Urgent! Advice needed

[Savingtehplanet]

I have been in regular contact with a professor at UIUC who's pretty positive about me and also stated that he'd nominate me for a fellowship. He then mails me telling that I will receive my offer letter soon and that I have to revert back by Feb starting. I am pretty chuffed about this but at the same time I do not want to miss out on getting into other colleges who I've applied to and whose results would come later. So what do I do? Any help would be appreciated

[GeoDUDE!]

So you haven't received an offer yet... and he's asking you to respond by February ? Is UIUC in the council of graduate schools? If this is a funded offer, you should ask if there is a reason he's asking you to ask earlier than the CGS deadline.  If the fellowship has that deadline, then you may have a decision on your hands. If its a RA/TA offer, you might ask one of your professors what you should do. To me this is a red flag: if there is no funding reason for the February deadline it might mean this professor has very little confidence in attracting students of his choice. 

Edited January 11, 2016 by GeoDUDE!

[Savingtehplanet]

I asked him whether he'd be accommodating enough to extend the deadline till the end of Feb. Hopefully he will accede to this. Thanks!

[zerozircon]

Was this issue resolved?  

[Savingtehplanet]

Fortunately yes. I got into UWashington SEFS and then I declined the UIUC NRES offer. Still waiting on other decisions but not optimistic at all.