Dilemma: accepting before or after scholarships are awared

[mark123987456]

Here is a dilemma I have been thinking about:

Let's say there is a high-quality MBA applicant (GPA 4.0 from top college; serious international work experience;
track record of leadership; good extracurriculars; GMAT >750; from an industry normally underrepresented in business schools).

Let us imagine that person applied to several top MBA programs and was admitted to all of them.
Let us further imagine that this top applicant has his eyes set on one particular top program.
Of course the applicant is concerned about the hefty tuition fees; Luckily, the MBA program has some nice scholarships.

Let's say -- for the sake of this purely hypothetical example -- that the scholarships decisions are made on the 14th of April.
And that the deadline for accepting the place is the 20th of April.

What should the applicant do?
Accept the place before the scholarship are decided; or wait until after the scholarship decisions have been made?

If he accepts the place prematurely, the scholarship committee may look at early acceptance as a sign of commitment;
and therefore award the scholarship, as a reward.
Or they may look at early acceptanace as a sign that student wants to attend the program, and does not need to be lured with a scholarship.

Any advice, anybody?

[arpita@gurome]

Since you have until April 20th to make the decision, why not wait?

[Jessica@VeritasPrep]

I agree with Arpita. There is no advantage to accepting prior to their deadline so if you are waiting for scholarship decisions then you should absolutely do so. You can decide on your own what you would do (would you still go to that particular school without a scholarship) but no sense in telling the Adcom until you have all of the relevant information.

However, it couldn't hurt to call the admissions office or the financial aid office and let them know that you were thrilled to be accepted, that the school is your first choice but that you are simply waiting to find out about scholarships at a few of your top choices before making your final decision. If they still have room to decide who gets scholarships, this could potentially help. (although, if they notify on the 14th I'm assuming they've made those decisions by now).

good luck!