Recently, a school asked a client to interview on campus and he planned to fly across the country for the interview. At the same time, he was also waiting to hear about an interview from another school nearby and asked me for my advice. I suggested he write the director. I specified that he should ask the director to review his application early, so that if the admissions committee wanted to interview him, they could do so in person while he was in town. He received an email back that day asking him to come in for an interview.
A colleague had a similar dilemma with one of his clients who already received admission from a school, but has not yet heard from his top choice and wanted to know what to do. His client was under the impression that contacting the committee would hurt his chances of admission.
Most schools will in fact, expedite interviews or decisions upon request for appropriate reasons (a deposit deadline due is one such example). The request will not hurt your chance of admission. If the admissions committee wants to interview you or admit you, they will. If they expedite the decision upon your request and decide not to admit you, often they will inform you of that decision as a courtesy to you to let you make appropriate decisions regarding the school. Despite rumors to the contrary, in the 19 years I spent in admissions, I have never heard of any admissions director suggest a candidate attend another school because the candidate asked for an early decision. Schools may refuse a request for an early decision because they don’t have the resources or processes to review your application. They will not deny your application because another school admitted you. If they want you, they will go after you.
As an admissions dean and director, I wanted every candidate to have a good experience with our admissions process regardless of our decision and most of my former colleagues feel the same. It was the right thing to do and good for our organization’s reputation.
If you need consulting regarding these critical decisions or assistance in editing your emails to an admissions committee, Accepted.com consultants and editors are available to help you make good decisions.
By Natalie Grinblatt Epstein, an accomplished Accepted.com consultant/editor, and is also a former MBA Admissions Dean and Director at Ross, Johnson, and Carey.
