Don't Just Say No

How do you respond "no" to a college's offer of admission?


Most people think that turning down colleges is easy and it is if you just want to write up a sentence or two saying that you have chosen to attend another school and copying and pasting this to all the schools that have offered you admission except for the one you are going to.

On the other hand, if you want to be helpful and if you want to leave a few breadcrumbs, then you might add a bit more information. One thing schools want desperately to know more about is why a student did not accept their offer of admission and where the student has chosen to go instead. This helps the school get a better sense of who their competition is and what it is that they might be able to do better or to think about in the future. I designed surveys to ask students who had turned down the offer of the school I worked for and believe me this information about why students did not accept the offer is important to future planning and budgeting.

So here are a few things you might include (my own examples but these may apply to your particular situation too)

1. Thank the school/admission office for extending you an offer

2. Tell them where you have chosen to enroll: After a great deal of deliberation I have chosen to enroll at Yale…

3. If you have particular information that might be useful about why you chose Yale include that too:
I was particularly drawn to Yale’s sustainable food program given my years of creating a business that helps deliver food to hospitals etc.

4. I wanted to thank you for the time you took in writing to me during the admission cycle and keeping me informed:
I was particularly moved when I was offered a chance to be a part of the honors program, or

5. I was particularly moved when I was offered a merit scholarship.

6. I hope that another candidate will now be able to enroll. Thank you again.

I mentioned breadcrumbs. If you are thinking about graduate school the it might not be a bad idea to tell the schools this is in your future. Some schools you apply to will ask if you have applied to them before. If they pull up a helpful and nice email this certainly can’t hurt in terms giving them a good impression even if you did not choose to enroll:

Given my interest in science I may well be applying to graduate school there in just a few short years!

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I was first asked to answer this question on the website Quora.com