Impact of multiple acceptances on financial aid offer

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skijumpbump

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My question pertains to holding multiple acceptances and how this impacts you financial aid offer. Last week was a very exciting time for me as I was accepted into 3 schools. I am 95% sure that I will attend school X, for a variety of reasons. I have withdrawn my applications at the schools I have not heard anything from. This means that I am accepted to schools X, Y, and Z, and since I have withdrawn from all others this is how it will stay. So really my question is if I decline my acceptance from schools Y and Z will I be hurting my financial aid award at school X?

Since I received all of these acceptances last week I have not sent in any acceptance deposits, so I was hoping to save myself some money buy declining the offers at the schools that were not my top choice. Yet might this actually cause me too loose money in the long run? Will school X be able to see that I am only holding an acceptance with them and thus they will not give me as much aid because they don't need to "win me over" from another school? Might I be loosing out on some money being short sighted and wanting to save ~$400 on acceptance deposits when I could be costing myself a grant at my top choice school? Also my motivations for withdrawing from the other schools are not completely monetary, as I don’t want to hold a seat I will not take and make someone suffer on a waitlist unnecessarily.

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You pretty much have it all figured out and correct. I don't know what the probability of one of the schools giving you a scholarship or tuition break is. I don't think there is a specific rule of thumb that applies as it is probably dependent on more than just stats. That being said you've worked hard and earned those acceptances. Don't feel guilty for holding them! Besides you will have to give up all but one of them by May 15th giving the schools plenty of time to fill your spot. Congratulations on having choices:thumbup:
 
they can't see.

if you like one most, write them and say "i like y'all a lot, but financials are important to me, can you give me an idea about FA?"

or some such, I recall a thread about that.
 
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The recurring meme on these boards is that you hold onto these offers until the financial aid packages come out. A lot of things can change between now and then, but one thing that you probably won't change is whether someone gets into school Y and Z or not.
 
They can see it at that point and that is when they adjust the financial aid packages they offer. Your best bet is to wait until they each give you your financial aid package. Or if your hurting for money right now go ahead and stick with your favorite.
 
I asked my premed advisor the exact same question (I guess I'm in the lucky minority b/c my advisor is very knowledgable and talks frequently with adcoms. So I trust her opinion) She said that she's never heard of other acceptances influencing your financial aid package at a school and that there would be no way to concretely prove that this actually happens.

That being said, if there is any chance you could see yourself at schoools Y and Z, then I would hold onto them. Plus, the deposits might be refundable if you withdraw before a certain day. If you don't want to go there even if they offered you a completely free ride or something amazing like that, then don't send in the deposit.
 
My question pertains to holding multiple acceptances and how this impacts you financial aid offer. Last week was a very exciting time for me as I was accepted into 3 schools. I am 95% sure that I will attend school X, for a variety of reasons. I have withdrawn my applications at the schools I have not heard anything from. This means that I am accepted to schools X, Y, and Z, and since I have withdrawn from all others this is how it will stay. So really my question is if I decline my acceptance from schools Y and Z will I be hurting my financial aid award at school X?

Since I received all of these acceptances last week I have not sent in any acceptance deposits, so I was hoping to save myself some money buy declining the offers at the schools that were not my top choice. Yet might this actually cause me too loose money in the long run? Will school X be able to see that I am only holding an acceptance with them and thus they will not give me as much aid because they don't need to "win me over" from another school? Might I be loosing out on some money being short sighted and wanting to save ~$400 on acceptance deposits when I could be costing myself a grant at my top choice school? Also my motivations for withdrawing from the other schools are not completely monetary, as I don't want to hold a seat I will not take and make someone suffer on a waitlist unnecessarily.

My scholarship awards came with my letters of acceptance (merit) or within one week of my acceptance. Once I had a full-ride at the school that was my #2 choice, it became my #1 very quickly. I have never regretted that decision.

We don't see that an applicant is holding multiple acceptances and would have no way of knowing this unless you chose to share this information (we don't care where you have been accepted/waitlisted/rejected) before May 15. After the May 15 date, we only see that you are holding multiple acceptances (not where) and make the decision to withdraw our acceptance (you can't hold multiples after that date; acceptance and waitlist is OK but not multiple acceptances). We generally send out a letter that states that we will withdraw acceptance from any applicant that winds up on the multiple acceptance list after May 15th, thus most folks will generally release all except one by that date.
 
also, you will get the deposits back if they are MD schools
 
Njbmd, did you go to medical school at UVA w/ a full ride??? If UVA gave me a full ride I would seriously piss my pants.. That 42k OOS tuition is scary though.
 
also, you will get the deposits back if they are MD schools

Thank you very much for this information. I guess this makes my decision very easy. I am going to send in the deposits at all 3 schools to hold my seats since I can get a refund when I choose to withdraw. I guess this way I will have some more time to think about the schools and look at financial aid packets. I doubt I qualify for any merit or need based scholarships as I am a very average applicant, but a full-ride could definitely change my mind.
 
Thank you very much for this information. I guess this makes my decision very easy. I am going to send in the deposits at all 3 schools to hold my seats since I can get a refund when I choose to withdraw. I guess this way I will have some more time to think about the schools and look at financial aid packets. I doubt I qualify for any merit or need based scholarships as I am a very average applicant, but a full-ride could definitely change my mind.

Congratulations dude! Was one of the schools UVM?
 
I have received a few scholarship offers but my #1 and #2 schools have told me that they will be sending notification of awards in the next 2 months. I don't know if I can bargain but I have a couple of attractive offers from a couple of schools in my home state (OH).
 
So do schools send acceptees a general financial package before March 15th and then a specific financial package after March 15th once they see where we've been accepted?
 
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