"What can we do to make you reconsider?"

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ann123

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So I got accepted to my first choice school, which with all expenses will be about 70K/year, and emailed another school I was accepted at (40K/year) to decline. The director of admissions of the latter school just called me and said "What can we do to make you reconsider?" and just rattled off all the reasons why their school is good. I just kind of stammered and said my decision was based on location. Was she basically opening up a discussion about money? Would it have been bad protocol to ask her how much they would offer me? Please if anyone has been through this, let me know.
 
ann123 said:
So I got accepted to my first choice school, which with all expenses will be about 70K/year, and emailed another school I was accepted at (40K/year) to decline. The director of admissions of the latter school just called me and said "What can we do to make you reconsider?" and just rattled off all the reasons why their school is good. I just kind of stammered and said my decision was based on location. Was she basically opening up a discussion about money? Would it have been bad protocol to ask her how much they would offer me? Please if anyone has been through this, let me know.
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Yes, it was a discussion about money. I don't have any clue about how to reopen that discussion as it seems you may have finalized that deal.
 
Sounds like an overtly obvious attempt to play hardball. Why you no play?
 
Question 1: is there ANY amount of money that would convince you to choose school 2 over school 1?

Question 2: If the answer to question 1 is "Yes," call that school back and say so, in a diplomatic way. Something along the lines of, "I apologize for not expressing myself better earlier, you seemed to have caught me off guard. I've though about it a bit and I do really like your school, but it would take a very generous financial aid package to convince me to attend it, as I had my heart set on moving to [insert trendy city here]."
 
You must have been really good, OP, for them to actually say that. So jealous.🙂
 
Mdude said:
Question 1: is there ANY amount of money that would convince you to choose school 2 over school 1?

Question 2: If the answer to question 1 is "Yes," call that school back and say so, in a diplomatic way. Something along the lines of, "I apologize for not expressing myself better earlier, you seemed to have caught me off guard. I've though about it a bit and I do really like your school, but it would take a very generous financial aid package to convince me to attend it, as I had my heart set on moving to [insert trendy city here]."
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👍 Do this.
 
Take that $$$
 
danggg. u must be good... U wanna unveil ur profile ??

and what was ur first choice school ????
 
seriously... would you maybe consider sharing your MDapp?
im scratching myself profusely in curiosity.
 
I don't think it was about money. If it was they would of already given you a grant to make the school more competitive for you to attend. I think it was a just a kind effort to make you think twice about not attending their school by expressing all the positives about their school.
 
slick27 said:
I don't think it was about money. If it was they would of already given you a grant to make the school more competitive for you to attend. I think it was a just a kind effort to make you think twice about not attending their school by expressing all the positives about their school.
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I agree...
 
slick27 said:
I don't think it was about money. If it was they would of already given you a grant to make the school more competitive for you to attend. I think it was a just a kind effort to make you think twice about not attending their school by expressing all the positives about their school.
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And "what can we do" meant "what positives can we tell you about"?
 
well from the COA figures OP quoted i'm assuming the school that called was his/her state school....which makes it very unlikely that the call was about money....besides OP is choosing the more expensive school anyway so i dont think that school can sway him/her with more money
 
Of course it was discussion about money. What else does a school have to offer you? What else could "What can we do" mean? The dean knows you aren't gonna say, "Well, I think another tour would be pretty convincing, and if you could guarantee me a single in the dorms..."

OP, I recommend you call back and talk turkey. Even without additional funding 30k/year is a ton of extra money to spend on your education. If they offer you more, you could be talking about 40 or 50k per year in difference. Think long and hard about it before walking away from that kind of cash.
 
Based on the fact that you're even posting this, you must be open to going to the 2nd school if they reduce the tuition. So you should call back and say you considered the positives she gave you about the school and are reconsidering your choice, and because of the inconvenient location you would only consider going to the second school if they reduced the tuition by some percentage. Try to get them to shave off a quarter of the tuition - even if you only get them to take off 10% it's still a great deal. And be sure to lavish their school with praise as you negotiate, but always add that "BUT..." and give the positives of the other school, which was your first choice. And don't act like you're in a privileged position, be very humble about it and thankful that they took the time to personally call you and spend time addressing your concerns.
 
Yeah I feel like the school was trying to play ball money wise. If you post some stats you could probably get some better advice.
 
the schools are actually DO schools but i thought that since there are many more people in the MD forums and that the application procedures are comparable, i might get more advice. i did end up calling back and emailing. i said that i might be persuaded to attend with more financial incentive. i have yet to hear from them! thanks everyone for your advice and sorry if i misled anyone...
 
ann123 said:
the schools are actually DO schools but i thought that since there are many more people in the MD forums and that the application procedures are comparable, i might get more advice. i did end up calling back and emailing. i said that i might be persuaded to attend with more financial incentive. i have yet to hear from them! thanks everyone for your advice and sorry if i misled anyone...
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i see....well completely disregard my last two posts....

yes it was absolutely about money ..you completely dropped the ball when they called you and you should have called back rather than emailed since they called you rather than emailing! i doubt they'll take you seriously now.

...also if you're going to post in the Pre-MD forum to get more advice you might want to point out that you are talking about DO otherwise all the advice is gonna be useless
 
ann123 said:
the schools are actually DO schools but i thought that since there are many more people in the MD forums and that the application procedures are comparable, i might get more advice. i did end up calling back and emailing. i said that i might be persuaded to attend with more financial incentive. i have yet to hear from them! thanks everyone for your advice and sorry if i misled anyone...
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That makes more sense. I agree with the above about avoiding e-mail, but it doesn't really matter now.

Good luck, hopefully you end up with some $$$! :luck:
 
If you're really interested in knowing how much money you can save, I would heavily recommend calling them in person and asking to talk to someone to see. If they say they called and spoke to you either
a) Act like you never talked to anyone
b) One of your ex-friends answered and declined for you
c) You reconsidered and wanted to know if there was any financial aide/other perks to going to said school

And honestly, if they gave you a full ride, would you not go still?
 
ann123 said:
i did end up calling back and emailing. i said that i might be persuaded to attend with more financial incentive. i have yet to hear from them! thanks everyone for your advice and sorry if i misled anyone...
Click to expand...

skinMD said:
i see....well completely disregard my last two posts....

yes it was absolutely about money ..you completely dropped the ball when they called you and you should have called back rather than emailed....
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😕
 
Kaustikos said:
If you're really interested in knowing how much money you can save, I would heavily recommend calling them in person and asking to talk to someone to see. If they say they called and spoke to you either
a) Act like you never talked to anyone
b) One of your ex-friends answered and declined for you
c) You reconsidered and wanted to know if there was any financial aide/other perks to going to said school

And honestly, if they gave you a full ride, would you not go still?
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You know it isn't always about the money most of the time. Would turn down a Top 10 school because a Caribbean school offered you a full ride?

Also, I just thought it was funny, not to pick on you, how you worded the first bolded sentence.
 
And...let us know if you get $$. 🙂
 
andrewnwi said:
You know it isn't always about the money most of the time. Would turn down a Top 10 school because a Caribbean school offered you a full ride?

Also, I just thought it was funny, not to pick on you, how you worded the first bolded sentence.
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Of course you wouldn't. The comparison makes no sense. From a carribean school you will face serious obstacles to having a successful career in the field of your choosing. Plenty would turn down a Top 10 for a Bottom 10 AMERICAN SCHOOL free ride. Compare apples to apples.
 
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