beamsmehome wrote:The deadline for submitting a seat deposit is (postmarked) 4/16. It seems a little strange that they would start reviewing us as late as reported above; I knew I was deferred, but to regular admission... Which I thought would mean the same timeline. It's starting to sound more like a reserve/WL.
I don't think they owe me any kind of special treatment, it's a great school and they have a lot of applications. Still, I feel a little misled about my application's status.

Just for the sake of argument, what
do they owe us? What does our application fee buy us? Just a decision, regardless of the timing? If they decided they weren't going to send out decisions (admit, deny, WL) until the day before classes start, would that satisfy their end of the deal? Even though their application instructions say "there is no universal acceptance date" and no date by which they must release all decisions, I think we'd all agree that they'd be doing something wrong if they waited that long.
So where's the line such that if they cross it, they're doing something wrong? I'm concerned not with any actual legal recourse, but rather at what point our anger is justified.
I believe they do owe us (and everyone) a decision by seat-deposit day. (From the instructions: "To receive a decision by early April 2010, you must complete your application file by February 1, 2010.")
Or are they doing us a favor by not automatically WLing everyone just to fit some artificial deadline -- even if, after that deadline, it would cost most of us a deposit at another school to accept an offer from Cornell?