- Joined
- Jul 2, 2014
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I'm refusing to move forward with their application because of the $2000 non-refundable deposit upon admission. I'd like to take ~some~ time to weigh my options if I receive multiple acceptances.
Schools with high non-refundables are basically telling you that they aren't interested in being your back up. Same thing with that high secondary fee. It is a way to fight back against the application spam where pre-meds send out 30+ apps in a cycle. If the fee were cheap/refundable as it is at many MD schools, people would do what they do at those schools, which is accept a spot and hold it until they are able to come off the waitlist at the place they REALLY wanted to go. That is kinda sucky for people who actually REALLY want to go there, but have to wait for those other folks to give up their acceptances sometime in late spring.
I'm actually far more interested in the school upon hearing about this policy. It tells me that the other people applying are people who take the application seriously (aside from those few with money to burn!), and that I won't be going to school with a bunch of people who are disappointed to go here but had to suck it up because they didn't get their first choice acceptances. $1500-$2000 makes you think really freaking hard about whether you want that seat bad enough to keep some other person out of it while you wait to see if there is a better deal down the line for you.
The $200 fee is a great way to say don't apply if you aren't totally certain that we are your school. I'm interested in how many people shell it out and for how many seats. (Will do my own research for that answer, not asking anyone to fill me in.)