<p>My son has been admitted to Univ of Cincinnati - Arts and Sciences. We're 99% sure he'll attend UC. Don't know if anyone this forum will know if there any advantage to confirming intention to attend now rather than in Feb (housing choices, class registration priority or anything else)....couldn't find anything on their website...and have not received a response to this question on the Univ of Cinti CC thread.</p>
<p>But....more "generically"....If he's on the "edge" for qualifying for a scholarship*....do you think he would be more likely to be considered for it if we wait....so that the school might use it as an incentive to get him to commit? </p>
<p>*Need 3.2 GPA, which he's a little above. No stated test scores, but he's in the mid-high 20's on the ACT. School admitted to is Arts & Sciences, which is significantly easier to get into than DAAP (Design and Architecture) or CCM (performing arts.) Also...there are "soft" factors that are considered for some of the univ scholarships (once the GPA threshold is met) and he has a couple of good service EC's and is geographically desireable as an out of state at a very heavily in-state school.</p>
<p>At D’s school, on campus housing for freshmen is neither guaranteed or required, so we signed the housing contract the day she was admitted and sent the deposit the next day.</p>
<p>Next issue is signing up for registration/orientation. The tricky part is that you can’t sign up until you take the math and English placement tests. I’m going to try very hard to get her to take the tests when school is out in a few weeks.</p>
<p>Housing is an advantage by confirming admission…We confirmed the next day,and wound up in a double…Those that confirmed later wound up in “forced triples” meant for doubles…</p>
<p>A few years ago my son got offered a scholarship to one of the small high quality engineering colleges. The scholarship was too little to help our budget, and we told them so. This resulted in a couple of back and forth efforts, but they eventually said they couldn’t go higher. I believe this was mostly due to his waiting so long to apply to this college, and that if he’d initiated that process and been aggressive with it much earlier that the result would have met his needs.</p>
<p>Some schools give priority for housing or even classes to the first x-number of students to pay a deposit/housing fee. I’d look into that, it could save a headache later when everyone is competing for the “best” res hall or the 11:00am Bio lab as opposed to the 8:00am.</p>
<p>DS has an acceptance to his top choice, but we really, really don’t want him to commit until March. We’d like him to leave his options open as long as possible, plus there are two schools he has applied to that he has not actually visited yet and we would like him to give them fair consideration, even though he currently has zero interest in doing so. Is parenting always this frustrating? Arrgggh!</p>
<p>At my school you don’t get to register until summer no matter what and housing applications don’t come out until Spring, so it makes no difference. That really depends on the school, so while some people have said at their school it makes a big difference that really doesn’t tell you anything unless they go to UC.</p>
<p>At the school DS eventually chose, housing for freshman year, and all subsequent years, is based on the date you sign your housing contract. So I would say the earlier the better. Because he waited (audition situation) he is always going to be on the tail end of housing choice.</p>
<p>Many schools have an early deadline for merit scholarship consideration, and they give their acceptance along with any scholarship/grants up front…I am not sure if holding out will glean you anything unless you are in a talent-based scholarship situation. Best advice would be to contact the head of the department to see if any departmental scholarships are decided later.</p>
<p>^UC is not one of the schools that gives aid in the acceptance letter. They have rolling admissions, so letters go out all the time. You have to apply by a certain date to be in consideration for say, the Cincinnatus scholarships, but you don’t have to tell them you’re attending to receive aid.</p>