deposit due before all decisions are out

Hi there, I applied as a fall 2016 transfer student to a bunch of schools. So far I’ve been accepted to 3 schools, and they all require deposits by mid-May. Meanwhile, other schools (like Tufts and Northeastern) won’t even be releasing decisions until mid-May or even June. Every school seems to have a different timeline for transfer admissions, so this must be a fairly common problem. How do people usually handle this?

I had the same problem and reached out to the schools transfer coordinators to ask for an extension on my deadline. They were super understanding and helpful, I’m sure they get it a lot!

Thanks @BarçaFan2016 . Does anyone have any advice for how to word the extension request? I don’t want it to come across like they’re my second choice and I’m just keeping them on the hook in case I don’t get into somewhere better (that’s definitely not my thinking at all, I’m just concerned it might come across that way).

The usual way of dealing with this, is to choose the one you like best of the three admissions offers on the table. Then, if you are admitted later on at a place you like better, you accept that admission offer, and let the place you initially committed to know that your plans have changed. This really is no different than accepting a freshman admissions offer, and then dropping it later when a student is admitted off a waiting list at a place they prefer.

Yup. You will lose your deposit, but that is the way to do it.

Thanks for the input @happymomof1 and @intparent . It sucks that I might lose ~$500, but if they don’t grant me an extension then I guess that’s what I’ll have to do.

I worded mine about waiting to hear back from merit aid from other places and they completely understood!