Deciding between schools

[theaterteacher]

Hey fellow applicants.  SO I have a question maybe some of you will know the answer to.  I have been accepted into a few schools, and at this point I am waiting on financial aid packages from one of the schools before making my decision.  The problem is, the deadline for acceptance for one school is in a week, and for another school I have to let them know by the end of the first week in April.  Is it bad form to say yes to a school and then decline if I am offered more money by another school at a later time?  Does work get around from school to school of someone having a bad reputation for doing this?  This is for an MFA program BTW.

 

Thanks for your help.

[theotherlily]

It is better to tell them that you need more time to decide.  If you pull out after accepting, it causes a lot of problems, and there's no need to piss people off.

 

 If they are CGSR compliant, they are supposed to give you until 4/15 to decide.  Check here to see if the schools in question have signed the resolution:   https://www.cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution

 

If they have signed the resolution, don't stomp in and say "you have to give me till 4/15 to decide."  Just go into negotiations with the knowledge that 4/15 is what they owe you.  Just write them and say, very nicely "I need to find out some more information from other schools before making my decision.  I should be able to tell you by 4/15, but I will tell you as soon as I have the information that I need."

 

If they haven't signed the resolution, do the same thing.  If they are going to yank your acceptance because you are waiting to get financial information from another school, you don't want to be there anyway.