<p>In early February, I received an acceptance letter from one of my favorite schools: University of Michigan. Since then, I have been awaiting other colleges' decisions to finally put my foot down regarding which university I will attend.</p>
<p>At this point, I have only two decisions pending, which should come out on April 1st (Stanford and Princeton). Given that both universities have low acceptance rates, it's likely that I will end up attending UMich.</p>
<p>For this, I feel like answering positively my UMich decision right now, paying the fee and starting filling financial statements; setting things as early as possible. As you probably know, after paying the initial enrollment fee, international students are required to fill a bunch of forms for the expedition of the student visa (F-1/J-1) -- a process that might take some time. </p>
<p>My concern, then, is: assuming I register now at UMich (and get my I-20 ready), would I be allowed to withdraw my enrollment (I know the fee is nonrefundable) in the case I get accepted by either Princeton or Stanford?</p>
<p>If your offers involve funding, the schools would follow the protocol of the Council of Graduate Schools. (You should have gotten a copy of the resolution along with your funding offer from Michigan.) You could withdraw from Michigan anytime before April 15. After April 15, you would need explicit approval from Michigan to accept another funding offer.</p>
<p>The I-20 won’t get in the way of your withdrawing from Michigan and enrolling elsewhere. Your I-20 is a snapshot of the SEVIS record that Michigan creates for you (and regularly updates while you are enrolled) with the Department of Homeland Security. Your SEVIS record can easily be cancelled and another school can create a new record for you with no problems. Of course you would have to start the visa application process over again.</p>
<p>As far as the actual process of withdrawing from Michigan and enrolling elsewhere is concerned, that partially depends on whether the Council of Graduate Schools resolution applies. It does if you were offered funding of some sort (e.g. a tuition waiver or a teaching assistantship) from Michigan.</p>
<p>Also: if you are an undergraduate applicant, please ignore everything I said about graduate schools. I’ve been thinking too much about grad school applications lately. :)</p>
<p>Yes, you can withdraw from Michigan later, but you would have to start the visa paperwork over again for the other school. Most students have plenty of time to get their visa documents and successfully apply for a visa after April 1.</p>