<p>So my D was accepted to a few schools, waitlisted for others, denied by some and havent heard from the last few. Some offers include scholarship information while other suggest that scholarship funds will be available but do not specify dollar amounts. The schools that have offered admission to the MT program and scholarships expect an answer by the end of March or by early April so they can offer those spots to others.</p>
<p>Of my D's top choice, she is waitlisted, and her second choice she is accepted. She would be happy at either school. Once she commits and accepts a position should she notify all of the other schools? If she is offered a spot at her top choice in April how improper would it be for her to tell the school that she already committed to that she has changed her mind?</p>
<p>Scholarships will pay an important role in her final decision and some of the schools are not including that information with their offers, so that make the final decision a little more difficult.</p>
<p>We are thankful that she has received some acceptances...this whole process was rather stressful (more on us parents i believe).</p>
<p>There are a number of threads regarding the fact that the students are not obligated (under a regular decision application) to give a school an answer until May 1st. The only problem that should arise is if your daughter is wait listed at her top choice, and won’t find out from that school until after May 1st. If that is the situation, she will need to accept somewhere else just in case she does not come off the wait list. I’m sure the schools run into this all the time. A nice email or letter saying thank you, you are honored by the acceptance, but have decided that another school is a better match, so you will be declining their offer.</p>
<p>If she is absolutely sure she is ready to decline an offer, then a nice email letting the school know that she is declining their offer would be great. But if she isn’t sure about a school, then hold onto the spot. That way she is releasing her spot and the school can move on to another student. These programs know that there may be movement from waitlists. If she comes off her first choice waitlist she can notify the school she had chosen and accept the waitlist offer.</p>
<p>I would think though that if you accepted a spot at one school and then had to refuse that spot after May 1st that a phone call would be in order. It seems more polite and respectful than an email. Plus, the MT community seems relatively small and burning bridges may not be to your D’s benefit. I get that programs understand people are going to shuffle to other programs via wait-lists, but it can still be done with some courtesy.</p>
<p>As soon as my d knew that a school that accepted her was not “the one”, she sent an email releasing her space, so that someone on a waitlist could move into acceptance mode (and start the domino effect!) She did the same for scholarship awards (the competed-for ones) so that an alternate could become a recipient. After all, a kid can only attend one school. I understand you are still in decision-making mode, but if there is an acceptance (or more than one) that your d is sure is not a fit for her, it would be so great to let it be a fit for someone else. </p>
<p>Scholarship (and financial aid) packages seem woefully slow in coming in…complicating the decision process more. However, the day my d sent in her final “yes!” to the school she chose, she made certain that all other offers had received a “thanks, but no” directly from her. She received a couple replies to her “no thank yous” – apparently, it was somewhat of a rarity to take the time to explain that she was truly flattered by their offer, but [insert reason here…and it varied]. A couple of schools even came back with more talent money offers…which again she thanked but declined, with a note asking they be distributed to other students who would attend. We figured it was good karma (and her school choice is working out very well for her!)</p>