BlueJayBird

The April 15 Resolution only applies to offers of financial aid, not offers of admission. It's really lame that that's the case but the worst that happens if you back out of an acceptance of admission is that you forfeit whatever enrollment deposit they ask you to pay (which, for some schools, may indeed be significant).

Congratulations!!!! My understanding is that this means the department likes you and wants you and is telling the more broad graduate admissions office (which has the higher authority) to let you in. The admissions office just has to make sure their t's are crossed and their i's are dotted! They may require you to send your official transcripts directly to them (if you, like me, didn't do that in the initial application process and just uploaded a scan). They just have to double check that everything is legit. As long as everything about your test scores, transcripts, etc. is legit, you should be good to go! I also saw one article saying that at this stage one of the more common reasons to be rejected by the admissions office is a low TOEFL score. Or, if you have a lower-than-standard-requirement GRE score or GPA, the department might have to write a special petition on your behalf to the admissions office. Not sure if that's applicable here, but an interesting tidbit!

I followed up with NAU about them asking that I respond to my TA offer by March 8, since they signed the CGS April 15 Resolution. They said it's a request to do them the courtesy of responding by then, not a definitive deadline in order to keep the offer. The true deadline is April 15!

Huh, it looks like they did! Maybe I should inquire about that.

This is so challenging, limbo is the hardest place to be. I'm sorry you're going through that uncertainty. It's crazy that that program might get cancelled! That sucks SO hard. That first-acceptance excitement is so real, and I can only imagine how emotional it is for that opportunity to be in question now. It's so easy to second-guess and critique your applications after the fact (I found a typo in the final, what I hoped to be hard-hitting sentence of my SOP after sending a version of it to four different schools...ugh). I think if you wrote honestly and to the best of your ability at the time, that's all you can ask of yourself. Write the things you love. Changing your writing to fit what you think a program wants means that if you do get accepted based on that change, you might not actually feel at home there as your true writer self. I'm making an assumption here, but I know you replied to my post asking about my TA notification, so I'm guessing you might be referring to that school for the funding issue. They asked me to accept or decline the position by March 8, so maybe that's a more concrete date around which you can center your expectations for when second-round TA offers might go out. I hope that alleviates at least a tiny bit of uncertainty, and I really hope you get a TA offer!!! I'm sending good vibes your way

Congrats!!!! Similar to what Rixor said, thank them and express your excitement about being admitted. If they gave you a date by which you have to reply, I'd end with "I will be sure to reply with my formal acceptance of my place in the program by (date)" (this communicates your enthusiasm without making a formal commitment yet and it avoids the awkward "I'm still waiting to hear back from other places" line). Or, if they didn't give you a date, ask "By what date do you need my formal acceptance of my place in the program?" Hope that's helpful! Excited for you!!!

Thank you! I was notified via email. I had replied to my acceptance email the night before asking when I would hear about a TA decision, so maybe that prompted them a little bit.

Here are my results so far, for any who are curious. I applied for Creative Nonfiction. I'll keep this updated as decisions come out! University of Utah: Rejected 2/16 Northern Arizona University: Accepted 2/21, Fully-funded TA position offer 2/22 Colorado State University: Waitlisted 2/22 University of Arizona: Pending University of Iowa: Pending University of Idaho: Pending Iowa State University: Pending University of Texas at El Paso: Pending Super relieved to have an acceptance with full funding at a school I'd be super happy to attend. Bring on the rejections!!!