However, if you somehow ONLY got into CSU, and then DIDN'T get the amount you wanted to negate the cost - then you would have to turn down an acceptance point blank and then apply the next year. Even if you don't apply to CSU again, I still feel like (because of your VMCAS or whatever) schools will know you previously applied, and I worry that they would know you were previously accepted. And would that somehow affect how they look at your app? I've always gotten the impression that it's taboo to turn down an acceptance like that.
That may be an unreasonable way to look at it, but that was what I was getting at in the first place.
I understand. I agree that it's a taboo but I feel that it's a taboo held among pre-vet students more so than admitting institutions. I think there are many students that would balk at refusing your only acceptance, considering how much emphasis and energy is put into the application process. Some students can't stand the thought of waiting and will accept anything, anywhere - after all, dreams are
priceless and, apparently, sometimes have expiration dates. Honestly, this is what I see as part of the financial problem with vet school though. Too many of us are too eager and too desperate just to get in that we perpetuate a system that is not working for us financially. Waiting for a favorable opportunity is not a bad thing, but you still have to seek out those opportunities by applying to different schools.
We need to be better at shopping around and we should expect schools to work with us to reduce the debt burden of that education, especially if they "want" us. If they can't do that, I say screw 'em. Walk away and look somewhere else. That's the only bargaining chip we have in this process and we're not using it well as a collective of very intelligent, capable students.
Anyway, schools can definitely see the current and perhaps the past institutions applied to but, as things are documented now on the VMCAS, there is no place to put what the final status of previous applications have been. That said, schools only know what you're legally required to tell them or what one institution is legally allowed to share with other schools about a student (which isn't much without the student's permission). If you never attended the school and you only declined the offer (which in and of itself is not unusual, considering many people receive multiple offers), I just can't imagine schools would care that much. There is no risk to them at all - they either have a long waitlist to replace you or another shot at getting your sweet, sweet loan dollars if you decline an offer somewhere else.
A student being negatively judged
by a school for avoiding what she considers to be an irresponsible financial choice would be ridiculous to me, though I still suspect that the taboo is maintained by peers and "pre-vet" culture more so than the schools themselves.
Personally, I think from Day One our heads are filled with terrible financial advice, like discouragement from attending affordable community colleges, the huge push to build up 1000's of hours of what frequently become unpaid or poorly paid experiences, the inclination toward back-to-back schooling without taking time off to pay down loans and build up savings, etc.