Accepting & the Rejecting because of a Wait-list?

[nushi]

Hi everyone,,,

I got accepted only in two of the universities I applied to, but got a waiting list in another two that I prefer.

However, I know that I got April 15th as a deadline to accept or reject offers. So what if I accept the offer of one university, but then after April 15th  (when perhaps someone rejects their offer in one of the universities I got a waiting list for), I get an offer from that university. What would I do? Is it possible for me to decline from the first university I accepted its offer before April 15th & accept the offer of my preferred one (the one that gave me an offer after April 15th, because I'm on a waiting list)?

Another question is that, one of the two universities that accepted me, put me on a waiting list for its teaching assistantships (I wouldn't be able to afford studying without an assistantship). So should I accept the offer, & wait until April 15th when perhaps someone else would reject their offer of an assistantship? Is it possible that I accept the offer of the two universities (one I got an assistantship, & one I got wait-listed for an assistantship) so I wouldn't lose any of them before the deadline of April 15th?

Oh my God, what a mess!!! I'm so depressed for not getting offered in my preferred university!

[Warelin]

April 15th is the deadline to accept funded offers. Offers without funding are not included in the April 15 resolution. Withdrawing from a university (after April 15) after previously accepting an offer requires written permission from that university in order to be released in order to accept another offer. It is not recommended that you accept two offers. While it is legal to accept two offers, it can result in burned bridges as academia is very small and based on connections.

The April 15 resolution regarding this addresses what I said below:

"Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15; earlier deadlines for acceptance of such offers violate the intent of this Resolution. In those instances in which a student accepts an offer before April 15, and subsequently desires to withdraw that acceptance, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15. However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student not to accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the institution to which a commitment has been made. Similarly, an offer by an institution after April 15 is conditional on presentation by the student of the written release from any previously accepted offer."

 

[nushi]

Thank you Warelin so much for your detailed explanation 

[theatregal]

Hey! I'm in the same boat and am also stressing!! I just got an offer from a university I really like, but which is not my first choice, and I am waitlisted at one of my top choices and am waiting to hear back from the other top choice. Third choice is pressuring me to accept ASAP and I feel like I have no choice but to accept and then maybe say no later if I get in to the other schools (which feels icky to me, but I really don't know what else to do). Solidarity, and hope you figure out your situation soon! 

[nushi]

Well, as Warelin said, it's better we don't accept the offer until April 15th, so we could wait till the very end to see if our wait-listed situation hopefully turns into an acceptance, & not getting into trouble rejecting the other university after we chose to accept their offer!

The problem is that our wait-listed position gets an acceptance AFTER April 15th, when we had to accept the other offer right before it!

Hope everything goes well with us