rolling admissions vs. not

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zazio

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Hey all... I'm new. Haha, I knew this was going to be a bad idea because now I'll just spend all my time on this forum, but anyway, I was just wondering what people had to say about rolling admissions (like Mercer) vs not. Mercer is the only school I applied to that does rolling and I noticed that they don't do deferred admission... so what happens if you accept an invitation for admission at one school and then later get accepted (in 2009) to a school that doesn't roll their admissons? Do you take the first acceptance and then eat the $500 deposit when you want to go to a different school? Can you even do that?
 
Here's my philosophy on admission offers...

I'll pay the deposit on the first offer because there are no guarantees you will receive more than 1 offer. If other offers come in, I will compare the two schools and determine which one I would prefer to attend. Of course, if you elect to go with the 2nd offer, you will then have to pay a 2nd acceptance fee and lose your first one. I'll repeat this process until I am satisfied with the school I have chosen. This process could become expensive so I don't know how firm I will stick to it.

Another option I am considering is of course, accepting the first offer for the reason above and then ranking all the schools I have applied. I would only then consider the school's which rank higher than the school I have been accepted.

Then there's the side of me that wants to just run with the first school that accepts me. This is not a huge deal for me, since I have applied to all out of state schools. Tuition will not be a part of the equation (in state tuition v. out of state tuition). That's why this can be feasible for me.
 
I applied to Mercer and UGA. I interviewed at both during the month of January. I was accepted to Mercer a week later. Because UGA sends out all of their acceptances during April, my only option was to go ahead and pay the deposit for Mercer so that I definately had a spot at a school for the fall. You don't want to not pay a deposit and not get accepted to a non-rolling school and then you are out of luck! I did end up getting accepted to UGA and that is where I am now, so like you are talking about, I did end up "eating" my Mercer deposit. Most people I know did end up in a similar situation though. What gets bad is when you apply to several schools and their deposits are over 1000! But on the bright side, UGA didn't require a deposit so that made the 500 a little easier to part with for Mercer! GOOD LUCK!👍
 
You always want to do a deposit with any school you are remotely interesting, assuming that you can afford it. It may sound like quite an investment and that is precisely what is, an investment in your future. You'd be surprised what can change in just a few months. The question you have to ask yourself is if you are willing to possibly eat the cost of a deposit for the benefit of having a few more options for longer.
 
Some schools don't make you submit a deposit until further in the spring time. I know Michigan for example doesn't require a deposit until May - I think it differs with each school, I recommend you should just call the schools you are interested in.
 
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