Discrepancies Between Admission Decisions

[bonaparte]

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Hello everyone,

I was wondering about the differences between schools in when final admissions decisions are made, since there seems to be quite a wide range! My concern is-- what do you do if you are accepted into your third choice early on but are still waiting to hear back from your first choice (for example)? Once admission decisions are made, how long do you [generally] have to decide whether or not you want to attend that school?

Sorry if someone else has already asked this question! I wasn't sure how to phrase this question as a searchable term.

 

[Angelo84]

All of the US school have agreed on a common response date of April 15. So a school could offer you admission in December and you are not obligated to accept until april 15. Keep in mind this is not true at the carribean schools and I don't know the rules for overseas schools.

 

[Willowhand]

Another possibility is that you will be accepted at your third choice school and waitlisted at your favorite school. In this case, you might not hear back from your top school till after the response deadline. In that situation, it is common to accept your place and put a deposit on the school you got into (just so you're covered) and then if you get accepted to your top school later on you're all set. You lose the deposit if you change your mind at that point, if you're really set on the school you prefer it should be worth the loss.

 

[HopefulAg]

Deposits are small change compared to the amount you'll be plunking down for tuition any how. And really, if the tuition comes out less at the other school, then you're just making an investment.

Keep in mind this is not true at the carribean schools and I don't know the rules for overseas schools.

Can only speak for Edinburgh but their deadline is May 1st.

 

[der2002]

Another possibility is that you will be accepted at your third choice school and waitlisted at your favorite school. In this case, you might not hear back from your top school till after the response deadline. In that situation, it is common to accept your place and put a deposit on the school you got into (just so you're covered) and then if you get accepted to your top school later on you're all set. You lose the deposit if you change your mind at that point, if you're really set on the school you prefer it should be worth the loss.

that would be the situation I'm in now...I'm giving myself until May 1 to hear back from my 1st choice school...

 

[Willowhand]

All of the US school have agreed on a common response date of April 15. So a school could offer you admission in December and you are not obligated to accept until april 15. Keep in mind this is not true at the carribean schools and I don't know the rules for overseas schools.

I applied to PEI this year, and they sent us acceptances prior to April 15th and gave us till the 30th to decide.

 

[bonaparte]

All of the US school have agreed on a common response date of April 15.

This is great to hear! I'm so relieved!

Another possibility is that you will be accepted at your third choice school and waitlisted at your favorite school. In this case, you might not hear back from your top school till after the response deadline. In that situation, it is common to accept your place and put a deposit on the school you got into (just so you're covered) and then if you get accepted to your top school later on you're all set. You lose the deposit if you change your mind at that point, if you're really set on the school you prefer it should be worth the loss.

Smart!

Thank you everyone for such very useful information! 😀 My mind has definitely been put at ease.

 

[turnbackhelly]

All of the US school have agreed on a common response date of April 15.

If I am not mistaken, I believe this technically applies only to schools that use the VMCAS application. This would be most (but not all) US schools as well as well as several offshore/Canadian schools (but none of the Caribbean schools). However, I know for example that Tufts does NOT use VMCAS (at least not historically, this could always change in the future) and their deadline for accepting/declining an admission offer was still April 15th. I know Texas A&M is another US school that does not use VMCAS, but I am not positive of any others. Maybe Mizzou? Perhaps someone else here can chime in to confirm/correct/add...

EDIT: Here is the list of schools that use VMCAS, from the AAVMC website. The cut&paste messed up the alphabetical order, but you can be sure that these schools, at the very least, do not require you to make a decision before April 15th.

Auburn University
Mississippi State University
University Of California - Davis
Murdoch University
Colorado State University
University of Missouri
Cornell University
North Carolina State University
University College Dublin
Ohio State University
University of Edinburgh (Scotland)
Oklahoma State University
University of Florida
Oregon State University
University of Georgia
University of Prince Edward Island
University of Glasgow (Scotland)
University of Pennsylvania
University of Guelph (Ontario)
Purdue University
University of Illinois - Urbana
Royal Veterinary College (London)
Iowa State University
University of Tennessee
Kansas State University
Virginia - Maryland Regional College
Louisiana State University
Washington State University
Massey University (New Zealand)
Western University
Michigan State University
University of Wisconsin
University of Minnesota

 

[moosenanny]

Missouri Residents have to fill out a special Mizzou-specific application ("Direct Application"), and not VMCAS.

OOS Mizzou applicants can either use VMCAS and fill out a supplemental application, or they can just fill out the specific Mizzou application required of IS students. Unless an OOS resident is only applying to Mizzou, I think almost everyone would rather choose the former option.