Hey guys,
I had this question and was hoping someone on CC could answer it for me. Say that you were waitlisted at School X, your first choice, but accepted at School Y. By May 1st, the usual decision deadline, School X has still not moved you off the waitlist. So, you accept the offer at School Y. One or two months later, School X offers you a spot. Would you be allowed to accept that offer? In other words, are college decisions ultimately binding, even for regular decisions?
Yes, you could accept the offer, but you would not get your first enrollment deposit back.
Yes you certainly can accept the offer. It happens all the time. In that event you can notify school X that you will accept the offer of admission and pay the deposit. And pretty much simultaneously you should notify school Y that you have accepted a spot off the waitlist from another school and will not be attending. And the above poster in correct in that you should not expect to get your deposit back from school Y.
Obviously that is how the waitlist work. The school find out after May 1 how many seats left before they make offer to waitlist. So students who accept waitlist offer would be mostly after committed to other schools by May 1.
There is also summer melt when kids who accepted an offer decide not to attend. Some of these processes can take until late July. So if you are serious about a school, you can continue on their waitlist until they dissolve it.
One issue with waitlists - most schools don’t have any financial aid.