Leveraging Acceptances with Waitlists Forum

necessarilyso · Post by **necessarilyso** » Thu May 09, 2013 3:41 pm

I've done quite a bit of searching through the forums on the topic but have found very little info (my Google-Fu is failing me, I fear), so I thought I'd try my luck with a thread of my own.

My current situation:
- Deposited at a t14, my original third choice school. Very little financial aid, would be attending close to sticker with loans.
- Just accepted off the waitlists at my second (t6) and fourth (t20) choice schools.
- Still have not heard from first choice (t6) school, where I am currently waitlisted. Have already sent the maximum number of LOCIs I feel comfortable bugging them with.

My question(s) is whether it would be kosher and/or effective to do the following:
1. Try to leverage my new second choice acceptance with my currently deposited (and lower-ranked) school in order to get financial aid at one or both.
2. Attempt to leverage my second choice acceptance with my first choice school in order to "expedite" their bumping me off the waitlist, whether that means acceptance or denial.
3. Try to use my second choice (t6) acceptance to get a full ride at the fourth (t20) school, which I would be happy going to if such a thing were possible. Their current financial offer is pretty awful, like > %20 tuition, given that they're 10-15 ranks lower than my second choice school (which is offering nearly the same amount).

I'm most concerned about the second action, since I'm inclined to think attempting to "bully" my first choice school into giving me an answer before final deposit next week is probably a terrible idea. I'm next to broke at the moment, so putting another deposit at my second-choice school and then later putting a THIRD deposit at my first-choice school if/when they accept me is not financially viable.

Basically, do I even have any kind of bargaining power to begin with in the case of schools that admitted me off the waitlist, as far as financial aid goes? Or one that has yet to do so, as far as admittance goes?

Thanks in advance for any advice, y'all.