<p>Earlier today I sent an email to Northwestern to withdraw my application and not 15 minutes later they sent me an acceptance email! It’s probably just a coincidence, but I’d like to think I forced them to make a snap decision.</p>
<p>I’ll do that if receive an acceptance letter from Stanford.</p>
<p>I might have to start dong this for my schools…</p>
<p>My theory is that they had already decided to accept you but not notified you yet. Your withdrawal might have triggered them to notify you of their decision earlier than planned, or maybe it was really just a coincidence.</p>
<p>I withdrew most of my applications after I was accepted to MIT. A couple of departments got back to me saying that they were going to accept me, or that they had already recommended me for admission to the graduate school. None of them made me an official offer after I withdrew though. </p>
<p>Congrats on Stanford by the way!</p>
<p>I didn’t get accepted to Stanford. haha I said I will withdraw my Northwestern app if I get accepted to Stanford.</p>
<p>Sorry. Somehow I thought the OP had said that he withdrew his application from Northwestern because he was accepted to Stanford. My bad.</p>
<p>Well, good luck for Stanford!!!</p>
<p>Well, I actually did get into Stanford. And MIT. What’s your field, b@r!um?</p>
<p>Funny, what timescale do you think people check their email on? I would be surprised if your email gets opened and read the same day you sent it. But congrats on the acceptance anyway.</p>
<p>I did get a few responses within 15 minutes after withdrawing my applications. Others took several days to say, “Thanks for letting us know.” It’s definitely within the realm of possibility that the offer was a response to his withdrawal.</p>
<p>If it’s not a coincidence, it’s a pretty sub-optimal strategy, no? Waiting until an applicant has their heart set on another program couldn’t be very effective. Besides, it’s so early in the season that the only schools someone would withdraw an app from are those they have already decided they wouldn’t attend <em>even if accepted</em>.</p>
<p>It’s more like a last ditch effort, especially when they throw in a fellowship or an award.</p>