Accepting offer

[Anonymous]

Once a student is offered non-binding (EA/RD) admission, should they "accept" immediately if interested? DC has an offer in hand but won't decide for sure until they have all decisions/offers (likely April). This school says the deposit is refundable up to May 1st. I have heard there are advantages to accepting regarding priority for housing in particular. Is there any reason not to accept assuming it is revocable and refundable? What about if the student is still waiting on information about honors/merit scholarship - would accepting and putting down a deposit impact those pending decisions (either positively or negatively)? Many thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

I definitely would not accept till you know for sure are going there.

[Anonymous]

PP is correct. You accept when you definitely plan to attend the school.

Not all schools give special benefits to those who accept early, so I'd do your homework to see if that's even the case for this particular school. Regardless, it's ridiculous to accept on the off chance that this will be the school for your kid, given that your child is awaiting other results, presumably from schools they might prefer.

[Anonymous]

In some instances, you can apply for housing prior to accepting and just cancel the housing contract if you accept somewhere else on May 1. Do not accept an EA offer until all offers are in. There is no advantage to this and you could be potentially taking someone else's spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In some instances, you can apply for housing prior to accepting and just cancel the housing contract if you accept somewhere else on May 1. Do not accept an EA offer until all offers are in. There is no advantage to this and you could be potentially taking someone else's spot.

Thanks for this helpful reply. That was my inclination but wanted to double-check.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once a student is offered non-binding (EA/RD) admission, should they "accept" immediately if interested? DC has an offer in hand but won't decide for sure until they have all decisions/offers (likely April). This school says the deposit is refundable up to May 1st. I have heard there are advantages to accepting regarding priority for housing in particular. Is there any reason not to accept assuming it is revocable and refundable? What about if the student is still waiting on information about honors/merit scholarship - would accepting and putting down a deposit impact those pending decisions (either positively or negatively)? Many thanks in advance.

Wait until the last possible day to accept. You never know how good the other acceptances may end up being. Some schools do want you to accept first before signing up for housing so be cognizant of that. Worst case, you lose a small deposit. Some folks have reported success with scholarship negotiations with lower ranked schools. Not accepting gives you the upper hand in such negotiations, I presume.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once a student is offered non-binding (EA/RD) admission, should they "accept" immediately if interested? DC has an offer in hand but won't decide for sure until they have all decisions/offers (likely April). This school says the deposit is refundable up to May 1st. I have heard there are advantages to accepting regarding priority for housing in particular. Is there any reason not to accept assuming it is revocable and refundable? What about if the student is still waiting on information about honors/merit scholarship - would accepting and putting down a deposit impact those pending decisions (either positively or negatively)? Many thanks in advance.

Not enough information. But, since you asked and provided some information, I see no harm in accepting the offer of admission since you may get priority housing choice, may not be accepted elsewhere, and since the deposit is refundable.

(This would be a lot more fun if the schools in question were known along with the student's interests and qualifications.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In some instances, you can apply for housing prior to accepting and just cancel the housing contract if you accept somewhere else on May 1. Do not accept an EA offer until all offers are in. There is no advantage to this and you could be potentially taking someone else's spot.

Was about to say the same.

[Anonymous]

At UMD, you can confirm that you are interested in housing as soon as you get the acceptance email, which I think is typically Feb. 15, without doing anything about accepting. You have until May 1 to accept/decline.