Articles / Applying to College / Is It Selfish to Wait Until the Deadline to Make a College Choice?

Is It Selfish to Wait Until the Deadline to Make a College Choice?

Written by Sally Rubenstone | April 23, 2020

Is It Selfish to Wait Until the Deadline to Make a College Choice?

iStock

I am trying to make a decision on which school to attend. I have big scholarship offers from USC and NYU and also got into Princeton, Georgetown and Columbia, as well as three other schools. My friends keep nagging me that I need to decide soon because if I don't take the USC/NYU scholarships, "those could go to someone else and I should free them up." And then they also say if I decline Princeton, Georgetown or Columbia, someone could get off the waitlist once I "give up my spot." Is that actually how it works? Am I hoarding spots and scholarships? Or does it not work that way?

Congratulations on all your good news, although — as you've discovered — it brings with it tough choices. But don't feel pressured to choose a college before the deadline if you don't feel ready yet. Admission officials have varying policies and timelines when it comes to offering waitlist acceptances or "recycled" scholarships. Often, colleges hang on until after May 1, when all of their admitted students have responded, before deciding if there are spaces in the class for wait-listed applicants, which students will get these spots, and whether those who were not initially given a large merit award will be offered one. And this year, due to the closings and confusion spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic, some schools have extended the deadline to June 1 or beyond, and admission officers can't rely on past statistics to estimate how many accepted students will enroll, which may affect how and when they proceed with waitlist and scholarship verdicts.

So ... if you are already sure that there are colleges that have admitted you that you definitely will not attend, then you can help out the admission folks by letting them know as soon as possible. But if you aren't ready to make a final choice, don't feel guilty ... especially right now when there are so many question marks about future family finances, and even about whether college campuses will be open in the fall.

About the Ask the Dean Column

Sally Rubenstone is a veteran of the college admissions process and is the co-author of three books covering admissions. She worked as a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years and has also served as an independent college counselor, in addition to working as a senior advisor at College Confidential since 2002. If you'd like to submit a question to The Dean, please email us at editorial@collegeconfidential.com.

Share Your Thoughts

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Check out our forum to contribute to the conversation!

Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student's Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student's Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC's Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential's "Ask the Dean" column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.