Is there any advantage or reason to send a deposit to a school (that is one of her top choices) where she was accepted EA now even though the deadline is not until late May and my daughter is awaiting other RD notifications? The deposit is not a lot of money and I am wondering if she will be more (or less) attractive for merit scholarships, preferred housing, or anything else…?
Depends on the school. It may (repeat, may) be advantageous for housing. That’s about it.
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Agree with the previous post. Check how the school prioritizes their housing application process to get pick of dorm or room. They vary by date applied, date deposit received, lotto, etc.
Yes, benefits, including early housing choice, are offered by some schools as a way to encourage commitment and improve cash flow. Schools typically publicize this, so if you haven’t heard of anything, maybe not. But it’s worth a few minutes of reseearch.
If not, then no. But it does take it off a To-do list, and can give a sense of finality to the long college selection process.
When you send in the deposit you are saying that you are committed to this school so be very careful about that, especially if you haven’t seen it yet. However, waiting it out till May can have benefits. If your daughter received any sort of merit scholarship right off the bat, schools sometimes will increase that the longer you wait to submit your deposit to entice you to come. Check with your school to hear about the housing details, sometimes you can guarantee housing by submitting early but thats not always true.
I’m not sure what this is supposed to mean. It is ok to send in a deposit and then change your mind later. This isn’t an irrevocable decision. It is against the rules to have two deposits in at a time, but you can send in this one now to reserve your place and then change your mind later. You just have to tell them you aren’t coming and will probably lose the deposit.
Since you asked about merit: I would assume that, if anything, a deposit would mean less chances of merit, which is used to entice students to deposit.