Some Advice on Revisiting a school

[phaedrus]

One of the schools I have been admitted to is offering a paid-in-full "revisit" weekend, in which they will pay to fly me back to the school in late March. This is in addition to the official interview weekend, which I have already attended. Having a couple other admits already, I am 99% sure I will not be attending this program. Even if I decided to attend the school, I have all the information I need to make my decision so I do not want to miss more work going on a second visit. My question is this: should I decline the offer of admission outright from this school, since I am pretty sure I will not be attending the program? Or should I just decline the offer to re-visit the school, and then decline the offer of admission at a later date?

Thanks in advance!!

[LJK]

It sounds like you are sure. I would decline the admission offer. It is nicest to the school who won't waste money on bringing someone out who won't attend and it's nice to the student who will get an offer in the slot you are currently occupying and will never know that they didn't get initially invited to the revisit (or their first visit if they didn't go to the interview). If you were the person waiting rather than the person with multiple offers to choose from, wouldn't you want that?

If you are more hesitant than the 99% sure you posted suggests, don't decline admission but decline the visit and be frank with the school - maybe they will try to sweeten the pot if they are really interested. Would that potentially change your mind? Regardless, congratulations on your success!