busybusy

Good advice--I especially appreciate it from someone who is in the administration side of the house! The letter was written as you said, and I think I left the "door" for program A open in case I later come across people affiliated with that program (as inevitably happens). I really did like them, but I also liked the other program. It's a little scary to have made a final decision!!

So as you can see, I changed my name to reflect my life.... There have been some surprising developments in this case. I sent in my acceptance and $$ to Program A. I got into Program B, but they were so much more expensive that I decided to decline. THEN, Program C, a program for which I thought I had not a prayer of acceptance, sent me not only an acceptance letter, but enough of a scholarship to bring them in line with Program A costwise. The schedule for Program C is also much better. I sent an acceptance and a deposit in on Friday. My question is, how do I phrase my withdrawal letter to Program A? As suggested above, I plan to thank them and tell them how much I enjoyed the interview process with them (which I did), but what should I tell them about my reasons for withdrawing? Should I just say, "Unfortunately, I have to withdraw," or should I say, "I got a scholarship to a school that has a more family friendly schedule and a better commute?" I just don't know how specific I should make this. Thanks--I know I'll get good advice from this group.

I'm planning to talk to School A this week. The problem with them (besides the thing with my kids) is that I may qualify for a special tuition rate (long story, and otherwise, it's horribly expensive) but they keep on not letting me know for sure. (I've emailed and called, etc., called again on Friday and will on Monday.) This may be a good place to say, "Until I make sure of the cost, I can't fully commit to your school." This is true, and it also buys me more time.

Thanks, guys. If it were just me, I would probably choose Program A, but Program B fits in so much better with my kids' schedules and is a shorter commute.... I probably will go ahead and send in the deposit to them. (The deposit is steep, too, so if they have just a few cancellations, they'll really make out.) Just don't want to burn any bridges, because I liked the people I met over there and it's a small world, you know?

So, the story is that like many people here, I am applying for Direct Entry programs for 2010. I got an acceptance letter for program A, which is an excellent program, but for a few reasons not my top choice. They gave me 2 weeks to reply. I would very much like to go to program B, but I spoke to them and they probably won't be mailing letters out until the deadline for program A has passed. There's no guarantee, of course, that I will get into program B. How should I handle this? Is it OK to send in an acceptance and deposit to program A and then withdraw that if I get into program B? (This is provided I'm willing to lose the money.) I don't want to do something unethical, but I don't want to hold out for program B if I'm not getting in, especially when I already have a sure thing now. I know a lot of people get into this situation, and I'm not sure how they handle it.