Managing response times to offers

[BoldJadeEagle]

Hi all – I’d be grateful for some advice please.

I’m an expat parent and my DD has been offered a place at a UK all-girls school. They’ve asked for a response by early March, with the deposit due about two weeks later (the deposit is roughly a term’s fees).

However, the other school we’re also interested in (co-ed) won’t release its offers until mid-March, so the timelines don’t align and we’d ideally like to have all the information before committing.

In this situation, would you ask the first school for an extension to respond / pay the deposit? I don’t want to appear difficult, but equally it feels like a big decision and I’d like to have all the options before we decide.

Any experience or advice would be really appreciated.

I think it depends if they are full. The school we are planning on sending our son to has space in all years so technically we could pay in June and it make no difference. If they are full and the space could go to another girl they will be stricter

In this particular case, the deposit is due in mid-March which is the same timeframe as when your (presumably) preferred school releases its offers, so there should only be an issue of few days.

In this case I think you will be fine, but on behalf of other parents out there I would ask that you let whichever school you will not be going to know as soon as possible. It is parents holding multiple offers when they will ultimately only take one place that leave other families hanging on waiting lists potentially for over a year.

All good points - thank you!