<p>I have a friend abroad whose daughter has just been accepted at several quite competitive colleges here. She expects to have a hard time making up her mind which one to go to and will only be seeing some of them for the first time when she visits here in two weeks. She is considering making acceptance deposits at all of the schools still on her daughter’s list (probably 2-4) and deciding where to go some time later. What do you think of that? What are the dangers, if any? Thanks much.</p>
<p>there is a thread onthe college admissions forum that discusses the topic along with answers from 2 admissions offers and Sally Rubenstone regarding the practice.</p>
<p>deposits to two different schools?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=313750[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=313750</a></p>
<p>answer from poster Ad Officer, post # 21</p>
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<p>posting from subadmissions post # 23:</p>
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<p>Sally Rubenstone, College Confidential, post #47</p>
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<p>Sounds like a pretty lousy reason to me. The decision isn’t going to get any easier.</p>
<p>IMO, you should tell your friend and her daughter that it’s time to knuckle down and start researching those colleges. If she can’t whittle down 4 schools to 2 at this point, she hasn’t focused sufficiently on what’s important to her in a college.</p>
<p>The danger is that the woman learns that the first rule of college is that, when there are clearly stated expectations, one should break them.</p>
<p>If she visits here in two weeks, she will still have plenty of time to make a decision before May 1st, the universal reply date. She definitely should NOT double deposit.</p>
<p>The college counselor at daughter’s high school told parents repeatedly - in letters home, in-school meetings, and directly to students, do NOT under any circumstances double deposit, very bad idea, will risk admissions offers being revoked, and the student may end up with no college to attend.</p>
<p>Just wondering: What if you send in a deposit to an in-state school and a deposit to an out-of-state school? Who would know? There could be extenuating, personal and private reasons that a family does not wish to reveal.</p>
<p>I would not deposit at two schools simply because I am a little old fashioned about keeping my promises. On the other hand I am not sure how two schools would know a student deposited at both of them unless they themselves were doing something illegal. If the two schools did find out and both rescinded their offers there might well be grounds for a court case the discovery process portion of which could be very enlightening.</p>
<p>I read in another thread that there is a common data base used by many colleges and universities. It is how they find students who have active applications after receiving a binding ED. Since they use this database already and (as far as I know) don’t make any claims that information about acceptances is absolutely private, I don’t see how there could be anything actionable in court.</p>
<p>I can think of a reason to double-deposit. For example, a family health or employment related situtation that would impact college location or finances and wouldn’t be resolved until June.</p>
<p>But, simply to buy more time for a teenager who can’t make up her mind? No. I wouldn’t do that. The decision won’t get any easier.</p>
<p>Visit. Talk it over. Choose one. If you really can’t choose, pick the one with the highest per student endowment…or flip a coin.</p>
<p>“Since they use this database already and (as far as I know) don’t make any claims that information about acceptances is absolutely private, I don’t see how there could be anything actionable in court.”</p>
<p>Businesses acting in concert for the purpose of restraining trade is actionable. A customer should have a reasonable expection his transaction would remain private. Imagine if all the drugstores in town got together and kept a shared database of their clientele and then used that database to blackball customers who bought their drugs through the mail or internet.</p>
<p>The deposit is the surety the customer gives the vendor. If he backs out he loses the deposit. The vendor should not be allowed to pursue a vendetta against him. If the school wants more assurance them they can increase the deposit they demand otherwise noone held a gun to their heads and said they had to enter the agreement.</p>
<p>“Imagine if all the drugstores in town got together and kept a shared database of their clientele and then used that database to blackball customers who bought their drugs through the mail or internet.”</p>
<p>Ever heard of the MIB? And I don’t mean men in black. </p>
<p>Here’s my suggestion for them…</p>
<p>How about good ole fashioned telling the honest truth? You might find it refreshing. I know it’s a bit old fashioned but hey, I just that kind of guy.</p>
<p>Like everything else in life, when you break the stated rules you take a risk. How many on this site exceed posted speed limits? Sometimes there are good reasons, like a medical emergency. And just because they don’t get caught doesn’t mean they aren’t breaking the law / rules - and when they get caught they pay the fine. </p>
<p>Many teenagers have trouble making decisions, but at some point they must. One would hope that when they apply, they have some overall sense of what they are applying for and why - ours had a pretty good sense what her personal rankings were, which of course changed a couple of times as she visited and learned more. But eventually she made a decision - on time - as they all do. Worst case, your friend’s D makes her best choice and if that doesn’t work out, transfer. She’ll most likely know by the end of the first semester (though not by the end of the first month - almost all the kids go through a roller coaster of emotions during that period…) if the decision is right for her or not.</p>
<p>Perhaps the real question is what does your friend want her daughter to learn from this?</p>
<p>Doouble depositing is unethical. It is like jumping a housing or other lottery because you know someone in the housing office or are a big donor. Sure, people probably do it and get away with it. Maybe sometimes there is even a reason that sounds justifiable. That does not make it right. If there really is an emergency of some kind one could try calling the aedmissions office and telling the truth (as in the case of illness or major employment issues).</p>
<p>And on a more pragmatic level, if “everyone” keeps breaking the rules the whole system would break down and although it may not be an ideal system it would then be even worse.</p>
<p>Now some schools before D even knew if she was accepted or not, did suggest that she apply for housing because it was so difficult to get.
I do agree that for students with limited funds and arent able to visit before acceptance, it does pressure things to visit and decide in a short period of time.
However, that is a small reason why, I recommend for my own kids to stay in our general region ( although that includes schools that are several thousands of miles away in Hawaii)</p>
<p>THe criteria and scoring system I have posted elsewhere, was helpful in “ranking schools”, for my own daughter, visiting may throw that out the window, as I have heard of kids who wouldn’t even get out of the car at a school where other kids loved.
Or schools that are normally thought of as attractive- like Stanford, leaving others cold.
But at least it gives you a plan to start from in case you can’t get to all the schools before the deadline</p>
<p>Your name and the fact of your ED acceptance or your accepting a place in a school is not confidential. Putting it in a database for other colleges to see is not illegal; it’s no different than selling mailing lists of customers or charitable donors. So yes, the schools can and do check.</p>
<p>“…as I have heard of kids who wouldn’t even get out of the car at a school where other kids loved.”</p>
<p>LOL - happened a couple of times to our D. One good school she didn’t even want to drive through the campus after the drive through the neighborhood to get there (it was a bit rough, actually) - we did make her go through the campus, but couldn’t get her out of the car…</p>
<p>Bottom line - the kids need to have an idea of what they are looking for to help make a decision, and a scoring system could help (though there are other decision analysis tools as well). But they do need to make a decision. </p>
<p>And it’s not like they didn’t know the deadlines when they applied…</p>
<p>Chedva - the ED thing might be a little different becase the applicant is agreeing to the terms in advance and so knows what they are getting into.</p>
<p>Double depositing though is similar to double booking an airline flight. You the customer want so badly to arrive at your destination on a certain date that you book two flights one earlier and one later and are willing to scarifice the deposit. Or you don’t know for sure if you will need to meet client A in Chicago or Client B in Atlanta so you book flights to both. The airlines have standbys and the schools have waitlists to protect themselves in these situations.</p>
<p>I think if the airlines maintained a database to see if you double booked flights and agreed that they would not let you fly anywhere that year if the caught you doing it there might be a few lawsuits. What do you think?</p>
<p>high,</p>
<p>I think you’re arguing apples to carrots here. Your examples aren’t really the same. Could you just be reaching a bit to make a point that really doesn’t hold up?</p>
<p>I thought the airline example was pretty close. The same goes on with Real Estate. The point is the deposit is the assurance the student/family give for the promise of a spot in the Fall. If the school fails to fulfill the promise then they have to return the deposit. If the student fails to show then they forfeit the deposit. If either side breaks the contract the other does not have carte blanche to pursue retribution in another forum unless that was specifically agreed to in advance ala ED admissions. If the school does work in concert with their competitors to pursue extralegal (outside the courts) retribution from a third party I think there is probably a case.</p>
<p>Full disclosure - I am definitely not a lawyer so DON’T take my legal advice. But if you do find yourself in a situation where you have been blackballed for double depositing you might want to consult someone who is a lawyer. Oh and you’ve don a rather sleezy thing in my view, but that doesn’t give the schools the right to do something just as sleezy.</p>