When to Accept Offer

[boilermakers]

Hi,

I have been accepted to Purdue and recommended for the Purdue Doctoral Fellowship. I understand that it is a competitive award so I would like to increase my odds of getting it. Is there any advice on if it's advantageous to commit myself to Purdue early to increase my odds of getting this fellowship? Or are they more likely to award me the fellowship to try to get me to go there if I have not yet accepted the offer to attend Purdue?

 

Any suggestions and experience with this would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

[fuzzylogician]

Since this looks like a competitive university-wide fellowship that it's in the department's interest for you to get, I would suggest you simply write them and ask.*  I would guess, though, that it's not going to increase your chances of getting this fellowship. It's there as a recruitment tool, so if anything, already accepting the offer would make you less attractive (they don't need to court you if you've already accepted their offer). But really, I don't think it matters either way. You do, of course, have to be enrolled to actually get the money. 

* or you might call them and ask without giving your name, if you're worried about how it might look to ask the question (you can easily find the number online, here is the announcement for last year's fellowship, which btw also explicitly discusses the selection criteria: https://www.purdue.edu/gradschool/documents/funding/fellowships/doctoral-announcement-2016-17.pdf).

[2017 Applicant]

@boilermakers I wonder - do you even have the ability to accept the offer yet? I'm wondering because I'm in a similar boat, and although I received my unofficial acceptance packet a while ago I still have not gotten a notice from the graduate school yet via their website and thus can't accept or decline the offer. I wonder if it's because they're waiting to select fellows first. 

[Entangled Phantoms]

12 hours ago, boilermakers said:

Hi,

I have been accepted to Purdue and recommended for the Purdue Doctoral Fellowship. I understand that it is a competitive award so I would like to increase my odds of getting it. Is there any advice on if it's advantageous to commit myself to Purdue early to increase my odds of getting this fellowship? Or are they more likely to award me the fellowship to try to get me to go there if I have not yet accepted the offer to attend Purdue?

 

Any suggestions and experience with this would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

My unofficial notification was similarly worded - "recommended" for fellowship. Just got the official offer letter. Might want to call ECE and ask what the process - it is possible the Graduate School signs off on all fellowship recommendations. 

[oldacct]

I was nominated for a prestigious fellowship at another university and then turned to them with another more competitive offer. I then received another fellowship from them. I would say it is probably in your advantaged to not accept sooner, but rather later. Also, try to use other offers to drive Purdue’s offer up.

The second fellowship I had received required that the recipient had NOT accepted admission yet. Specifically, this fellowship was meant to recruit students who may have other offers to persuade them to attend their school.

I probably won’t call. It seems like a bit of a strange question and I think it reveals your hand a bit.  

Good luck!

[ThousandsHardships]

I haven't seen it make a difference whatsoever. In any case, I don't think it's a good idea to commit to a school just because you think it might increase your chances of receiving a prestigious fellowship. You should wait until the offers go out for all your schools and pick the best from there. Maybe you'll get an even better financial offer from one of your other picks. Of course, if there's a school that you for sure will not be attending, please decline that offer ASAP so that the department is not wasting their resources and nomination slots on you and so that any waitlisted students would get admitted with ample time to make the decision themselves.