Seeing the corona virus outbreak and so many uncertainty around , Can we accept multiple offer on May 1. Without college visit ,how can we finalize? Your opinion please .
You can’t ethically double deposit.
You CAN ask the school for an extension on your decision date. You can also deposit at a May 1 college, but hold off notifying a college with a June 1 deadline. If you change your mind in May, you can notify college 1 you won’t be attending after all, then deposit at the June 1 college. You might lose your deposit at the May 1 college, though, but that is the price of extra time.
Your high school will only send a final transcript to one college. You are unlikely to get their cooperation with a double deposit as they know it is against the rules, and they don’t want to see colleges stop recruiting or rejecting their students. Also, if your multiple colleges find out you have double deposited, they will withdraw your acceptances.
Basically keep the lines of communication open with your schools. They understand we are in unusual times.
No, you cannot accept multiple offers.
Unfortunately, our children will have to base their decisions on virtual tours, virtual accepted students events, and any information they can gather while at home.
I don’t realistically see the possibility of doing college visits during the month of May, therefore it will be the same difficult decision come June 1 too:(
I just don’t think the same rigid rules apply across-the-board these days.
If two schools have a hard May 1 deadline & your kid can’t decide and wants to visit a school they have never seen in person - and that visit can only occur , say, May 20 after restrictions are lifted…? I think it’s not unreasonable to put in two deposits and the. withdraw one - say May 21.
I get the ethics I just don’t see that the hard line can apply in the same fashion during these very unusual circumstances…
That is exactly my point. 2020 is totally different situation. We are in totally lockdown now for Corona. How can we commit for four years without having at-least one physical visit. Colleges are not relaxing the date . SO what should we do.
Talk to your colleges. You can’t unilaterally change the rules after you agreed to them when signing your applications. Colleges know these are unusual times. However they still expect you to act with integrity. Open the dialogue and see what they say. Their willingness to work with you might say a lot about how the school will treat you in the future.
You have to contact the schools and ask. You can’t just make up your own rules because that more convenient for you or you think it is fair.
If you do, you run the risk of losing one or more deposits, and losing the spot if the schools find out you did make multiple deposits. Maybe that risk is worth it to you, but just recognize the risk before you do it.
MANY college kids over the years have gone to colleges sight unseen, and that was long before the days of youtube virtual tours.
What are you going to get out of a visit once visits are allowed - there won’t be students on campus this summer. Is it just the layout and beauty of the buildings? You can see that online. If the campus is not gated, I guess it’s possible to walk the closed campus now - perhaps security will tell you to leave, but don’t know. I don’t think, even by June 1, there is going to be some magical return by tons of students to campus so you can see the vibe… I think in depth research on student blogs and sites and discussions with current and former students (online or over the phone) plus virtual visits will be very telling. Look at the course catalogs, requirements for major, rules, student newspaper.
The student signed the Common App agreeing to the following:
MODERATOR’S NOTE: The answer is in post #8. CC does not condone unethical behavior, so I am closing this thread.