MangoSmoothie Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I'll start this by saying I am planning on enrolling in a professional master's program in speech-language pathology, so the situation might be handled differently from PhD or academic masters (that maybe have funding). I have waitlist confusion and really don't know what to do. In the first round of acceptances before April 15th, I made my decision on school A and was happy to accept. However, it's a very expensive program, and I told myself if I got off the waitlist at a cheaper program I'd take it. They're all 6 semesters long, including two summer semesters. Recently I got off the waitlist at school B. School B was tied as my number 1 when I applied, although it's still out-of-state. It has international opportunities and they do research in a particular area of my interest. This may not be totally relevant to me, but it's possible to get an hourly position in the lab, and they still have faculty well-versed in this area. However, although international experiences were important to me, it's something I'm willing to compromise on, especially because of cost. I am not off the waitlist on school C. I am ranked 17 on their waitlist. They have 4 spots available at this time. Historically they've admitted around 30 people from the waitlist, but they've also had years when they only admitted 5. The average for the last 3 years is 30 off the waitlist. So basically: Program A: Accepted Around 55K (not including living expenses) Great clinical opportunities International Experience, but it lengthens program length a semester 3.5 hours from family Small city, cost of living is higher than B but less than C Program B: Accepted Around 41K (not including living expenses) Lab I'd like to work in International Experiences, although these will raise the cost so much I might not be able to do it 10 hours from family Smaller town, lowest cost of living Program C: On waitlist, ranked 17 Around 33K (not including living expenses) Lab I'd like to work in Clinical Experiences B doesn't offer 40 minutes from my family Big city, higher cost of living Being near to family is only important to me because I have a young niece and nephew whose lives I want to be in. I've been more or less disowned, so the rest of my family being nearby doesn't matter. But being able to see those two is appealing since I was abroad for three years. So basically, I'd prefer School B over A because of cost. School C is a good compromise of what I want and cost, and I think I have decided I would like to go there. But I'm not off the waitlist at C yet. I might not get off the waitlist, but if history is correct, I stand a good chance. So... Should I cancel my intent to enroll at A and accept at B? And be willing to cancel at B to accept at C if that time comes? Or should I stay with school A and just hope I get off at school C? This seems risky, but also it seems horribly unprofessional to cancel an acceptance more than once, and I don't want to just keep going down the line of schools I get in to. School B was very clear that you should be 100% when you intend to enroll and really looks down on students who intend to enroll, then change their mind. Or is this not as big of a deal as I'm making it out to be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFBrown Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 If you get accepted into school C and that's where your heart is, then it won't matter what the other schools think of you if/when you withdraw your acceptance offer. There are questions you should probably ask yourself though: 1) How much funding are you being offered at school A? 2) Does it make you feel a negative way that you aren't school C's first choice? I think if you could answer these questions for yourself, you'll clear your conscience about committing to school A or withdrawing your offer to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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