<p>Sorry if this is an ignorant question.
My oldest son will be a HS senior this fall.
He is planning to apply to two in-state public universities this summer since we have learned that it is advantageous (especially for merit scholarships) to apply early. He will likely attend one of them.
He also plans to apply to one or two long-shot colleges in the fall after he retakes the SATs.
My question is, once you are accepted somewhere, how long do you have before you have to let them know whether or not you are going there? If they offer you scholarship money, do you have to accept right away or risk losing it? Does this vary school by school, or is there a standard answer?
Thanks.</p>
<p>normally the date is May 1 unless it is an ED application. you may however want to put a housing deposit in before that date if accepted to make sure you get housing. if you dont go you usually get some of that money back.</p>
<p>^^^Yes, this is good advice and the general situation. However, the bottom line is that there are many exceptions, so you always need to check the college website (or call the college if you need to). With only 2-4 colleges to monitor, it won’t take long to keep track of their deadlines.</p>
<p>InspiredByMusic,</p>
<p>Welcome to CC! I also have a rising Senior; you should join the folks over in the “Parents of the Class of 2010” thread as we are all dealing with the same situations :)</p>
<p>My DD is in the same boat as your son and will be applying to our state flagship as well as an OOS state flagship early this fall for the same reasons that you mentioned; I believe to be considered for merit at one the deadline is November 1 and the other is December 1 (her GC says "if you can smell the turkey, it’s too late!) Most state schools have something called “rolling admissions” where they respond to applications in the order that they are received. So it is likely that my DD will have admissions decisions from those 2 schools before Christmas.</p>
<p>More selective/smaller schools mail out all their decisions at the same time: April 1st is the Big Day, but a lot of times they will start notifying by March. May 1st is the standard day for all colleges to want your answer. I do not believe that you would have to tell your state school you were attending before you had decisions from other schools. What you might run into is a situation where you’d need to put down a housing deposit to secure a spot at State U before you have your other decisions in hand or risk missing out in getting into the dorm he prefers or freshman housing at all.</p>
<p>Re: state scholarships. I know that for the more competitive ones, interview weekends are not even scheduled until January/February after the admissions department has been able to go through the flood of apps that comes in at the deadline. And in our case, 2 of the scholarships at our State U are guaranteed (one is a lottery scholarship, and one is based on academic statistics) so as long as her app is in on time, she’s done.
HTH,
RobD</p>
<p>Can I piggyback on your question? I know if my d applies ED and is accepted, she is basically contracted to attend there. How does EA work? How long after you apply EA do you have to tell them? Is it the May deadline or earlier?</p>
<p>For EA, May deadline.</p>
<p>4gsmom - There are several advantages to having your D apply to an early but non-commit school … those being EA or rolling admission. First, it gets your student moving earlier. Second, an EA or rolling admission acceptance means less stress during the Christmas/New Year school break. And third, while there’s little empirical evidence that an early application improves that chances for an acceptance, some believe that it does. (Applying ED improves chances greatly, but ED is another situation entirely.)</p>
<p>inspired by music, when it comes to state universities, the rules vary quite a bit, so it is best to call or carefully peruse the web sites.</p>
<p>One state university told us last week that it is best to put down the housing deposit as early as possible, especially if requesting newer or more elaborate dorms. You can get the entire deposit back as late as April 1st if you decide not to attend. (Of course, if you are waiting on one of the private schools that does not notify until April 1st, that doesn’t do you a lot of good.)</p>
<p>DS applied for U of Washington in November, accepted in December, put down the housing deposit in March (I think) to hold his place, then decided right before the May 1 deadline to go somewhere else. It was no problem getting the full housing deposit refunded, as the web site had promised. As others have said, getting the acceptance early (rolling admissions for UW, not EA or ED) relieved a lot of stress, but each college is different so checking the web site is the way to go.</p>
<p>I recommend that any parent become familiar with student rights and responsibilities, as well as the principles of good practice, outlined by NACAC (link to documents page here: [Policies</a> and Statements](<a href=“http://www.nacacnet.org/AboutNACAC/Policies/Pages/default.aspx]Policies”>http://www.nacacnet.org/AboutNACAC/Policies/Pages/default.aspx) ). Most, although not all, member schools will follow NACAC guidelines.</p>
<p>Having said that, my daughter applied to a state school which was a NACAC member (she’s now a rising college senior) and was invited to participate in a scholarship competition on campus. After all was said and done, she was offered a scholarship but was told she had to accept the scholarship/admission well before May 1. She followed NACAC procedures and sent a written request that they extend the deadline, as she was still in admissions limbo with other schools. When she received her FA info from this school many months later, the scholarship was missing, so they clearly did not honor her request or the NACAC principles. We did not make a big stink about this as she had other choices that were preferable, but we certainly could have pointed out their breach of the principles of good practice.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, for the helpful information!</p>
<p>If you are applying early AND you NEED financial aid, then be careful you do not apply for a Binding Early Decision or Early Action. Non-binding is ok. If apply for Binding, then you have to go to that school and withdraw your applications from other schools if you are accepted ED.</p>
<p>In general, you should know by April 1 the admissions decision and financial aid award. You should have until May 1 to decide.</p>
<p>What is non-binding early decision? We attended an open house that had this. They said that you should only apply early decision if this school was your first choice, but that it was not binding. So why not apply early?</p>
<p>If it is non-binding (like EA or rolling admit) then it’s a good idea to apply.</p>
<p>“What is non-binding early decision?”
there is no such thing. I think OperaDad was referring to SCEA, but there is no Financial Aid downside to applying SCEA or EA, because you are not required to withdraw applications from other colleges if accepted, and your acceptance decision can delayed until you hear from other colleges and compare FA awards.</p>