I still can’t make up my mind between UCSC and Cal Poly SLO. Cal Poly’s deadline was last month, so I sent in my Statement of Registration. UCSC’s deadline is next week, but I’ve already told them I will be attending there in the fall because I wanted to sign up for housing.
Are there any big downsides to this? I don’t think either school has any way of finding out that I’ve told another school, but what about financial aid? Should I just wait and not accept my financial aid packages until I make up my mind for good?
<p>When you accept, you normally sign on the card that you are only accepting one college. To accept two colleges is "dishonest" and the academic world really hates that. A lot of colleges have honor codes and you are expelled for cheating on exams. When you signed both cards, it said that doing so could result in your acceptance being revoked.</p>
<p>And colleges do share information to some extent. Not every college in the country is connected to every other college, but colleges in the same area or the colleges that cater to the same group of applicants often share information. Imagine each college in a consortium sending a list of the social security numbers of their new freshman class to every other college in the consortium.</p>
<p>Also, you are going to have to request that your high school send your final transcript to the college you are going to attend. You can not tell your high school to send it to two places.</p>
<p>I would get out of this as soon as possible. Learn that any decision is better than no decision. When my S was little and he couldn't decide between two things (such as candy bars), I would count 1...2....3 slowly and if he couldn't decide by the time I said three, he didn't get either one. Any decision is better than no decision.</p>
<p>It isn't the greatest thing to do, really. They have space requirements. It's slightly more forgiveable because neither school has a waitlist, so you aren't erroneously taking someone else's space. They do factor in a few people who leave during the summer due to waitlists (I think they're called "summer melts"?), so it won't be entirely disastrous. It is dishonest, though, especially because you did it just because you couldn't make up your mind and are essentially bypassing guidelines every other student needs to consider carefully.</p>
<p>Financial aid is difficult, and with state schools like SLO and UCSC, you probably won't find out about it until way late, which is incredibly unfair. You can try calling the offices to hear when you'll know, or even to figure out what they're offering.</p>
<p>Good luck getting out of it, though.</p>
<p>(Also, to dufus3709: I don't know about your S's high school, but mine (CA public) couldn't care less who they send official transcripts to, I just need to pay $1 per transcript. They know they go out to various colleges and organizations for scholarships, waitlist updates, etc.)</p>
<p>The full story goes like this (I'm a transfer student), I hadn't heard back from any UC schools by the deadline date for Cal Poly SLO so I had to tell them yes in case I didn't get into any UCs. Since then, I've gotten into UCSC, UCSB, and UCSD. UCSC would be my top choice if, and only if, I get on campus housing at one of the colleges there that I like. If they assign me somewhere I don't like, I would rather go to Cal Poly SLO and live off campus. So it's not really a matter of not being able to make up my mind, it's a matter of basing my decision on housing assignments which take place after a decision is meant to be made.</p>
<p>I'm not worried about being rejected by either school over this, I'm just wondering if there are any specific issues I'll have to deal with, specifically with financial aid.</p>
<p>Did you sign a statement when you sent your deposit that you are accepting only that school? If so, you are in breach of contract. If your GCs are members of NOCAC and are doing their jobs, they will not send more than one transcript and may well notify the school what you have done.</p>
<p>They REALLY hate it when students deposit to more than one school. As one admissions officer put it, it's "unethcial" on the perspective of admissions offices.</p>
<p>As far as I am concerned, the schools are just inviting it when they make it clear on the admissions deposit card that you lose your deposit if you decide not to enroll. It seems to be addressing this very issue. If they really wanted to label it as unethical, they could state that the deposit and signature on the enrollment contract are commitments to attend and if the school discovers that more than one contract has been signed, acceptance will be rescinded and the other school notified of the situation. Some schools do this.</p>
<p>I have a friend who is still undecided also, so he sent the intent to register to 4 different schools. I think he's gonna decide it like a week before school starts</p>
<p>I have two problems with what you have said:</p>
<p>One: You said "So it's not really a matter of not being able to make up my mind, it's a matter of basing my decision on housing assignments which take place after a decision is meant to be made." Nobody ever has all of the information when they had to make a decision. What you said is just an excuse for not making the decision. When Napoleon made his decision to fight at Waterloo, did he have all of the information? Did he know how the French column tactics would work against the English thin red line? Did he know if Boucher would arrive in time to help Wellington? No, but he made a decision. You are not making a decision because you don't know your initial housing assignment for the first few months. There could be better reasons anyway.</p>
<p>Two: You said "I'm not worried about being rejected by either school over this". If that were true, then why did you ask in the title of the thread "is this bad?". Did you mean "is this bad?" in the moral sense, or were you worried about the risk?</p>
<p>Okay, people drive over the speed limit and risk getting a ticket. People jaywalk. Not everone follows the rules all the time. However, you are risking acceptance at both colleges over an housing assignment. Not even whether or not you have housing, but whether or not you will like it. A housing assignment that will last at most for 9 months, but you can probably change it after you enroll. The risk can be divided into "Will I get caught?" and "Will will happen if I get caught?". I don't know the answers, but colleges like to think that they operate on a high moral plan, and they really hate this kind of behavior. The punishment would be equivalent to a college finding out that you had cheated on the SAT.</p>
<p>Note to jamismom: The note on the slip about losing your deposit concerns if you are waitlisted at another college and withdraw your acceptance to the first school after being taken off the waitlist at the second school. Was there a note on the slip about promising not to accept two schools under penalty of having your acceptance revoked on either of the two slips that he signed?</p>
<p>I understand your dilemma, but as I said in my post, no one has all that information at the time of a decision. Transfers have it harder than freshman because of the varying deadlines (there aren't any "universal reply dates," though they often pick June 1st; the school can tell you to respond within two weeks of receipt of acceptance or whenever you feel like it with no worries), and I personally feel the colleges have it coming to them to have some melt from multiple SIRs because of the wonky deadlines.</p>
<p>However. Again. Financial aid has not come yet for you because, unless you missed a form (which is your fault, unfortunately, not theirs -- and so not their problem when it comes time to decision making), it hasn't come for any accepted transfer. By registering to attend two schools so that you still have the option to compare financial aid (... how can you afford to drop down $100-$300 you definitely will not get back when you choose one of the schools, yet still have to wait to compare financial aid?), and waiting to see which housing assignment you get so you can determine which college to attend (which most kids don't get until at least mid-summer) you are "cheating the system." </p>
<p>And so, end result: Yes. You told two different schools you are attending in the fall, and that is bad. Will they do something about it? Unless the reply card said so (re: previous posters' quotes about "agree to attend," etc.), probably not.</p>
<p>I should make some clarifications to my situation</p>
<p>Im not waiting to find out my financial aid situation. I dont care, I know both schools will give me good money.</p>
<p>Im not worried about the ethics of not choosing by the deadline.</p>
<p>Im not going to force a decision that Im not 100% happy about. Ive been through this college process too many times, and know exactly what Im looking for and what I want out of school. (This will be the 4th college Ive attended)</p>
<p>Here are the questions I have.</p>
<p>Will either college rescind my admissions? Im not worried about this, I think it would be unheard of if they did, but since so many people seem to think that colleges will live up to their contracts in the SIR, please give me some horror stories of it happening before. Ive heard of none, yet.</p>
<p>My BIG question is about financial aid, but apparently I didnt clarify it. I will be getting the majority of my financial aid from the federal government. They can only give me money to go to one school. If Ive told two schools, will they both send requests to the government for money, and will the system freak out? When would this occur? The deadline for sending in transcripts is July 15th, do they file for financial aid after this?</p>
<p>Thanks, but Im not looking for judgment, Im looking for solid information on the bad things that may happen in this situation. I know full well that it is wrong, and that Im cheating the system, but Im doing what I must.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the extra judgment, if I didn't know better, I would think I'm a horrible horrible person.</p>
<p>Did I tell everyone I was speeding yesterday, oh and I ate the last piece of pizza without asking first. I sure am bad. Makes you wonder, maybe I'm not the type of person who should be traveling the world, dedicating his life to fighting poverty and oppression (which I do).</p>
<p>Look, I've lied to a school and will have to tell them nicely that I won't be attending in the fall. This isn't going to haunt me in my sleep.</p>
<p>You're a teenager who has already dedicated his life to FIGHTING poverty and oppression? I'm kind of throwing up and laughing hysterically at the same time.</p>