MPH What is with the April 15th deadline?

[mariposas905]

I'm confused about what this deadline means. I have several offers to MPH programs and they are all requiring me to commit and pay the deposit by April 1st or April 15th and or accept/reject their scholarships by the same date.

I don't mind paying the deposit and holding my seat, but there are still some other programs I will be applying to that have rolling or May 1st deadlines. I am also applying to MS programs through SOPHAS, which have priority deadlines of April 15th. Obv, I won't hear back from these programs in time to make my final, committed decision.

What if I pay my enrollment deposit and accept the scholarship offer for one school, but then decide to back out if I get into a better program after April 15th? Does this have any legal consequences for me? Will I be blacklisted on SOPHAS or at the respective school? I'm so confused

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[wwmmkk]

No, there are no consequences (legal or otherwise) from backing out after holding your seat. The worst that can happen is that you will annoy people in admissions or financial aid at a school you might want to attend, work for, or collaborate with someday. I'd recommend declining all but one program (your first choice under the assumption you don't get into better programs) by April 15 to free up spots for waitlisted applicants and save yourself multiple deposits. You might even be able to explain your situation to the program and ask for an extension on the deposit. Good luck!

 

[n3t]

There are no real consequences, but you will lose the money for the deposit.

To go off of what wwmmkk said, I would recommend reaching out to programs ASAP if you would like to try to get an extension on the April 15th decision/deposit deadline. You can reach out to programs and explain that you have a circumstance that makes the April 15th deadline difficult for you and ask if they would be willing to extend it. Some programs may say no, but many are willing to offer reasonable extensions if you ask early.

 

[mariposas905]

Okay thank you! But does this mean that only programs that give you an acceptance decision by April 15th can give you scholarship money? So, for example, if I apply to UTH MPH next week (deadline: May 1st), should I be expecting no scholarship money whatsoever since they likely wouldn't even get back to me with an accept/reject decision until after April 15th?

 

[wwmmkk]

I can't speak to UTH specifically, but my guess is that few schools have substantial scholarship money left to allocate. Whatever offers you have from schools now are likely to be the best ones that you will get since most schools have been reviewing applications and sending acceptances for months now. "Priority deadlines" tend to mean "deadline for scholarship consideration."

 

[mariposas905]

I can't speak to UTH specifically, but my guess is that few schools have substantial scholarship money left to allocate. Whatever offers you have from schools now are likely to be the best ones that you will get since most schools have been reviewing applications and sending acceptances for months now. "Priority deadlines" tend to mean "deadline for scholarship consideration."

I see...but do you know if April 15th is the last day any school can offer scholarships? Can they still give money after that or is that the national deadline for offering merit-based financial aid?

 

[wwmmkk]

I see...but do you know if April 15th is the last day any school can offer scholarships? Can they still give money after that or is that the national deadline for offering merit-based financial aid?

Yes, they can give scholarships after April 15. April 15 is a deadline for admitted students and has nothing to do with financial aid. It's just unlikely that you (or anyone else who applied well after priority deadlines) will get any as it has probably already gone to students who applied earlier. You are still likely to be offered loans.