<p>I have a friend who applied to a graduate program with an application deadline of March 31st. The admissions committee starts reviewing applications in April. </p>
<p>This is his first choice, and he got accepted into some other programs but wants to wait until he hears from this one. It puts him in an awkward position of not knowing how to respond to other offers, most people seem to already know where they have been accepted and where they are going!</p>
<p>I think it depends on the school and program. Mine, for example, has a bizarre schedule made for working people (which is a joke - I got fired from my last job due to my class schedule and have yet to find a job ever since) and I think the application deadline is the beginning of May because freshmen are only allowed to start in the summer. But that’s just my program - the other programs at this college are different.</p>
<p>There are a few schools that operate this way (Ohio State does, at least for electrical engineering) and I eschew them. It is indeed an awkward position, as the vast majority of grad programs expect a yes or no by April 15th, and if you do not have answers then you must make an unfaur leap of faith.</p>
<p>Your friend has three choices: take a definite “yes” and pass up the first choice school, turn down the rest in the hope that the last school makes an offer, or take the best “yes” currently on the table and then drop it if the first choice comes through. Each of these has consequences that could potentially affect a career. Your friend will have to decide.</p>