Another question - I've got an offer of admission to a post grad at Harvard, MIT, Columbia & Pratt. Received scholarships / financial aid from two of them but unfortunately not from my top choice school.
They told me they can not budge at this point, but their portal still says accepting applications for financial aid - I assume for US Citizens only (I am an international student)
Do you think it's possible / productive / worthwhile bargaining with them to a certain extent? I.E - is it appropriate to inform my top choice about the financial aid offered by the others, and see if they could potentially match it?
I'd hate to miss out because I didn't ask....
splinesbetweentheplace
Mar 15, 18 8:35 am
It doesn't hurt to bargain, it's actually fairly common. The worst
thing they could do is say no. Make sure the request is tactfully
written and back up any claims with evidence.
Dangermouse
Mar 15, 18 12:59 pm
my experience: the gsd doesn't budge unless you're a top recruit, which would have been reflected in your aid offer. i know people who have turned a decent gsd offer into very generous awards from penn and columbia, with a simple e-mail of "hey, i really want to accept your offer, but GSD is giving me X/year, is there anything more you can do?" don't lie about it, however. adcoms all know each other and they talk
Flatfish
Mar 15, 18 1:36 pm
When I was on an admission committee it always disbanded after the acceptance letters were sent out. Anything that happened later - admitting people off the wait list, adjusting financial aid, talking to disgruntled rejected students - was all handled by administrative staff, occasionally escalated to an associate dean. There was a little flexibility in financial aid built into the budget, for those where "additional circumstances come to light." That's where you can do a little bargaining - but you have to approach it like you're telling them something new about your situation. It won't usually be admissions committee members involved - they won't even know about it - so how much they want you is just boiled down to a ranking or tier in your file, and the admin staff may be authorized to negotiate with 4's, for example, but not with 3's or lower. This is why some people have better success in trying than others. It doesn't usually hurt to try - though in my university the drama school has been known to pull offers of those who repeatedly ask (but of course they're more dramatic than architecture administration).
Hello everyone,
Another question - I've got an offer of admission to a post grad at Harvard, MIT, Columbia & Pratt. Received scholarships / financial aid from two of them but unfortunately not from my top choice school.
They told me they can not budge at this point, but their portal still says accepting applications for financial aid - I assume for US Citizens only (I am an international student)
Do you think it's possible / productive / worthwhile bargaining with them to a certain extent? I.E - is it appropriate to inform my top choice about the financial aid offered by the others, and see if they could potentially match it?
I'd hate to miss out because I didn't ask....
It doesn't hurt to bargain, it's actually fairly common. The worst thing they could do is say no. Make sure the request is tactfully written and back up any claims with evidence.
my experience: the gsd doesn't budge unless you're a top recruit, which would have been reflected in your aid offer. i know people who have turned a decent gsd offer into very generous awards from penn and columbia, with a simple e-mail of "hey, i really want to accept your offer, but GSD is giving me X/year, is there anything more you can do?" don't lie about it, however. adcoms all know each other and they talk
When I was on an admission committee it always disbanded after the acceptance letters were sent out. Anything that happened later - admitting people off the wait list, adjusting financial aid, talking to disgruntled rejected students - was all handled by administrative staff, occasionally escalated to an associate dean. There was a little flexibility in financial aid built into the budget, for those where "additional circumstances come to light." That's where you can do a little bargaining - but you have to approach it like you're telling them something new about your situation. It won't usually be admissions committee members involved - they won't even know about it - so how much they want you is just boiled down to a ranking or tier in your file, and the admin staff may be authorized to negotiate with 4's, for example, but not with 3's or lower. This is why some people have better success in trying than others. It doesn't usually hurt to try - though in my university the drama school has been known to pull offers of those who repeatedly ask (but of course they're more dramatic than architecture administration).