Deposit at more than one college?

<p>My son is accepted at 3 schools and wait listed at 3 . He is not sure where he wants to go. Is it possible to put deposited at 3 places and decide after ap exams when he has time to go see the schools? I don't know how this works . We didn't go to school here so we are confused parents </p>

<p>It would be better to contact each of them and ask if they will give him an extension on the deposit date. Many will allow a week or two extra.</p>

<p>It considered to be very bad form to deposit at more than one place simultaneously. However some people end up doing that every year for any number of reasons. If you decide to go that route, expect to lose the deposits at the places he decides against, and please let the places know the second he makes that decision. Don’t allow him to drag this out until August. Remind him that there could be someone on the waitlist who really wants that college/university.</p>

<p>But truly, unless these three are in three different parts of the country, and he would have to be the one to do the driving, I say stash him and the AP exam prep books in the back seat of the car (or in the airplane seat) and get these visits done in April.</p>

<p>We were sure he will go Michigan, so we went this weekend and he got turned off by it so we have to go to Georgia tech but he has no time since he has online class, 5 ap exams and top that he has eye condition we have to fix or he won’t be able to see:( we are so stressed and can’t go to see school and hate to loose deposit and keep some one waiting as well . Truly very torn </p>

<p>Thank you very much for response @happymomof1</p>

<p>He also needs to carefully check the policies at each place as to which AP exam scores are accepted for credit and/or placement. That way he will know which (if any) of those AP exams merit his attention. He might be able to skip them all!</p>

<p>“he has eye condition we have to fix or he won’t be able to see”</p>

<p>Then this is what you deal with first. In fact, depending on the severity, what you may want to be discussing with the universities is deferring enrollment for a semester or a year to get the vision issue under control.</p>

<p>It won’t take a year or semester but one whole week of April and so no time to visit schools </p>

<p>Have you previously visited the other two schools (Georgia Tech and the 3rd one you mentioned where he was accepted)? Do you have the eye surgery scheduled for sometime in April? If so, I think you have a good excuse to ask all those schools to please grant you an extension on his decision. I will tell you that many, many seniors miss some school and classes to go visit their final college choices. I think my D2 missed 5 days in April last year for this purpose (she had schools on both coasts and one in Chicago). If his eye surgery is not scheduled until after the April timeframe, then I would suggest you do try to visit in April to his other 2 choices, especially if he has not visited at all.</p>

<p>I agree that while AP exams are important, making the best fit college choice for him is much more important. Assuming his grades are good enough that he won’t be rescinded, as suggested above you may want to triage on which tests are most important and don’t worry so much about the other ones. And he can study while you are traveling, my kids both did.</p>

<p>I know this is all new to you, but to future applicants who might be reading this thread, these are some reasons to get visits in prior to receiving admissions decisions. The window is short between decisions and providing responses, senior year is busy, and things like health issues can derail visiting plans.</p>

<p>Here are a couple of points from the College Board website about double depositing:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>They recommend that high schools consider instituting a policy of sending each student’s final transcript to only one college. Your high school may or may not have this policy, but you should talk to your HS guidance counselor if you decide to double deposit. They will probably be fine with it if you have gotten permission from the colleges – but I am pretty sure our high school would not have sent the final transcript without that permission. </p></li>
<li><p>Warn students that some colleges reserve the right to rescind an offer of admission if they discover that a student has made a double deposit. Again – if you have permission from the colleges and meet the deadline they agree to, then no issue.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>I will say that I am guessing colleges will be more sympathetic to health issues than to the “overloaded with AP’s” excuse. Lots of students have a heavy load of APs in senior year and still get their visits & decisions made.</p>

<p>I’m always surprised when I see people say it is “bad form” to deposit at two schools. We asked at one school, as we were waiting to hear about merit aid (announcements for merit scholarships at this school were not made until after Spring Orientation, and Spring Orientation required the deposit be made. However, without knowing about merit aid, we didn’t know if the school was affordable, and didn’t want D to miss out on Spring Orientation, as you met with advisers and laid out class schedules). When we called to ask about the impact of missing Spring Orientation, we were told “The deposit is refundable until May 1st. Go right ahead and deposit and if the merit money doesn’t come through, request a refund”. Granted this is a sample of one, but evidently not every university considers it “bad form”. Just check about whether the deposits are refundable and until what date (often after May 1st you can’t get your money back).</p>

<p>Thanks for input @InigoMontoya</p>

<p>I’m really a new at this and my son is not sure so thanks </p>

<p>@Ingomontoya, of course that school will say that, since they are the ones delaying the merit announcements. Honestly, what else can they say? Every other school does not feel the same way. It is considered bad form (unethical) unless you have a really good reason.</p>

<p>They weren’t “delaying” merit announcements, that’s their normal timetable. Every year they have kids in this same situation - kids who haven’t decided 100% for some reason, yet don’t want to miss out on orientation because they hope it will work out. You shouldn’t arbitrarily deposit at multiple schools, but sometimes there are good reasons to deposit at 2. If the schools thought multiple deposits were such bad form, they would make the deposits non-refundable. I’m sure there are some schools that get miffed if you do this, but obviously not all feel the same way. I can’t imagine there aren’t always a certain % that withdraw the deposit, and I’m sure the schools plan for that, just like they plan for accepted kids that decide not to come.</p>

<p>Since according to college board your admission could be revoked, I would take this a little more seriously. As inparent said, once you check it isn’t an issue. Otherwise, don’t assume.</p>

<p>Thanks , I’m not doing this . We will make a decision and say no to them only he gets off the waitlist . Thanks everyone . So I’ll let you guys know where we put the deposit </p>