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The degree: English m.a. The schools: York, UofT The issues: York is offering scholarships that will cover my tuition at the least. UofT offers Nada (I will need loans). York's faculty seem more welcoming. York offers more options in terms of the degree (e.g. option to do an MRP, or thesis, or directed reading courses, etc.) while UofT is coursework only (so I will be somewhat limited I imagine to producing work along certain lines). However, a few years ago I started a grad degree at UofT but had to drop out and I have a strong urge to finish it off ffs. I think UofT is more competitive and may be more challenging but that could be a good thing? And I want to continue on to do a PhD somewhere awesome and for some reason I have this feeling that UofT would more likely put me in place to go where I want to go. The ask: please help.

Hi all, so. I'm in the humanities, hoping to start an M.A. this fall. I live and study in Canada (as that might be relevant?). I applied to 3 schools, and have been accepted to one, with funding. The problem is, the deadline to accept this offer is SOON (ie. tomorrow), but I haven't heard back from either of the other 2 schools. Both of them are preferable, for practical reasons. I requested the deadline be extended while I wait for the other schools, but was told it's not possible. I reached out to the other 2 schools to see if I can get an update on my applications; they will both be sending out acceptances this week (one as early as Wednesday), is all I was told. But I can't wait that long, since I can't extend the deadline for this one school. The school I've been accepted to now knows that I'm holding off to hear from the other 2 schools, so if I back out later, they'll know why, obviously (and they'll also know that I basically just accepted them as a placeholder?). I'm just not too sure what to do here. I want to accept in case I don't get into the other two - plus this offer is very attractive! But if I do get accepted elsewhere, I'm most likely going to have to come back to these guys and decline. I also don't know if there are any legal repercussions or anything to be aware of (especially as there's funding involved) - what is binding? I know that one reason accepting and declining later is a big no-no is because it can mess up other students' chances. But at most, I see myself having to wait 1-2 weeks before coming back and declining this offer, so I don't think it would mess up anyone's chances too much? Yeah. I could just really use some advice/thoughts from others. How bad would it be to accept this offer and later decline? Any and all feedback greatly appreciated!