<p>Hi, I’m kind of confused as to what to do now that I’ve gotten into two safeties. Basically I’ve gotten into 2 schools - UPitt (Honor’s College) and The University of Hong Kong (my local uni). UPitt was my safety and my 2nd last choice and HKU was my last choice. It was my safety in case I didn’t have the courage to go abroad and leave my family(I live in HK).</p>
<p>The thing is, I have to give in a non-refundable deposit of USD 1300 by tomorrow if I want to keep my offer at HKU. Although my parents want to pay it, I am reluctant, because it’s such a substantial sum of money. I will hear from some of my other colleges by April 1st. So it seems a waste to spend $1300 for just 15 days insurance, especially since HKU is almost my last choice.</p>
<p>Assuming the worst-case scenario that I only get into UPitt and HKU, should I just pay the deposit? Or should I be okay to go to UPitt? Which is a better school? My planned major is psych now but it’s very likely to change and I want to work outside both the US and HK. If rankings matter then HKU is no.1 in Asia and Upitt is around no. 50 in the US. However, UPitt will give me a liberal arts education which I want. HKU is a very good school, and very well respected so I am reluctant to give up their offer. I hope to ultimately work in India - so which one has more respect internationally?</p>
<p>I am hoping that this worst-case scenario won’t happen and that I will get into more of the colleges that I have applied to. If I get into any of these then I will definitely go. The other schools which I think are “matches” for me are UMich (applied on deadline 
), Wellesley, USC (I think I have a good chance because people from my school with much lower stats have gotten in). I put the names of my reaches down here because I don’t want to turn this into a “chance me” thread. </p>
<p>Sorry for the long post but I’m really confused. UPitt’s offer on friday made me rethink the decision to pay and I don’t want to reserve someone else’s spot if I can help it.</p>
<p>I think you need to ask yourself if you were in the worst case scenario, would you choose UPitt or HKU? They provide two very different environments, and unless you would prefer to go to UPitt over HKU, then I think it would be a sensible choice to pay $1300, even if it is only for 15 days insurance. I don’t know which one has more respect, but if it helps, HKU was ranked #23 and UPitt was ranked #119 in the world:[QS</a> World University Rankings - Topuniversities](<a href=“http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010]QS”>http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010)</p>
<p>I have a friend who got accepted to HKU last year, but also had to pay all the registration fees and stuff when he was waiting for an offer from UCL. He even enrolled in courses in HKU! But in the end, he was accepted and went to UCL.</p>
<p>I don’t suppose $1300 is a very large sum of money compared to the tuition you will pay in the next 3 or 4 years of undergrad (unless you are on a scholarship or something). I don’t know about your chances of getting into those other schools, but it seems wise to pay $1300, which again isn’t a particularly large sum of money. But then, it’s your call :)</p>
<p>Thanks for your input kilojoule. It burns me to waste my parents’ money, but you’re right. Although the chances of being in a “worst-case” (altho I think these are pretty good options anyway) scenario are not high but I would choose to go to HKU in the end. The due date is tomorrow so I’m going to have to make a quick decision either way but I’m leaning towards paying. :)</p>
<p>Whatever your decision, good luck!!</p>
<p>I wouldnt consider HKU as a safety USC as matches…Rather USC as a COMPLETE safety and HKU as a match. lots of ppl in my schools with IB Predicted 40+ got rejected from HKU and even the worse students (i mean SAT 1400/2400 with no extracirriculars) got into USC. Think about the student quality of both of these schools before making a decision…</p>