Hi everyone,
I have lurked various MFA forums from previous years on here for the past couple months as I fill out my application, and I finally caved and made an account because I need some advice! My boyfriend and I are applying to seven schools together. He is applying for Physical Therapy school, and I am applying to get my MFA in Fiction. He got his first acceptance letter today and it's all very exciting (despite the fact that I haven't even finished my applications yet and am in full panic mode currently).
What I need some advice on is if/when we get our acceptances. Most of his programs (besides the one he just got his acceptance for) require him to respond within 2 weeks with a non-refundable deposit of $500 if he chooses to accept his offer. If he doesn't respond within two weeks, they move to the next person on the wait list. The problem is, his applications were due already and some of mine aren't due until Jan-Feb. So he will hear about his programs before I do from mine (the standard for his programs being to hear from mid January to early February), and it's obviously a time-sensitive offer because he only has two weeks. Is there anything I can do (like ask programs for an earlier decision on my application) or anything he can do (like ask for an extension on whether he wants to go to their program or not)? I realize this is kind of an odd question, but I am sure we're not the only two people to ever have been applying to grad school at the same time and stumble upon this problem.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, especially because I don't want to commit an MFA faux pas by doing something the admittance committee would consider to be rude or unprofessional. Please let me know if you have any advice on this situation, and happy applying everyone!
Hannah
