Competing deadlines for accepting offers

[cantstopstressing]

DS has an offer for a year 7 place which we need to confirm and pay a £2000 deposit by 16th Feb otherwise they will release the place. Problem is that his preferred school doesn't communicate offers until 18th Feb so I am not sure what to do. Should I approach the first school and ask for a 2 day extension or approach the second school to see if they will give results early (unlikely!).

Yes, definitively ask for an extension...you wont be the only one. And lots will require an extension until the state offers come out too.

I always think it looks a bit desperate to set the deadline before the nearby rival schools...and it annoys people too if they feel pressured to pay a deposit to hold a place and then have to forego it when the one they really wanted comes up. Often I think it’s the slightly less popular and over subscibed schools that’s do it but it can backfire.

Definitely ask. They are pretty much sure to say yes....it’s just a case of chancing their arm.

The school want to know that they are a positive choice, not a backup option. They don't want to think of themselves as the place where kids who can't make the cut for (superspecisl nearby school) end up. They have set the deadline quite deliberately.

You could try emailing them on monday saying that you want to accept the place but a banking admin error means that the funds for your deposit won't be released into your current account from long term investments until Thursday, and ask if they will accept a post-dated cheque with Thursday's date on it. Then if you get the place you want on Thursday you can cancel the cheque. Or you could just be honest with them. It depends on how likely it is that your DC will end up going there as honesty could set up a negative first impression, but if you will have no need for an ongoing relationship with the school (do you have younger DC that might also apply there in a couple of years?) then pissing their admissions staff off now doesn't matter too much.

I also expect the deadline is deliberate and the “cost” of using this school as a back-up is that you have to pay the deposit.

Probably a stupid question but I assume that I can't ask the second school if they will consider letting me know a couple of days early?

Another issue is that DS is on the waiting list for another school we love and we probably won't hear on that until end of the month. I've asked for an extension but it looks bad and I am not sure they will agree to it, especially not until the end of the month. What do I do?

Sorry to say it but it sounds like if you want to (possibly) have your child attend this school, you will have to accept the place. Or, if you just aren't sure, forego the place. Of course there is the possibility that either school will bend to meet your needs but I am not hopeful to be honest with you. I do hope this helps even if it is not at all what you want to hear (and I hope I am proved wrong!) Best of luck deciding!

No, realistically they can’t let you know early.

If you are on waiting lists, then it’s hard to avoid paying and losing deposits for your back-up place, if you’re hoping for a waiting list place elsewhere.

I’d only pay a deposit for a place I was actually prepared to send my child to. But then, presumably you wouldn’t have applied and paid the entrance fee if you hadn’t been prepared to go there.

I think this has always been the case....

We had a place at "Reserve school" which needed a £1000 deposit to hold.

We had a wait-list at "Preferred School"

The state school places were due out the day after the deadline for "Reserve school" and we were told that the wait list at "Preferred School" wouldn't move until after the state school places were allocated.

I had made it very clear to "preferred school" that I would sign on the dotted line as soon as a place became available and fortunately it did just before I needed to pay the £1000 to hold the other place....but it was a very close run thing and in this situation people often pay the £1000 and lose it usually.

Don’t they have a 7 day return deposit policy if you change your mind? Or even terms notice so as long you cancel the place before the Easter term begins you should be able to get your deposit back. Have another look at the T&Cs. Hope the helps. Totally sympathise.

Good point BringOn....there’s a 14 day distance buying rule, if I remember correctly. Not sure if it applies to deposits too, but it might give some little-known leeway to get that deposit back.

Does anyone know anything about if this can be allied to school place acceptance deposits?

We were told at an SW London offers day thing a couple of years ago that the 14 day thing did apply to deposits. The headteacher said it was a little known fact and schools didn’t talk about it but definitely it applied- but NOT if you went to the school to hand deliver the documents and cheque...
It was a school that had an exploding offer clause but he said the lawyers had insisted on it, he didn’t want to use it and if they had to he recommended the 14 day rule to parents...

So, you need to pay any deposit electronically.

I think it ought to be a mission on MN to make everyone aware of this ...it’s an issue every year and no doubt, lots of people could have their £1000 back, as often 14 days would be long enough to have your state school place or to know if you had a waiting list. It wouldn’t work for everyone as sometimes this takes longer, but for lots it could be a real help.

We have an offer from a non selective private school and are in the same position, still waiting for a selective private school and state grammars.

I read through the terms and conditions thoroughly over the weekend and saw the 14 day cooling off period hidden somewhere. This was a lifeline as it takes us to the 3rd of March if we pay on the deadline so that is what we are going to do. We are also waiting for another selective private school which should be out by then.

Check the terms and conditions.

Two years ago we were deliberating two offers. We made our decision just before the "official deadline" for offer acceptance was up. We just asked if we could have the deposit back as we assumed there would be no problems to fill the place. We got the full deposit back without any discussion. We had already calculated losing the deposit as a cost we were willing to take but still nice to get £3k back! So just ask if you ever end up like we did.

My ds had his offer come through a few days ago (not London area) and requested the deposit to be laid within a week or so (I forget the exact date) but in the very next sentence said this is fully refundable within 14 days if we changed our mind. No hiding it in small print - it was loud and proud!

We are in a nail biting position here (not London). My dd has 2 offers already, both of which have to be accepted months before third (preferred) school. offers are for 13+ and the third school doesn’t offer until after common entrance. If we go for what she wants, we will need to decline both offers and just hope that she gets one from the third school. There’s no option of holding a place with a deposit until then. So we would lose a term’s fees if we want to hold a back-up. Also, it is so last minute that we’d be scurrying around in summer trying to sort a place somewhere if she didn’t receive an offer!

According to the joint GSA/HMC etc rules Schools cannot require an acceptance before the first Monday in march. The whole exploding offers thing just fuels the London schools madness and the schools use it to make sure they get the numbers they want. The schools who play by the rules still get pupils. The holding of backup places just causes more upset down the line... I was in charge of admissions for many years at a selective school and every year saw the madness of it all.

I've had a school admissions officer tell me that the 14 day distance selling cooling off period doesn't apply if you've visited the premises. I'm not sure that they are right, it feels like the sort of thing which hasn't been tested in court, but this opinion is one of the reasons that they ask people to sign in at open days. This year, however, you're probably good.

A friend told me that CLSG did refund their deposit when they took up a HBS place on March 1st of the infamous early detonation year. And that was more than 14 days later that year. But they wanted evidence that the girl got the state school place.

Hopefully, most schools are decent about this particularly when they set conflicting dates.