$1,000 Deposit :(

[xxLILOx07xx]

I just received my paper letter of acceptance from Wayne State University, and I have to submit $1,000 by March 28 to hold my spot.

HOWEVER, I'm really really really hoping to get into an in-state school. My interview for UIC won't be until March 25, and I just had my interview at Midwestern CCP, and apparently I won't know until early April. (I would probably choose Wayne State over Midwestern, though.)

At the moment I'm planning to just go ahead pay the deposit (so at least I'll be going SOMEWHERE), but I'm just worried that I'll end up paying deposits until I hear from my first choice (UIC).

Midwestern will only refund 10% (or $100) of the deposit...so I'm definitely not feeling that. Does anyone know how Wayne State handles it? (I'm kind of nervous about calling the school...but I will if I have to.) I've heard about stopping checks before they've been deposited...but I wouldn't do that without letting the school know first.

If anyone is/has been in a similar situation and could give me advice, it would really help me out.

Thanks!
-K

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[BADD281]

I had to have a $2000 deposit for Wingate... so your not alone..

 

[PharmDstudent]

I would only put down a deposit for the school that's your second choice, and then I would wait to see if you get accepted into your first choice.
Don't put down more than two deposits!

 

[xxLILOx07xx]

I would only put down a deposit for the school that's your second choice, and then I would wait to see if you get accepted into your first choice.
Don't put down more than two deposits!

Sigh...the thing is that the school that MAY be my second choice (still on the fence about it since it's more of a second choice due to convenience, as opposed to my liking of the program) won't get back to me until April, and this deposit is due! Isn't that such a pain in the rectum? =T

That's exactly what I'm a afraid of! Putting down loads of deposits... but I suppose there's nothing like a near-due $1,000 deposit to boost a school up to 2nd choice.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Sigh...the thing is that the school that MAY be my second choice (still on the fence about it since it's more of a second choice due to convenience, as opposed to my liking of the program) won't get back to me until April, and this deposit is due! Isn't that such a pain in the rectum? =T

That's exactly what I'm a afraid of! Putting down loads of deposits... but I suppose there's nothing like a near-due $1,000 deposit to boost a school up to 2nd choice.

Break it down for us. I want a list of schools, deposits, acceptance, interviews, etc. No explanations. Just a list.

 

[mandersen2]

If you really don't want to wait another year for pharmacy school and have to apply again (spending even more $$$ with apps and losing a year's worth of salary at the other end of pharmacy school) I would pay the deposit so you know your at least going somewhere. You have to think of it as more of an investment rather than just throwing money away! (I know, easier said than done)

I was faced with a $1000 dollar deposit and at the very last moment my #1 choice accepted me (which had a $450 deposit) Wish you were in the same boat.

Good luck and congrats on the acceptance, not many people can say that these days!

 

[xxLILOx07xx]

Break it down for us. I want a list of schools, deposits, acceptance, interviews, etc. No explanations. Just a list.

Here we go (In order of preference)! I'll do anything to avoid studying for my anatomy lab practical tomorrow.

1 UIC - Interviewing 3/25. Deposit: Who cares, I'll go here if I get accepted!
2 Midwestern CCP - Interviewed 3/12. Waiting...til April. Deposit: $1,000.
3 Wayne State - Interviewed 2/15. Accepted. Deposit: $1,000.
4 Ohio State - Interviewing 3/28. Deposit: Unknown.
5 U of Cinci - Interviewed 2/22. Pending...need to supplement my app with transcripts and whatnot by April 11. Deposit: Unknown.
6 Long Island University - heard NOTHING. Eff that! =T

So really, I guess Wayne State is my only choice right now, and if I don't get accepted to CCP my decision will get a whole lot easier. However, if I do get accepted to CCP, I'll have to think hard about if I want to put down another $1,000 deposit.

All this waiting is stressing me out! I'm really hoping to kick booty at UIC, so I don't have to worry about this...UIC's interview is March 25, so there's no way I'll know before March 28.

BADD281....$2,000 deposit!! Holy crapamoli, I hope that was your #1 school.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Here we go (In order of preference)! I'll do anything to avoid studying for my anatomy lab practical tomorrow.

1 UIC - Interviewing 3/25. Deposit: Who cares, I'll go here if I get accepted!
2 Midwestern CCP - Interviewed 3/12. Waiting...til April. Deposit: $1,000.
3 Wayne State - Interviewed 2/15. Accepted. Deposit: $1,000.
4 Ohio State - Interviewing 3/28. Deposit: Unknown.
5 U of Cinci - Interviewed 2/22. Pending...need to supplement my app with transcripts and whatnot by April 11. Deposit: Unknown.
6 Long Island University - heard NOTHING. Eff that! =T

So really, I guess Wayne State is my only choice right now, and if I don't get accepted to CCP my decision will get a whole lot easier. However, if I do get accepted to CCP, I'll have to think hard about if I want to put down another $1,000 deposit.

All this waiting is stressing me out! I'm really hoping to kick booty at UIC, so I don't have to worry about this...UIC's interview is March 25, so there's no way I'll know before March 28.

BADD281....$2,000 deposit!! Holy crapamoli, I hope that was your #1 school.

It's a risk, but I don't think that you should put it down. Wayne State is your third choice school. Think about it for a while. Would you be satisfied with Wayne State if that was the only school you got into (are you desperate?) or could you wait an entire year for your #1 and #2 schools?

Do the best that you can for your UIC interview, and you'll have no regrets no matter how this turns out!

 

[Allure]

I thought you said you would rather go to Wayne State than CCP. Well, the rational decision to do right now is to put down that deposit for Wayne State, at least now you know for sure you will go there. If UIC is where you want to go, then just wait to go to the interview for UIC and cancel all your other interviews because you would have to spend more money on gas to drive and hotel. That's what I would do and that's what I did. I wouldn't even stress myself out of going to interviews.

 

[xxLILOx07xx]

Procrastination is like....ahem.

Hmm. Wayne State is about equal to CCP right now to me...so it's hard to categorize them as #2 and #3. I like CCP because I want to stay in Chicago...and no other reason. The tuition is about as much as I would be paying as an out-of-state student, and they don't offer the research opportunities that attracted me to Wayne State.

On the other hand, I would love to attend Wayne State because it reminds me of UIC. I love the program and I think it's a good fit for me, but the neighborhood is kind of iffy and a Chicago girl like me will get eaten alive in Detroit!!

I'm not sure that I can wait a whole year before going to Pharmacy school. (1) I'm not getting any younger and (2) what if I don't get accepted next year? It would really suck to be me.

I was, however, thinking that if I really wanted to attend UIC so badly, that I'd try to transfer after my first year of Wayne. (But who knows? If I go to Wayne, I might end up loving it and stay the whole 4 years.) I know transferring may be pushing me back a year because the curricula won't exactly match up...


Allure...I can't cancel any more interviews because, well, UIC is one of the last ones. =) Kinda sucks that my #1 school is interviewing so late. I've already completed the majority of my interviews...and OSU is gonna be more like a campus visit for me to keep my options open. Who knows...Maybe I'll fall in love with OSU. Everyone's so lucky that their number one schools interviewed earlier so they had the chance to cancel unnecessary interviews and insane deposits.

...as soon as this week's exams wrap up, I'm practicing hardcore for Tuesday's interview. Thanks again, everyone.

 

[jonnyboi303]

Procrastination is like....ahem.

Hmm. Wayne State is about equal to CCP right now to me...so it's hard to categorize them as #2 and #3. I like CCP because I want to stay in Chicago...and no other reason. The tuition is about as much as I would be paying as an out-of-state student, and they don't offer the research opportunities that attracted me to Wayne State.

On the other hand, I would love to attend Wayne State because it reminds me of UIC. I love the program and I think it's a good fit for me, but the neighborhood is kind of iffy and a Chicago girl like me will get eaten alive in Detroit!!

I'm not sure that I can wait a whole year before going to Pharmacy school. (1) I'm not getting any younger and (2) I don't want to risk not getting any acceptances next year.

I was, however, thinking that if I really wanted to attend UIC so badly, that I'd try to transfer after my first year of Wayne. (But who knows? If I go to Wayne, I might end up loving it and stay the whole 4 years.) I know transferring may be pushing me back a year because the curricula won't exactly match up...


Allure...I can't cancel any more interviews because, well, UIC is one of the last ones. =) Kinda sucks that my #1 school is interviewing so late. I've already completed the majority of my interviews...and OSU is gonna be more like a campus visit for me to keep my options open. Who knows...Maybe I'll fall in love with OSU.

...as soon as this week's exams wrap up, I'm practicing hardcore for Tuesday's interview.

If you don't even want to go CCP then I don't think you can really call it your second choice, even taking proximity into consideration. From what you're saying it sounds like you'd be able to keep an open mind about the chances that Wayne State offers so I'd throw down the deposit, hope for UIC, then be optimistic about the expericence that Wayne State offers if you don't get into UIC. Since you like almost everything about Wayne State more than CCP, except for location, I wouldn't even consider paying the deposit even if you did get accepted there.

 

[shehsheh]

I just received my paper letter of acceptance from Wayne State University, and I have to submit $1,000 by March 28 to hold my spot.

HOWEVER, I'm really really really hoping to get into an in-state school. My interview for UIC won't be until March 25, and I just had my interview at Midwestern CCP, and apparently I won't know until early April. (I would probably choose Wayne State over Midwestern, though.)

At the moment I'm planning to just go ahead pay the deposit (so at least I'll be going SOMEWHERE), but I'm just worried that I'll end up paying deposits until I hear from my first choice (UIC).

Midwestern will only refund 10% (or $100) of the deposit...so I'm definitely not feeling that. Does anyone know how Wayne State handles it? (I'm kind of nervous about calling the school...but I will if I have to.) I've heard about stopping checks before they've been deposited...but I wouldn't do that without letting the school know first.

If anyone is/has been in a similar situation and could give me advice, it would really help me out.

Thanks!
-K

Why don't you call the school and ask for an extension on the deposit. Just tell them that you need a few more weeks to get the money. Hopefully by then you could hear from your other schools.

 

[AutumnCloud]

If I were you, I would just deposit the money. At least you get 10% back vs. nothing from all the other schools. I have a friend who turned down the school because of the $2000 deposit and now she haven't heard news from any other schools after the interview so she's kind of regretted her decision.

Like everyone said, $1000 is relatively little compare to the application money, asking for letter of rec., deadlines, traveling for interview, etc... next year. Plus, pharmacy schools is getting a lot more competitive so what are the chances next year, right?

Whatever your decision is, wish you the best of Good Luck!

 

[Allure]

What I meant was that for you not even to go to the other interviews at all because you already got accepted at 1 school. So in the end, it will be between Wayne State and UIC. You don't even have to bother going to the interviews at all for other schools. But if you want to go to OSU and check out the campus, then you should. It's a big and beautiful campus with lots of research opportunities. I wouldn't recommend going to UCincinnati. The area is so ghetto. You just wouldn't feel safe there. I don't know much about Wayne State to comment on it, but Midwestern is not a bad school. The classroom might be a little big though, but that would probably be a positive thing for me since I don't like smaller classes.

 

[xxLILOx07xx]

What I meant was that for you not even to go to the other interviews at all because you already got accepted at 1 school. So in the end, it will be between Wayne State and UIC. You don't even have to bother going to the interviews at all for other schools. But if you want to go to OSU and check out the campus, then you should. It's a big and beautiful campus with lots of research opportunities. I wouldn't recommend going to UCincinnati. The area is so ghetto. You just wouldn't feel safe there. I don't know much about Wayne State to comment on it, but Midwestern is not a bad school. The classroom might be a little big though, but that would probably be a positive thing for me since I don't like smaller classes.

UCinci's neighborhood was pretty ghetto. I was lucky to have some of my sorority sisters from the Cinci chapter show me around and point out which areas to avoid (which was basically anywhere by campus).

I didn't find out that I was accepted to Wayne until recently (after most of my interviews were done)...In the end, I guess I'm glad that I went to all of my interviews, since they were good practice for UIC...hopefully they made me more confident for Tuesday.

(PS...my Anatomy Practical whooped my butt. Darn SDN! *shakes fist*)

 

[FixLittlePeople]

I don't know about other people, I had two choices between Pharm schools: One private school with 25k/yr tuition in the city I live in (read no commute), the other, a state school with 11k/yr tuition but with a 90mile commute each way. Got interview invite to both, so I did the return on investment and even with gas money, wear-and-tear on my car, the private school would come out way more expensive at the end. (got accepted to the state school 1st and didnt even look back). Bottom line, went with the cheaper school, even in spite of the long commute. So far my $160 application fee and my $200 deposit have been waived because I'm too broke (every penny counts). I'm sure it would be nice to drive 15 miles to my local pharm school, but I'd rather have half the loans at the end of my 4 years. Something to keep in mind.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck to all!

 

[EMichInDc]

I would call Wayne and ask for an extension on the deadline. The lady in the office there is SO nice. I was accepted to Wayne back in Feb. and sent in my deposit since it was the only school I had been accepted to. BUT the day after I mailed my deposit, I was accepted at a school i would prefer to go to. I called, explained the situation and they mailed my depsoit check back to me, no questions asked. I'm sure they would be understanding of other situations too. I think most schools want students to make the best, informed choice, even if that means holding a spot for another couple of weeks.
At worst, you tried. At best, you could save $1000. I would just call and ask

 

[xxLILOx07xx]

(delete.)

 

[xxLILOx07xx]

...

 

[Weekender]

wat did u end up deciding?

 

[xxLILOx07xx]

wat did u end up deciding?

LONG VERSION (or scroll down to the very end for the short version):
I'm glad I went to OSU for my interview last week because I love it. Okay, for some reason they didn't give a tour of the actual pharmacy school building, but everything else was beautiful. (And I saw a Walgreens in the hospital! First Walgreens I've seen out of state of all my interviews.)

*What I learned: Go to all of the interviews if it's financially feasible, because things can be different from what you expect.*

Got accepted to OSU yesterday, and for now I've chosen OSU over Wayne State. (It's more "reputable", a solid research program, and the neighborhood looked a lot saer than Detroit.) I hope I've made the right decision...Rather, I feel I have. It felt more right to be there than at Wayne.

Of course, I'm still waiting on UIC...hoping for the best, and expecting the worst.

I called up Wayne State and asked if it would be possible to get my deposit back. I had received a one week extension, and had not yet heard back from any other schools, so I mailed in my deposit on Monday to secure a spot (I didn't feel confident AT ALL about my OSU interview).

Apparently, even though it was due today, they still hadn't received the check (and therefore not deposited it), due to however their University mail system works. So, they told me they'd not deposit it, and would let me know when they did receive it, and I assume it'll be mailed back to me. (Which means my spot wasn't that secure anyway! *Hmph*...must be a sign that I wasn't meant to go to Wayne State.)

CUT TO THE CHASE: I'm going to Ohio State University until further notice....traded in a $1000 deposit for a $250 OSU deposit. (And I still need to find out how to get a refund on a cashier's check).