I’m currently a high school senior and applied EA to all my colleges. I got into Penn State Smeal Business School and Indiana University Kelley Business School. I got defferred from UW Madison (Business intended major) and U of Michigan (Int. Studies). I could see myself at any of these schools and prefer to study business. Should I wait for my deffered decisions to come out? I’m OOS with 27 ACT, 4.1 GPA, and IB Diploma Candidate. Good essays and recommendations. I honestly don’t know where to go
Congrats! How do the costs compare?
Perhaps focus for now on what you’d choose between Smeal and Kelley. You don’t know whether the others will even come into play. If they do, it will be simpler to evaluate head-to-head against a single front-runner.
The costs are pretty much the same for penn state and indana, although I would get more IB credit from IU. Madison is my cheapest option. Location, campus environment, and cirriculum are my biggest concerns
I would wait until you have all your options.
Have you visited each school? Maybe for starters return to Penn State and Indiana and see how you feel at each campus?
Are finances a consideration?
Is there one school you want to eliminate now based on location, finances, or something else?
Congratulations!
Congratulations on your acceptances! If after further research comparing curriculums and other variables you still don’t have a clear preference, you could wait until after you attend their Admitted Student days. You would then see how you vibe with the other admitted students, and which of those colleges make you feel the happiest to call home for the next 4 years. No need to burn bridges prematurely, so I would also wait to see if one of your deferrals pan out. Good luck!
Would it be too risky to wait though? I know Michigan doesn’t send out decisions until April so housing, scholarships, etc. might be limited
Find out whether you need to commit early in order to get the housing you want and etc. (Hopefully your ability to attend doesn’t depend on scholarships you don’t have yet… can you afford PSU/IU without additional funding?)
As I said before, it makes sense to engage now with the question of which of your two acceptances would be your choice. There are early accepted-students’ days - Kelley has direct-admit events in February - figure out which one you can go to and sign up. https://kelley.iu.edu/programs/undergrad/events/direct-admit-day/index.cshtml Look into what PSU has in a similar vein.
If there’s an advantage to committing early, you can commit and pay the deposit. If you get into another program and decide to commit there, you lose the deposit, but otherwise there’s nothing stopping you from changing your mind. If there’s nothing gained by committing early, then wait, but still do the research and revisits on IU/PSU now, so that if you get another option later, you’ll only need to make time for further research into that program.
Honestly I’m not sure why UMich is still on the table. If you get an offer at all (and odds are against this), it will be a non-business program that will cost more than the top-tier business programs you’re already accepted to… and you say you prefer business. Why pay more for a second choice major when you could attend one of the top programs for your first choice major?
Pick your front-runner. Find out whether there’s a benefit to committing/depositing or not. Then wait on UW-Madison and if you get in, make a decision between that and your front-runner. (The money saved on UW would, I’m sure, outweigh the cost of forfeiting a deposit.)
^ revisit both. Ask questions.
Did you apply for honors college at either one?
Look at the mandatory courses (for example, finite math is a killer at IU; business calculus 1 is weed out at Penn State: is either one waived through IB credit or would you have to take them?)
Do you have GPA requirements to stay in the business school?
What about other factors -
class sizes, environment, housing, activities of interest you’d like to continue in college…?
After considering all criteria (gife yourself a couple weeks) deposit. Then wait for UWisconsin’s reply.
Are these actually limited? Don’t worry about what might be - ask questions. My D was accepted into the school she eventually attended in late October, and a few others by 1/1. But she still waited until late April to commit. There was nothing to be gained/lost by waiting.
Unless there’s something specific, re-visit the two schools’ admitted student days to at least narrow it down. Maybe even the other two to narrow it down. You only provided two data point, but they indicate Michigan is quite unlikely.