Withdrawing after submitting 1 out of 2 deposits

[grateful_phys]

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Hi, I paid one deposit to a school(1K) and now am deciding to withdraw and not submit the second deposit (1K) has anyone had luck with a refund in this situation or what is even the appropriate thing to say?

 

[soysizle]

Hi, I paid one deposit to a school(1K) and now am deciding to withdraw and not submit the second deposit (1K) has anyone had luck with a refund in this situation or what is even the appropriate thing to say?

So far the best I got was 100 bucks but that was from AZCOM. I just had my acceptance to KCUCOM withdrawn because I didn't pay my second deposit. I think it sucks that these schools ask for 1000 dollar deposits let alone two of them! You usually have to read the fine print, most of the time they specify absolutely no refunds. I suppose you can always try asking.

 

[Magus5454]

So far the best I got was 100 bucks but that was from AZCOM. I just had my acceptance to KCUCOM withdrawn because I didn't pay my second deposit. I think it sucks that these schools ask for 1000 dollar deposits let alone two of them! You usually have to read the fine print, most of the time they specify absolutely no refunds. I suppose you can always try asking.

*shrugs* if you're going to attend it. At least it goes to your tuition

 

[calivianya]

DO school deposits ought to be regulated the way MD ones are. I wouldn't care about them being refundable vs nonrefundable... just them being $100 instead of $1000+ would help a lot.

 

[deleted480308]

DO school deposits ought to be regulated the way MD ones are. I wouldn't care about them being refundable vs nonrefundable... just them being $100 instead of $1000+ would help a lot.

It’s the point of a deposit. It’s supposed to be enough that it hurts to walk away from so they can be confident that deposit means they have a student in that seat without going to find another one

 

[MADD!!!]

It’s the point of a deposit. It’s supposed to be enough that it hurts to walk away from so they can be confident that deposit means they have a student in that seat without going to find another one

How about when the acceptance is offered in September and you have 30 days to pay it, when most other schools haven’t even sent out interviews yet -___-. Cough cough CUSOM (purposefully not following aacomas guidelines for profit).

 

[soysizle]

The worst that I’ve heard by far is Touro-ca, they give you two weeks to decide and it’s 2,000.

 

[deleted480308]

How about when the acceptance is offered in September and you have 30 days to pay it, when most other schools haven’t even sent out interviews yet -___-. Cough cough CUSOM (purposefully not following aacomas guidelines for profit).

It’s a piss or get off the pot situation.

 

[stickgirl390]

Only luck I had was when I was able to stop a check before it was cashed. I received my MD acceptance two days after I mailed off my $1,500 DO deposit. After I filed the stop-payment, I called the school to withdraw and they kindly said they would shred my check instead of cashing it. They were super sweet about it and wished me good luck etc. Made me feel bad about withdrawing 🙁

 

[MADD!!!]

It’s a piss or get off the pot situation.

It’s malicious and should be regulated more closely. Aacomas traffic guidelines are set in place for a reason, and now, while a majority follow it, some just decide to do what’s best for them.

 

[deleted480308]

It’s malicious and should be regulated more closely. Aacomas traffic guidelines are set in place for a reason, and now, while a majority follow it, some just decide to do what’s best for them.

if you want them to hold a space for you and stop trying to fill it with someone else, you have to put some skin in the game.....

 

[MADD!!!]

if you want them to hold a space for you and stop trying to fill it with someone else, you have to put some skin in the game.....

I agree, but aacomas guidelines has specific rules for this. They say the first deadline to pay should be by dec. 15 and not sooner. Some schools accept as soon as August! Then give only 2-4 weeks to put a deposit down. I agree with the concept of deposits for sure, but not like this.

 

[Promethean]

I agree, but aacomas guidelines has specific rules for this. They say the first deadline to pay should be by dec. 15 and not sooner. Some schools accept as soon as August! Then give only 2-4 weeks to put a deposit down. I agree with the concept of deposits for sure, but not like this.

So, imagine you are one of the people who actually desperately wants that spot. Imagine that people who don't *really* want the spot, but just want to have a safety in their pocket, can hold that spot and keep it from being offered to you.
Imagine that you are the school and you are seeking commitments to fill your class. Imagine that there are a lot of people who would love to hold onto a seat as a safety and are perfectly happy to waste your time and resources pretending that they want to join your class, but really, they'd rather go somewhere else if they could.

You have the ability to not pay big deposits. Just don't pay them. But ouch! That comes with a cost! You might end up with nothing.
Or you can pay the deposit, hold a spot that you may not really want, inconveniencing some other student who wants the seat there AND the school who wants that seat to be filled with someone who wants to be there. That comes with a cost for them. They make up that cost by asking you to put down a deposit.

The reason deposits are lower at MD schools is that they don't have so much of the problem of med students pursuing them *primarily* as a back up, if their attempt to get into a DO school fails? The reason there is a relative differential is that there is a higher relative risk for them that you don't really want to attend.

If a school does give a refund, or even a partial refund, they are being very, very kind.

If you go to buy a house, you may have to put down a deposit to keep another buyer from being able to snipe it out from under you. Your deposit is actually purchasing something for you... exclusivity in doing the deal. If you reneg on the deal because the house you really wanted becomes available and go whine to the seller that you'd like your deposit back, they aren't going to nicely hand it back to you. You cost them opportunities to sell to someone else while they were working up the deal with you.

The same thing with medical school. Your deposit is buying exclusive rights to the seat they offered you. It is a way to say, yes... I want it. If you don't really, it will get expensive for you. That is a feature, not a bug.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

You won’t get the deposit back.

Edit: although I do want to say that I agree with MADD. I think it’s cheap for schools to ignore the suggested traffic guidelines. The only reason they do it is to increase their revenue by accepting a lot of people earlier than everyone else knowing full well a lot of those students will never set foot in campus again.

 

[MADD!!!]

So, imagine you are one of the people who actually desperately wants that spot. Imagine that people who don't *really* want the spot, but just want to have a safety in their pocket, can hold that spot and keep it from being offered to you.
Imagine that you are the school and you are seeking commitments to fill your class. Imagine that there are a lot of people who would love to hold onto a seat as a safety and are perfectly happy to waste your time and resources pretending that they want to join your class, but really, they'd rather go somewhere else if they could.

You have the ability to not pay big deposits. Just don't pay them. But ouch! That comes with a cost! You might end up with nothing.
Or you can pay the deposit, hold a spot that you may not really want, inconveniencing some other student who wants the seat there AND the school who wants that seat to be filled with someone who wants to be there. That comes with a cost for them. They make up that cost by asking you to put down a deposit.

The reason deposits are lower at MD schools is that they don't have so much of the problem of med students pursuing them *primarily* as a back up, if their attempt to get into a DO school fails? The reason there is a relative differential is that there is a higher relative risk for them that you don't really want to attend.

If a school does give a refund, or even a partial refund, they are being very, very kind.

If you go to buy a house, you may have to put down a deposit to keep another buyer from being able to snipe it out from under you. Your deposit is actually purchasing something for you... exclusivity in doing the deal. If you reneg on the deal because the house you really wanted becomes available and go whine to the seller that you'd like your deposit back, they aren't going to nicely hand it back to you. You cost them opportunities to sell to someone else while they were working up the deal with you.

The same thing with medical school. Your deposit is buying exclusive rights to the seat they offered you. It is a way to say, yes... I want it. If you don't really, it will get expensive for you. That is a feature, not a bug.

Sorry but this is bs. There’s aacomas traffic guidelines in place for a reason. The later in the app cycle it goes, the narrower the range becomes. If someone gets accepted in feb/March they have 2 weeks to pay vs someone in September who has until December. And yes, as both an applicant and a school you should have the opportunity to review your choices. It’s not always about a safety net, but also about a best fit.

How do I know if school B would be better for me if I got into school A in September but got an interview for school B in December. I’m not wasting time, I’m looking for the school that’s the best choice for me. And it’s not something I’m doing wrong, it’s the way the system has been set up. If you want it to be so streamlined as to not waste time, they can do a match process for medical school applications as well. Everyone interview and rank a school, then lock them in and that’s final.

 

[Terry Toma]

It’s the point of a deposit. It’s supposed to be enough that it hurts to walk away from so they can be confident that deposit means they have a student in that seat without going to find another one

It's true that the deposit makes it hurt to walk away, but I don't think it's a sufficient disincentive to actually stop anyone from doing so. Yeah, it will hurt to walk away from my DO deposit if I get into an MD or a better DO program, but I absolutely wouldn't for a second consider passing on a better acceptance offer just because I have a deposit in at a school I don't like as much.

So the school can't really be any more "confident that they have a student in the seat without going to find another one" than they'd be if they only had $100 of my money.

 

[0dee]

Some schools like Touro and CUSOM are ought to declare a for profit status, as they function like one. I don't think a 1k deposit will deter anyone from taking the MD spot. I dropped 2k for two different schools so far and I'll happily forget about it if I get accepted into my state MD school. I think the deposit is supposed to make you think twice before committing to another DO school.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

This is why you don't apply to schools you don't intend to attend or can't afford. You can't blame the schools for wanting to fill their seats with people that are committed to them instead of putting them in a situation where you jerk them around and then they have to scramble for inferior candidates or prolonging their interview season.

 

[McDreamy123]

Kind of odd allo schools ask for $100 deposit and DO schools often ask for $2k. Most of us are broke, and we also have to secure an apartment before school with first month, security deposit, etc and this before loans disbursed. So before you know if you paying $4-$5k out of pocket....this is extraordinary amount of money to many incoming med students.

 

[Kr#36]

This is why you don't apply to schools you don't intend to attend or can't afford.

If we followed your logic here, everyone would only apply to 1 school. There are schools that I would attend if it were my only acceptance, but that doesn't mean I won't drop that acceptance if I receive a better one. It also doesn't mean I shouldn't apply to those schools as safety nets.

 

[grateful_phys]

This thread wasn't meant to be a rant session. I was genuinely interested in advice about how to withdraw my acceptance, and if possible, to refund the deposit because in this unique case, I never put down the full deposit.

 

[BellaWriterChic]

This thread wasn't meant to be a rant session. I was genuinely interested in advice about how to withdraw my acceptance, and if possible, to refund the deposit because in this unique case, I never put down the full deposit.

While I am not sure if you can get the deposit back, I said something along the lines of "I appreciate the offer of acceptance and while this was not an easy decision, I will have to respectfully decline the offer. I hope the seat goes to a worthy student."

Getting a refund is school dependent. From what I have seen, they will say on their websites or in the acceptance email whether it is refundable or not.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

If we followed your logic here, everyone would only apply to 1 school. There are schools that I would attend if it were my only acceptance, but that doesn't mean I won't drop that acceptance if I receive a better one. It also doesn't mean I shouldn't apply to those schools as safety nets.

That's why the "or" statement of which one you can afford is there. If you can only afford one school, only apply to ones you're sure you'd go to regardless of the others. If you can afford multiple deposits, go for it.

 

[Kr#36]

That's why the "or" statement of which one you can afford is there. If you can only afford one school, only apply to ones you're sure you'd go to regardless of the others. If you can afford multiple deposits, go for it.

This is a silly hill to die on. Nobody here is complaining that they can’t possibly afford a deposit. The point is that low tier schools know applicants will withdraw and take advantage of applicants for profit with a huge deposit.

 

[Scrubb]

This thread wasn't meant to be a rant session. I was genuinely interested in advice about how to withdraw my acceptance, and if possible, to refund the deposit because in this unique case, I never put down the full deposit.

Regarding the deposit, it’s not that complicated.

(1) Read the fine print of what you agreed to when you made the deposit. If it says deposits are refundable, great! Ask for your refund. End here. If it says non-refundable or doesn’t specify (the latter is unlikely), proceed to (2).
(2) Doesn’t hurt to ask for a refund anyways using a well written e-mail (probably won’t work).

That’s it.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

This is a silly hill to die on. Nobody here is complaining that they can’t possibly afford a deposit. The point is that low tier schools know applicants will withdraw and take advantage of applicants for profit with a huge deposit.

I don't argue that in some way they take advantage of students for profit, but on the other hand, they need to do what they can to retain the students that they accept. If you could easily hold 6+ seats, you could create a mess for them. Imagine come the end of the cycle and half their class disappears instantly then hope that who you take off the waitlist will want to commit that second to coming to your school. Now imagine you and hundreds of others having planned your life for the next year including commitments to jobs, graduate school, rent, etc. and finding out last minute that you got in. That's okay for a few students each year at every school, but if it were hundreds of students every year, it's a mess.

Again, only apply to schools you're willing to attend. The correct strategy is to apply to 8 schools or so you are sure you'd attend. Get into one and pay the deposit and be happy going there or wait if your top choice takes you then give up the deposit for that school. Instead in the other scenario you might hold onto 4+ seats you may almost equally like for a long time because you're indecisive and other students get screwed over. You might think "fine by me if they get screwed over," but what about when the one screwed over is you?

 

[Kr#36]

Yea I definitely understand the need for a deposit for certain schools, but it can be done better. There is no need to require any kind of deposit before march. They could also mitigate this by using their past data to prepare for the average number of students who will move on with different offers.

I'm not sure the 8 school thing is wise for a lot of applicants but thats for another day. I definitely agree someone shouldn't apply to a school they aren't willing to attend.

 

[deleted480308]

This is a silly hill to die on. Nobody here is complaining that they can’t possibly afford a deposit. The point is that low tier schools know applicants will withdraw and take advantage of applicants for profit with a huge deposit.

Or they know a ton would withdraw at $100 and hope to see less occupy that space just to abandon it later at $1000....which is the point

 

[Kr#36]

Or they know a ton would withdraw at $100 and hope to see less occupy that space just to abandon it later at $1000....which is the point

Still doesn't explain the need for a $1k deposit in December.

 

[deleted480308]

Still doesn't explain the need for a $1k deposit in December.

But it does....the point is to cut down on how many filled spaces (by December) that they have to refill

You can not like it, but that is the explanation

 

[Kr#36]

I guess we disagree on the 'main' reason. I think its $$$ and wouldn't attend one of those schools.

 

[deleted480308]

I guess we disagree on the 'main' reason. I think its $$$ and wouldn't attend one of those schools.

You’re lying to yourself. If that was your only option you’d pay double that deposit.....and so would thousands of other students

 

[Kr#36]

You’re lying to yourself. If that was your only option you’d pay double that deposit.....and so would thousands of other students

I'm not lying. If that was going to be the case for me I wouldn't apply to medical school. Unfortunately these schools know they can take advantage of applicants with sub-standard apps and make a quick buck. I disagree with it, thats all.

 

[deleted480308]

I'm not lying. If that was going to be the case for me I wouldn't apply to medical school. Unfortunately these schools know they can take advantage of applicants with sub-standard apps and make a quick buck. I disagree with it, thats all.

You’re claiming you would rather not be a doctor than pay a $1k deposit on principle?

I guess we’re at an impasse because I don’t believe you

 

[Kr#36]

You’re claiming you would rather not be a doctor than pay a $1k deposit on principle?

I guess we’re at an impasse because I don’t believe you

I’m not sure why the topic has been shifted to my personal decisions but just for clarity:

-I’m not personally interested in primary care
-I wouldn’t attend one of the schools we’re discussing unless I was ultimately okay with that outcome, which I don’t think is an unwise stance based on the number of graduates shuffled into PC.
-I’d just go be an engineer instead.

I understand what you’re saying in regards to how they have to go about filling their class, I just disagree on the main reason for their exact methods and feel it could be done better if money wasn’t the primary motivator.