Unenrollin'

So, you also have to unenroll by May 1 to get your deposit back. How? Send me an email at questions@phoenix.uchicago.edu. If you do it before May 1, we will refund your $350. If not, we keep it! I think this deadline is also strict, since it's a by-law of the National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC, pronounced AF-lack... er... NAC-ack.)

Here's a good time to talk about double-depositing. Double-depositing is where you put down and keep deposits at two universities past May 1. Double-depositing is not allowed. You are only supposed to deposit at (and go to) one. However, it has become a huge issue lately. Sometimes people keep their two deposits in well into Orientation Week. If they don't like their first few nights, they leave and attend the other place. That's not how this is supposed to work! We're not supposed to be recruiting you well into the start of classes, and you're not supposed to have to make your decision after May 1. We all agreed that May 1 was the national reply deadline.

Plus, if we find out that you have double deposited, we will rescind your offer of admission. How's that? How do we find out? Well, in order to enroll, you must send us a final transcript. We hope that your guidance offices will not send two final transcripts, or that if they are asked to, they're savvy enough to know something fishy is going on. If they're asked to by you, they'll probably tell you to withdraw your enrollment pretty quick, or they might even tell us what you did. Don't do it! The stakes are too high!

So, if you're not going to get your deposit back anyway, why unenroll from the university you know you're not going to attend? Besides the embarrassment of having your offer rescinded when we find out you have two deposits down, you will be taking a spot away from a wait listed candidate who really wants it. And that's just wrong.

Update: Email is writing, so emailing your unenrollment is just fine.