law.
This perception, some students told The Herald, made them wary of applying early, even if Brown was their top choice. Others applied early with the false understanding that it was legally binding.
Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Undergraduate Admission Logan Powell, wrote in a message to The Herald that the University has “never claimed that the early decision process is legally binding.”
Brown’s online admissions materials do not explicitly mention a “legal” obligation, with one webpage characterizing the early application as “a binding agreement.”
The Common Application, Scoir — which owns the Coalition Application — and 32 universities, including Brown, are facing a class action lawsuit alleging that they falsely present early decision admissions as legally binding.
Plaintiffs argue the early decision agreement intentionally resembles “a contract” that leads applicants to believe they have a legal obligation to attend an institution that admits them via early decision.
The Common Application’s “application dictionary,” for instance, defines early decision as “a ‘binding’ application process” that permits students to apply early to one school. It also states that “if admitted, you must withdraw your other applications.” The word “binding” is written in quotes without explanation.
The lawsuit also accuses the defendants of violating antitrust laws through early decision admissions, arguing that the application plans represent a mutual agreement among institutions to not compete for students admitted early. The suit was filed by three students and a recent graduate, none of whom are known to be directly affiliated with Brown.
In response to the suit, University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald that Brown “stands by the integrity and fairness of its admission process.”
Many students who spoke to The Herald said they believed they would face consequences or retribution if they did not attend Brown if accepted early.
Luke Daniel ’29 interpreted “binding” as “enforced, but not inescapable,” adding that he “was under the impression that ED was legally binding except for financial reasons.”
Roselym Reyes Moscat ’28 made a similar assumption: “I thought binding meant if I (got) accepted into Brown, I would have to go.”
Other students like Nikhil Kannan ’29 did not apply early, despite Brown being his top choice school. Kannan wrote that he didn’t want to be “bound” to a school because he “wanted to be able to explore (his) options,” and compare prices.
Celia Peña ’28 felt a “moral obligation” to attend Brown when she was accepted early. “It would have eased a lot of my anxiety knowing (early decision) wasn’t legally binding,” she said.
Benson Zou ’27, who also believed early decision was legally binding, said he heard a rumor that if students did not enroll in the college they were accepted to early decision, “our high school would be blacklisted from the university.” He kept this in mind while applying early to Brown.
Zou told The Herald that he regretted applying early because he did not receive the amount of aid he was expecting.
Colleges will make exceptions to the early decision agreement in special circumstances — most commonly when a student receives insufficient financial aid from the university they’ve committed to, said Cathleen Sheils, a former director of undergraduate admissions at Cornell and a senior associate director of college counseling at Solomon Admissions Consulting.
Even for students who knew the agreement was not legally binding, they still noted its weight in the college admissions process. Katie Kunkel ’29 still chose to “treat it as being legally binding.”
Rahul Ramakrishnan ’29 wrote that although he knew ED wasn’t legally binding, he thought there would be consequences for not enrolling in the school if accepted early. “By turning a spot down,” he said, “it’d be almost impossible to gain an acceptance elsewhere.”
