Paying more than one deposit

if you have already heard from all your schools, i don't see why you will pay two deposits. applicants usually forfeit deposit when they hear back from a dream school in a later round or after being admitted from WL.

a little more about your situation may help start a healthy discussion.

Yes, I find it dumb to pay more than one deposit down if you got in every school you applied for and are deciding one or the other. mostly, such a move is dumb because you're wasting money, but it also prevents and delays the adcom from getting to its waitlist where someone on it really wants to go to that school.

If you put more than one deposit down, it isn't because you put a G down at two places at the same time. It's because you got into school A and school B, but you got into school A but WL'ed at school B. You eventually get into school B and accept that school's offer, but you lose the $ on school A. That's fine and that happens a lot. But otherwise, I would commit only to one school.

I understand how you feel - I've been accepted to Duke and NYU but waiting from others. I'll choose btwn Duke/NYU within a week as to which one I'll put a deposit with. I can't justify holding a spot at two schools - financially and because it feels more fair.

I would ask Duke or NYU if they can hold out until your other schools give you a new decision. They probably will be willing to wait.

I can't imagine either Duke or NYU allowing anybody to delay paying the deposit while that person waits for another school to make a final decision on their application. The deadlines were set in place for a reason, so it's not likely that they will make an exception for anybody. Their yield is going down if the applicant gets into that other school anyway, so they might as well get the deposit in case that happens.

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Considering that Duke and NYU are Top 15 schools, arguably Top 10, I think they may very well be that way. But at the same time, if asked nicely, they may be willing to as well if it's only a week or so. Lower ranked schools obviously are more likely to say yes to this, but I don't know if there's any harm to a polite ask.

i'd be completely shocked if any top 25 school extended its response deadline for a single individual without an extremely, extremely good excuse.

Do you mind if I ask, how much the deposit is for each school? If it's like $100, I wouldn't care. But if it's like $2000 or more, then I'd hurry up and make a decision.

Most schools it's $1000 to $2000.

I would decide between NYU or Duke for the deposite while you wait and hear from your remaining schools, I would not pay for both since there is no incentive for you to do so. It will be a great exercise as well to weight the pros and cons of both and narrow down the field now so if you so happen to get a third admit, you will just need to decide between the 1 deposite school and the new admit.

Good luck with your decision, Duke and NYU are great schools!

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