Acceptance Deposit Woes

[docslytherin]

Hello all!! I just received an invitation for an interview at WVSOM... I'm excited about it, but have questions. I just turned my AACOMAS in (they were mailed out 14 October) and have received secondaries from all the schools that I designated. However, I haven't gotten them all completed (8 secondaries is a lot to get finished right away and a significant hit to the wallet). My dilemma is this (it's pretty optimistic).

With my numbers and experiences I feel like I'm a pretty competitive applicant. Best case scenario, I get into WVSOM. Then what do I do?? Though I would be overjoyed to have gotten in somewhere, they aren't my top choice. The deposit thing really worries me... Does anyone have any ideas regarding how they work? I don't want to pay my $2000 to hold a spot and then find out that I got into a school that I would prefer to WVSOM. With the small amount of time given to accept or decline, my fear is that I'll end up accepting and wasting $2000 (or going somewhere that isn't my first choice) or worse, that I'll decline in the hopes of getting in somewhere else and then not get another acceptance.

Since this interview is really soon after filing my app, I'm more worried than I might otherwise have been. I haven't even gotten all of my secondaries in and I know that all of my recs aren't in the other places either.... Any suggestions??

Thanks.
John

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[cdreed]

Hi doc!

If it works like AZCOM, the deposit is divided into three payments. $250 is due on Dec 16, $750 in Feb, and $1000 in April. If for some reason you don't matriculate, the school will refund 40% of the amount deposited.

Hope this helps some...

 

[Dr JPH]

First of all, you need to realize there is some turn around time after your interview before you get an acceptance letter...let's say 3 weeks.

Then, you usually have 1 month to send them a check.

That's 7 weeks right there.

Also, if accepted, I would call WVSOM and tell them you need some more time to gather the deposit money. $2000 is a lot of cash and not that easy to fork over in just one months time.

A friend of mine held off NYCOM for nearly 3 weeks past their due date and they didn't say anything. He told them he didn't have the money right now (which was true) and that he needed some more time before he could send in the deposit.

He was also waiting for a few other schools, which he eventually heard from.

WVSOM, LECOM...these schools have pretty hefty deposits. I think PCOMs is around $250...peanuts.

Also, deposits for DO schools are non-refundable which is bullcrap if you ask me. I didn't send in any deposits...just my PCOM one.

It sucks that some schools charge so much for their deposits. I would think that if you are confident that you can fill your class, there would be no need for such a large deposit.

I know people who didn't apply to some schools simply because of the deposit.

Anyway...hold off as long as possible.

Best of luck.

 

[Chisel]

Here's a little advice from someone who spent a whole lot of money and eventually ended up at his first choice school....Take it for what it is worth.

Try to hold out paying for as long as you can. If it comes down to it though, this is how I would approach the situation.

In the big scheme of things, $2000 is nothing. I mean, right now it seems like a whole lot, and it is.

However, when you are talking about spending $200,000 or more on your education, that $2000 is a drop in the bucket.

In my opinion, spend the $2000 to secure your spot in a medical school. If you don't get in anywhere else, you'll be kicking yourself that you didn't.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Green912]

Wow, a $2000 deposit! I'm applying to LECOM and Ohio-U, but I must have overlooked LECOM's deposit requirement. I guess if comes down to it you have to take the sure thing. Hopefully some stall tatics help if needed. Anyone know about Ohio's deposit amount? I think I remember it being somewhat high also.

 

[H0mersimps0n]

I am faced with the exact same situation. Found out my medical school dream came true and LECOM accepted me. Their deposit is $1500 by dec 15th. Seeing as how I have more than $2100 invested in applications I'd like to finish the process and weigh my options in the end. Unfortunately all schools seem to run on diff time schedules. I THINK I know who my top choice is (hard to say cause I haven't visited "yet"), but if I don't hear from anyone by Dec 1, I'm fedex overnighting that $1500, there is no way in gods green earth I'm going to work this long and hard and go through this much to miss any opportunity to live out my life's dream... sucks but like he said, in the grand scheme of things, its peanuts....

 

[Green912]

Ohio-U's fee isn't too bad.

Acceptance Fee. Once an applicant is accepted for admission, he or she must pay a $100 acceptance fee to reserve a seat in the next fall's entering class. An additional $500 deposit is required by June 15. Both deposits are non-refundable but will be credited toward the first quarter's tuition when the student matriculates.

 

[maysqrd]

I don't remember who it was that posted the information but I remember reading in another thread about how one student went about the deposits. Basically he ranked all of the schools in order of preference. Then when the interviews started trickling in, he took the interviews at the lower end and asked them to push them out (due to scheduling conflicts) and the schools had no problems giving him a later interview. Then when the top choice schools came in, he had time to schedule those interviews in before he even went to the lower choice schools to interview, thereby allowing himself the ability to find out if he got rejected or accepted in order of top choice to last choice.

In the end, he got into his top choice school and was able to pay that deposit and he cancelled his later interviews because he knew that he didn't need them. This saves on plane tickets, hotel costs, etc. I thought it was a pretty good strategy.

Depending on when you get asked to interview, you may want to find out which schools allow the longest time to pay the deposit and how long each school takes in notifying you. Then try to schedule your interviews at the school that gives you the most time to pay your deposit first so that if you can have room for overlap or schedule your first interviews at the school with the lowest deposit. From what I understand the majority of schools have deposits over $1000 and NONE of them follow the AACOMAS deadline for deposit due dates.

I am going to TUCOM next year and they generally notify you within 2 weeks (meaning it could be only 1 week but generally never more than 2 weeks) after the interview. Then they only give you two weeks from the date of the acceptance letter to pay the deposit. They send the acceptance via snail mail so depending on when you get your letter you may only have 8 days to pay the deposit. So all in all this school only gives you about 4 weeks to pay the deposit from the time you interview.

Good luck!!

Brenda
TUCOM 2007

 

[H0mersimps0n]

I was under the impression it was taboo to request diff time/dates for interviews. Personally I'm glad I didn't. I'll probably/hopefully be eating $1500 but its not a biggie because its just so wonderful to finally have that first acceptance in...

I'm sure its just as big a pain for the schools to lose an acceptee as it is for us to lose our deposits... give and take...