akbar

Hmm...the school that is rushing me is part of that agreement, but that agreement mentions financial support, not admissions. In this case I'm not getting any funding (it's a terminal master's degree) so maybe it doesn't apply to them. At any rate, it doesn't matter because one of the other programs I contacted just accepted me

Right. The school in question is sort of on a mezzanine below the first tier but above the second tier. It's a good school, but everyone who gets into a first tier program later on would go there instead, right? I think this is part of their strategy to increase yield. At any rate, I went ahead and e-mailed three of the other schools which usually sent out decisions in late February/early March. Two ignored it but one (which I thought I had low chances for) actually called me today for an interview! I think it can work but you need to be careful - it helps them to know that you were accepted somewhere else good, but at the same time they may think you won't go to their school if they can't get a decision to you in time.

One of the master's programs I applied to gave me a really early reply deadline (as in this month early). I still have four applications outstanding that probably won't reply until early March. The program that accepted me is a good school, but I would prefer going to one of the other places I applied to. Is it OK to e-mail the other programs with this information and ask if they can reply more quickly, or is this generally frowned upon? Does anyone have experience with this? It's really only my deposit at stake here, but all the same I'd prefer not to have to accept then decline. Thanks for any advice.