Emergency: I made a huge mistake on Stanford's offer of admission!

[singer]

Hi guys,

I was offer admission by Stanford's M.S in statistics, the reply deadline was 4/15. I emailed the statistics secretary about 30 minutes late after the deadline (4/16 12:30 a.m.) hence my reply was late.

I was not contacted by the department during the past week and I naively assumed they have received my reply.

I call the department today and the secretary informed me that they offer my spot to the waitlisters because they thought I was going to decline the offer. Furthermore, they also informed me that since I failed to formally accept the offer electronically (which all students who intend to join the school need to do), they reserved the right to give away my spot to other students.

The secretary informed me that she will make a note on the system and if any student who later decide not to attend the program, I will get the spot.

This is completely my mistake, and it is a big one. I will have to take full responsibility of my own actions, but I was wondering if you could suggest me what to do. Who in the department (chair? M.S advisor?) should I talk to at this point?

Did anyone accepted Stanford's offer but might decide to go else where because you are still on the waitlist for other Ph.D programs? Please let me know.

Thank you very much

[singer]

Please guys,

any suggestions. Please help me out

Hi guys,

I was offer admission by Stanford's M.S in statistics, the reply deadline was 4/15. I emailed the statistics secretary about 30 minutes late after the deadline (4/16 12:30 a.m.) hence my reply was late.

I was not contacted by the department during the past week and I naively assumed they have received my reply.

I call the department today and the secretary informed me that they offer my spot to the waitlisters because they thought I was going to decline the offer. Furthermore, they also informed me that since I failed to formally accept the offer electronically (which all students who intend to join the school need to do), they reserved the right to give away my spot to other students.

The secretary informed me that she will make a note on the system and if any student who later decide not to attend the program, I will get the spot.

This is completely my mistake, and it is a big one. I will have to take full responsibility of my own actions, but I was wondering if you could suggest me what to do. Who in the department (chair? M.S advisor?) should I talk to at this point?

Did anyone accepted Stanford's offer but might decide to go else where because you are still on the waitlist for other Ph.D programs? Please let me know.

Thank you very much

[statsguy]

Please guys,

any suggestions. Please help me out

I mean, what can anyone really say?

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a whole lot you can do except hope that someone declines their offer. Do you have any other offers that are still valid?

I guess contacting the grad program director to plead you case can't hurt, but again, since it's been almost two weeks since you "declined" your offer, I don't know they'd be able to do.

I would immediately contact all other schools you declined to see if there is any possibility of reactivating an offer. If you just need to go somewhere, you may have a chance. Otherwise, if you are set on Stanford, you may have to wait until next year.

Edited April 27, 2010 by statsguy

[floffel]

You need to aggressively get in contact with the department ASAP (call, do not email). Try contacting professors instead of/in addition to admins. You need to have specific reasons why you really want to go to Stanford and a good explanation for why you were uncommunicative/late in responding to their offer. You can't just sit back and hope everything works out; you need to take an active role in negotiating this program and anything else you may still have on the table.

Is the position funded? If not I imagine it will be easier for them to take you.

[rooster34]

You need to aggressively get in contact with the department ASAP (call, do not email). Try contacting professors instead of/in addition to admins. You need to have specific reasons why you really want to go to Stanford and a good explanation for why you were uncommunicative/late in responding to their offer. You can't just sit back and hope everything works out; you need to take an active role in negotiating this program and anything else you may still have on the table.

Is the position funded? If not I imagine it will be easier for them to take you.

I could not agree more. If you are paying your own way, which I imagine is the case, then you should be able to convince them to let you back in. Be contrite, persistent, and polite but firm. Good luck.