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What do you need to say in a letter when you are withdrawing your application ( after you have been accepted with a scholarship offer)? I dont want it to come off as "thanks, but its not good enough, so im not coming" or have them feel as though they never had a chance to get me to go there, but I dont want to make it sound like a breakup speech either. SHould I tell them basically that I am grateful for the acceptance and scholarship, but would like to inform the admissions people sooner that I will not be accepting it, so they can offer it to someone else. What do I need to change in my rough draft below?


How does this sound as a rough draft for the letter ( I want to email it by 5pm tomorrow)

Dear Sir or Madame( letter will be addressed to the person who wrote my acceptance letter):
Thank you for taking the time to review my application and for granting me admission to your school. Choosing a Law School to attend is both an exciting and life altering decision. While I have not made up my final decision as to which school I will be attending in the fall, I believe it is only fair that since I will not be attending_________- law, that another deserving applicant be offered my scholarship to attend the school of their dreams. Again, thank you for your time and offer. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Northwood



thanks for your help

northwood wrote:
How does this sound as a rough draft for the letter ( I want to email it by 5pm tomorrow)

Dear Sir or Madame( letter will be addressed to the person who wrote my acceptance letter):
Thank you for taking the time to review my application and for granting me admission to your school. Choosing a Law School to attend is both an exciting and life altering decision. While I have not made up my final decision as to which school I will be attending in the fall, I believe it is only fair that since I will not be attending_________- law, that another deserving applicant be offered my scholarship to attend the school of their dreams. Again, thank you for your time. and offer. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Northwood

Sounds as good as it can get to me except for that last sentence, which I think is very awkward. I almost didn't know you weren't going since you were so nice. I probably would have started with:

"Dear so and so,

While I thank xxx Law for the generous scholarship, I regret to inform you that I will not be attending xxx Law this fall."

Also, Is it protocol to email this, or should you call/write a letter? I also am wondering about how to address withdrawing. Anyone else have ideas?

that's very friendly, but probably a bit too much. I don't think it needs to be so flowery. "Thank you very much for the admission offer and scholarship. I have ultimately decided not to attend x school" should be sufficient. They are not going to be offended.

thanks! I had absolutely no idea how to tell them no. I guess I didnt want to break their hearts too coldluy ( ha!) I know its ultimately a business decision, but id prefer to be somewhat personable.( guess im too nice)

This is what I wrote:

"Hello,
Thank you for honoring me with an acceptance to the _ School of Law. I have also been accepted to several other law schools and intend to ultimately enroll at one of them. I would like to withdraw my application and offer of admission from _ in hopes of freeing up a seat for another deserving applicant.

Thank you,
sgtgrumbles"

Keep it simple. They're not going to have their hearts broken by your withdrawal.

this is a most helpful thread.

I don't see what all the fuss is about. As long as you don't sound like an ass I doubt it would matter. What are they going to do, rescind your offer? Oh wait...

Are people generally emailing or snail mailing withdraw letters?

northwood wrote:What do you need to say in a letter when you are withdrawing your application ( after you have been accepted with a scholarship offer)? I dont want it to come off as "thanks, but its not good enough, so im not coming" or have them feel as though they never had a chance to get me to go there, but I dont want to make it sound like a breakup speech either. SHould I tell them basically that I am grateful for the acceptance and scholarship, but would like to inform the admissions people sooner that I will not be accepting it, so they can offer it to someone else. What do I need to change in my rough draft below?


How does this sound as a rough draft for the letter ( I want to email it by 5pm tomorrow)

Dear Sir or Madame( letter will be addressed to the person who wrote my acceptance letter):
Thank you for taking the time to review my application and for granting me admission to your school. Choosing a Law School to attend is both an exciting and life altering decision. While I have not made up my final decision as to which school I will be attending in the fall, I believe it is only fair that since I will not be attending_________- law, that another deserving applicant be offered my scholarship to attend the school of their dreams. Again, thank you for your time and offer. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Northwood



thanks for your help

Not sure that much thought needs to go into it. Express thanks for the offer and be concise.

slax wrote:Are people generally emailing or snail mailing withdraw letters?

Depends on the school... some give specific withdrawal forms.. Im doing Cornell and GULC via email since they didnt send anything

Great thread idea. I'm getting ready to write a couple of these as well, and I think brief and to-the-point makes the most sense.