What do you do when you get an acceptance but waiting for dream school

[woltej1]

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When you get an acceptance, what are your options if you are still waiting on others? Can you say yes now and then no later without a cash penalty since I've heard some schools require a deposit? Or is it different from school to school.

 

[Kinch]

I believe you have a small window (couple weeks?) to put down a modest cash deposit to hold your spot. I think the timeline and deposit amount varies school to school. Not sure if you get the deposit back?

 

[wiloghby]

First, you dance around and freak out! You're going to be a doctor!

Second, you call to tell them you are accepting their offer of admission. (Often this can be done online as well.)

Third, you pay a deposit which is refundable until May 15th. You typically have two week to do this but it varies by school.

If at any time you get into your dream school before May 15th, you can get your deposit refunded from this school.

 

[pietachok]

If at any time you get into your dream school before May 15th, you can get your deposit refunded from this school.

With a BIG exception for many of the DO schools, which will gouge you a non-refundable fee of up to $2000 that you need to pay within weeks of being admitted.

 

[Ismet]

If at any time you get into your dream school before May 15th, you can get your deposit refunded from this school.

Unless it's Drexel 😡 Unless they've changed their policy since 2011-2012, they don't return your deposit.

 

[tantacles]

Unless it's Drexel 😡 Unless they've changed their policy since 2011-2012, they don't return your deposit.

Same with Meharry. $300 deposit with no refund.

 

[Purple Yams]

Do all schools require a deposit? The school I got into didn't ask for one yet so I just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

 

[Ismet]

Do all schools require a deposit? The school I got into didn't ask for one yet so I just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

No, not all schools require a deposit at time of admission. Two of my schools wanted a deposit after May 15 if I decided to go there. That actually kinda makes more sense, so they don't have to deal with refunding half of the accepted people who don't matriculate.

 

[skab]

Unless it's Drexel 😡 Unless they've changed their policy since 2011-2012, they don't return your deposit.

Apparently they have changed their policy; $100 refundable until May 15.

 

[ace12345]

Apparently they have changed their policy; $100 refundable until May 15.

But we can hold multiple acceptances correct? As in send multiple deposits until we figure it out later?

 

[Catalystik]

But we can hold multiple acceptances correct? As in send multiple deposits until we figure it out later?

Yes. Until after May 15, and then you may hold only one acceptance, as well as stay on multiple waiting lists.

 

[ChemEngMD]

But we can hold multiple acceptances correct? As in send multiple deposits until we figure it out later?

Yes. Until May 15th you can hold as many as you are willing to pay for. I personally am withdrawing from those that I am not as interested in, so that others may come off of the waitlist.

I feel it is the right thing to do if there are other applicants who truly want/need my spot at a school that I know I will not be attending. It helps speed up the process and make it so that not as many people are scrambling and coming off waitlists in June or July. I know it's a pain in the ass to have to uproot your whole life last minute with little to no planning ahead of time.

 

[IlDestriero]

Yes. Until May 15th you can hold as many as you are willing to pay for. I personally am withdrawing from those that I am not as interested in, so that others may come off of the waitlist.

I feel it is the right thing to do if there are other applicants who truly want/need my spot at a school that I know I will not be attending. It helps speed up the process and make it so that not as many people are scrambling and coming off waitlists in June or July. I know it's a pain in the ass to have to uproot your whole life last minute with little to no planning ahead of time.

Unless you are 100% sure you would never attend a school under any circumstances I would not give up any spot without finding out if they will give you any aid.
People will come off the wait list eventually either way. Most schools over accept significantly anyway and you giving up your spot doesn't mean another offer will go out early.

 

[ChemEngMD]

Unless you are 100% sure you would never attend a school under any circumstances I would not give up any spot without finding out if they will give you any aid.
People will come off the wait list eventually either way. Most schools over accept significantly anyway and you giving up your spot doesn't mean another offer will go out early.

In my case, I have an acceptance to a school that I really love and gave me a massive scholarship before they even determined my need for aid. I find it highly unlikely that the state school (OOS) that I was accepted to could make an offer that would be able to trump what I already have from a school that I like far more. Truth be told if I had received an acceptance to the first school earlier, I wouldn't have attended the interview at the other school, but thus is the process.

But point taken...I guess it doesn't necessarily help out other applicants to relinquish your spot, but it will at least help the school know whether or not you are seriously considering them. I guess my case is different in that I received a scholarship along with my first acceptance.

 

[Amygdarya]

In my case, I have an acceptance to a school that I really love and gave me a massive scholarship before they even determined my need for aid. I find it highly unlikely that the state school (OOS) that I was accepted to could make an offer that would be able to trump what I already have from a school that I like far more. Truth be told if I had received an acceptance to the first school earlier, I wouldn't have attended the interview at the other school, but thus is the process.

But point taken...I guess it doesn't necessarily help out other applicants to relinquish your spot, but it will at least help the school know whether or not you are seriously considering them. I guess my case is different in that I received a scholarship along with my first acceptance.

Congrats on your acceptances and your scholarship!
But your case is not exactly typical. Most people don't get nice scholarships from their top choices, so for them the amount of financial aid they get from school factors in heavily in their decision. I agree with you that withdrawing from a school you're not going to attend in a timely manner is a considerate thing to do (both to the school and to other applicants), but this does not mean that people holding multiple acceptances are jerks.

 

[ChemEngMD]

Congrats on your acceptances and your scholarship!
But your case is not exactly typical. Most people don't get nice scholarships from their top choices, so for them the amount of financial aid they get from school factors in heavily in their decision. I agree with you that withdrawing from a school you're not going to attend in a timely manner is a considerate thing to do (both to the school and to other applicants), but this does not mean that people holding multiple acceptances are jerks.

I agree.

There are definitely other schools that I would keep an acceptance at just in case to see how financial aid works out because I definitely haven't made my mind up yet. I only plan to relinquish my spots at schools that I know I wouldn't go to over the acceptance that I have.

I do believe that if someone is holding 3 or 4 top 20 acceptances there isn't much reason for them to hold on to multiple unranked school acceptances. I could understand maybe 1 due to geographic preference or perhaps a home institution, but I feel that once you get to a certain amount of acceptances it doesn't make sense to hold onto all of them. If you know that the max scholarship that the mid or low tier school is going to give you per year is ~25k and that wouldn't be enough to convince you to choose it over one of your higher ranked schools, then why continue to string people along?

I guess that's all hypothetical though haha.

 

[Amygdarya]

I agree.

There are definitely other schools that I would keep an acceptance at just in case to see how financial aid works out because I definitely haven't made my mind up yet. I only plan to relinquish my spots at schools that I know I wouldn't go to over the acceptance that I have.

I do believe that if someone is holding 3 or 4 top 20 acceptances there isn't much reason for them to hold on to multiple unranked school acceptances. I could understand maybe 1 due to geographic preference or perhaps a home institution, but I feel that once you get to a certain amount of acceptances it doesn't make sense to hold onto all of them. If you know that the max scholarship that the mid or low tier school is going to give you per year is ~25k and that wouldn't be enough to convince you to choose it over one of your higher ranked schools, then why continue to string people along?

I guess that's all hypothetical though haha.

And I agree with you, too. But the situation you're describing is, once again, not typical. There are several highly qualified applicants, such as yourself, on SDN who tend to create kind of a skewed version of the medical school application process 😉

 

[askamsky51]

Your dream school should be the cheapest one you get into. Dem bills.