{"id":32075,"date":"2016-02-09T12:19:16","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T19:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=32075"},"modified":"2016-07-27T15:52:32","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T22:52:32","slug":"when-why-to-pass-on-a-b-school-acceptance-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/when-why-to-pass-on-a-b-school-acceptance-offer\/","title":{"rendered":"When & Why to Pass on a B-School Acceptance Offer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Do<\/a>
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<\/p>\n

Yes! You got in...but....maybe.....<\/p>\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scenario: You get accepted to an excellent MBA program. You\u2019re happy\u2026but\u2026you can\u2019t help thinking that maybe you could\u2019ve done \u201cbetter.\u201d Should you turn down your acceptance (whether it\u2019s an early decision acceptance or regular) on the chance that the school that\u00a0<\/span>waitlisted<\/span><\/a>\u00a0you ends up accepting you, or in the hope that a school that rejected you this year accepts you next year?<\/span><\/p>\n

When to Accept an Offer of Admission<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are two reasons why I think you should probably count your lucky stars and say \u201cyes\u201d (enthusiastically) to the program that accepted you:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The alternatives may not really be better.\u00a0<\/strong>As I\u2019m sure you noticed, I put \u201cbetter\u201d in quote marks above. You need to think about whether your alternate options are truly better for you than the amazing school that accepted you. Maybe\u00a0<\/span>HBS<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is a better school than, say,\u00a0<\/span>Yale SOM<\/span><\/a>, according to most ranking reports, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the best program for you. And in fact, if you\u2019re thinking about heading into non-profit management, it may not be better than Yale. If the school where you have an offer supports your goals and provides an educational environment that suits you (and you shouldn\u2019t have applied if it didn\u2019t), then a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.\u00a0<\/span>Don\u2019t look for greener pastures when you\u2019re already in the pasture that\u2019s best for your individual growth.<\/p>\n

2. Acceptance at one elite school does\u00a0not at all\u00a0imply that you\u2019ll get accepted at another elite school.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/b><\/b>Acceptance decisions are independent events \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Wharton<\/span><\/a>\u00a0doesn\u2019t consult with\u00a0<\/span>Booth<\/span><\/a>, which in turn couldn\u2019t care less that you were accepted to Stanford.\u00a0<\/span>Be happy about the outstanding school that accepted you, and attend!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Legitimate Reasons for Deferring or Rejecting an Admissions Offer<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are some situations in which I\u2019d recommend deferring or rejecting an admissions offer and reapplying next year:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Now may not be the best time for personal reasons.<\/strong>\u00a0Personal circumstances\u00a0unrelated to education, like an illness in the family, may compel you to defer or reject an offer.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. You may not be into long-distance relationships.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/b><\/b>A geographical\/relationship issue, like your significant other got into a one-year program across the country from the program that accepted you, and you don\u2019t want to be apart for a year, could be a good reason to reject an acceptance. (You should try to defer for a year in this case, obviously, and not reject the acceptance, if you plan on then pursuing your educational goals next year.)<\/p>\n

3. Your post-MBA goals have changed<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>since you applied.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>If your goals<\/a> have changed, and the school that accepted you is no longer the best school for you, you might consider rejecting the offer. (This doesn\u2019t happen very often.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Should You Ask for a Deferral<\/a>? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Schools are reluctant to give a deferral. It binds them, and doesn\u2019t bind the applicants. Furthermore many applicants requesting the deferral use the additional year to reapply to other programs. This bit of shopping around and gamesmanship has given deferrals a bad name in admissions offices. And they frequently don\u2019t want to play.<\/span><\/p>\n

It's generally best simply to turn down the offer and reapply when the time is right.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Best<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Accepted:<\/a>
\nRelated Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 MBA Rankings: What You Need to Know<\/a>
\n\u2022\u00a0Top MBA Programs that Defer<\/a>
\n\u2022\u00a0Choosing From Multiple Business School Acceptances<\/a><\/p>\n

This article\u00a0<\/a>originally appeared on\u00a0<\/em>blog.accepted.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.<\/p>\n

Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will help\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>get accepted<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scenario: You get accepted to an excellent MBA program. You\u2019re happy\u2026but\u2026you can\u2019t help thinking that maybe you could\u2019ve done \u201cbetter.\u201d Should you turn down your acceptance (whether it\u2019s an early…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,939,775,243],"tags":[1048,1896,39,278,12],"class_list":["post-32075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-accepted","category-admission-consultants","category-blog","tag-advice-for-mba-applicants","tag-mba","tag-mba-admissions","tag-mba-application-tips","tag-the-mba-application-process","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32075"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32078,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32075\/revisions\/32078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}