What if decisions from all schools are not released by April 15 deadline?

[BrownEukaryote]

Hello all, 

I have applied to several schools for PhDs under fall 2019 admission. Do all schools reply with decisions before the April 15 deadline to confirm schools that offer admission. Is it possible to receive acceptance from my dream school after the deadline to confirm with other schools that I receive admission? Is there any precaution/remedy to this situation? Or does this never happen? Thanks in advance for helping me out! 

[Warelin]

The April 15 deadline is when accepted students must accept a funded offer by at schools that have signed the resolution. It is possible for funded offers to come after that but it will usually require you to be waitlisted prior to that. (Some schools do have silent waitlists) 

[gradnstructure101]

But does this mean you could back out of one school you have "signed up for"? Is there a deposit or signed form needed by April 15th?

[N0rd]

On 1/2/2019 at 10:24 PM, gradnstructure101 said:

But does this mean you could back out of one school you have "signed up for"? Is there a deposit or signed form needed by April 15th?

After the April 15th deadline it's considered highly unethical to withdraw acceptance of funding from a school. It could also result in you loosing your offers of acceptance from other schools. According to the April 15th Resolution  accepting an offer from another school after April 15th would require a written release from the school you previously accepted funding from.

Even if you do get a written release it's a black mark on you professionally. Academia is a small world and people tend to remember things like this.