Deadline to decide on offers

Question

Hi,

If you get offer(s) in round 1, when will be your deadline to reply for your decision?

I'm wondering if this strategy is practical: you apply for your second choice schools that you think you will have a higher chance to get in, then apply for your dream schools in round 2 (to have more time for preparation), then, after the round 2 result has been announced, decide.

Thanks!

Jeanette · Answer

This seems like a fairly easy thing to find out by visiting each school's webpage. But let's say you're applying to Duke R1 and HBS R2.

Duke will let you know by January 31st with a tuition deposit due March 22nd for a R1 application. The deposit is $1,500.
HBS will let you know of your admission by March 29th.

I think most schools are like this, and you'll end up burning anywhere from several hundred to a couple thousand dollars (unless you do one of those ED things that have a 6k deposit).

runnergirl · Answer

Yeah, I've been wondering about this too- many schools list their due dates for deposits for each round, but some don't. For instance, Stanford and Booth both do not have deposit due dates posted.

Most of the schools I've looked at have round 1 deposit deadlines that occur prior to round two decision notifications. Kellogg round one deposits are due March 7th, and MIT-Sloan round one deposits are due March 25th.

I'd be curious to hear some of the experiences of others that have already gone through this process. Has anyone gotten a round one acceptance, put their deposit down, and then gotten a round two acceptance from their dream school?

Of course, I should be so lucky to have submitted a deposit to Kellogg or MIT and then be in a bind because I got accepted to Stanford...I can hear the tiny violins now...

I think the best advice is to only apply to schools you genuinely want to attend. To be honest, if I get into my round one schools, I will seriously consider withdrawing apps at my round two schools.

I have a spreadsheet of b-school deadlines for this year, I will try to post it. It's helpful to have all the deadline information in one place.

runnergirl · Answer

Here's the document link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key ... ey=CPaJyVY I've only included schools I've researched, feel free to add others!

krussell · Answer

Generally, it's four weeks after the day they let you know.

Jerz · Answer

Schools do this on purpose. It helps them to know what the yield is on R1 before finalizing R2 offers, so they can make small adjustments if yield is higher/lower than expected. The adcom is also pretty unlikely to give you an extension on the deposit deadline because of another schools decision date. One of my friends faced a deposit deadline that was 2 days before HBS's R2 decision date, and the adcom said no extension so he had to pay the deposit to keep his spot in the class.

Jeanette · Answer

the only good thing about it is that it's almost a win-win situation if you pay. You're okay if you don't get into your dream school because you're not burning your deposit, but you've got a nice bit of compensation for burning it if you do.

The way I look at it is this: the R1 school is giving me a 1.5k one time scholarship and the other school is giving me nothing. If that 1.5k scholarship is enough to change my decision, so be it. But chances are high it will not when compared to the huge investment I'm about to make.

MBAbot · Answer

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Deadline to decide on offers

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