sinequanonsarah Posted March 4, 2008 Posted March 4, 2008 Ok, so I have one school (A) that has accepted me into their program. Yay. I heard from them mid-February. I'm still waiting on another school ( (and I don't expect to hear from them until the end of March-ish). The graduate program director at school A is pressuring me to give them an answer (so that they can move onto their wait list if necessary). I completely understand the rush on their part... but at the same time, I want to wait to hear from school B before I make any decisions. I returned the email asking for a date by which they have to know, and explaining the situation. But in the meantime, I'm wondering... don't they HAVE to give us until April 15th? Does this change if there is funding involved (I got a TA from school A)?
rising_star Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 You don't have to give them an answer before April 15 though it's polite to turn them down before then if you already know you won't go. You could also tell the folks that you're waiting to hear from other schools before you make a decision so you can fully consider all of your options.
sinequanonsarah Posted March 11, 2008 Author Posted March 11, 2008 I emailed the grad program director at school A; his response states that I can put off responding to their offer... exact words "if you know from them within the next 15 days, it's ok." This email was sent March 10. That would put a necessary response date at March 25. Based on the results search section of this site, School B doesn't typically respond until late March... and sometimes early April. So what to do??? Should I contact the grad secretary at school B, explain my situation, and find out if it is likely that I will hear anything from them by this point? Would it be better to talk to the grad director at School B? And WHY are they RUSHING me?? I only applied to 2 schools, so it's not like I'm sitting on all these offers. I understand that they want to move onto their waitlist asap if necessary, but I just don't have an answer for them yet... advice please!!!
Fiddler_Crab Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 When you received your admissions letter, was there also an attached document from the Council of Graduate Schools? All of my admissions have contained a copy of a statement about how legally you don't have to choose before April 15th because the university is a member of the Council of Graduate Schools. Also, in the acceptance letter the April 15th response date date is listed clearly. It sounds shady that this Prof. is pressuring you so much. Is there any way you can check to see if this school is part of the CGS? If it isn't maybe the rules differ. I have no idea, but it sounds stressful. :shock:
sinequanonsarah Posted March 11, 2008 Author Posted March 11, 2008 so far I've received no admissions letter. Only lots of (email) correspondence with the grad director. Regarding this (because I thought I should have received something by now, as well, seeing as I was notified of my acceptance on Feb 15), I said in one email to him "I'm sure that a formal letter of acceptance is on it's way..." and then in another email I outright asked "when is it going to get here?" In the same email with the "15 days" comment, he says that I should receiving the formal letter "in the next couple of weeks." This University is definitely on the Council of Graduate Schools... should I return his email saying that I won't be able to give an answer until I have a formal acceptance notification from both the department and the Graduate School of the University? And should I light a fire under school B's butt? Very precarious... :?
engguy Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 while i realize that it's very frustrating not to have the formal letter in hand, if they are a member of the CGS there's really nothing they can do to rush you. the chair of the dept. of my school told me a story about how THEY had been trying to rush someone last year, and his adviser sent a nasty e-mail telling him (the chair) the school could not force the prospective student to make a decision before apr 15. needless to say, he waited till apr 15 and turned them down. you just have to wait. go along with whatever school A says, be polite, but don't commit to anything. meanwhile, that letter will eventually come. i've never heard of a school sending someone e-mails with offers and so on, and then not giving an official offer (or somehow screwing with you on that). i don't think any reputable school -- that wanted to keep its reputation -- would do that. as for lighting a fire under school B -- it's up to you to gauge how effective that would be. beyond a certain point it might just be annoying. :x
sinequanonsarah Posted March 11, 2008 Author Posted March 11, 2008 Update: I got home this evening to a formal letter... from the Graduate School of the University. Still nothing from the department, though. Oh, and nothing attached re: the CGS agreement. I'll drag my feet until the 15 days are up and, if I still haven't heard anything from school B at that point (please, god, let me have heard from school B by then...), then I will figure out what to do from there. But hopefully I don't have to wait that long. *sigh.
engguy Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 i have two "formal" offers and one e-mail / phone offer from 3 schools. none of them have explicitly mentioned the apr 15 deadline -- unless maybe I'm not looking carefully enough -- but all have acknowledged it one way or another. you'll probably get a number of materials from school A in the coming weeks, some from the dept., some from the grad college. they move at different speeds, and sometimes aren't aware of what the other's doing. i'm sure you know that, though. from one school, i have a formal offer letter from the dept., one from the grad school, another with a TA contract, and a formal e-mail from the president of the school. i'm just sticking it all in a file so i can keep track of it. just hang in there! again, if you are certain they are a member of CGS, they cannot force an answer. if it will ease your mind, i'm sure you could find someone in the grad admissions office who will confirm this.
l0vdagame Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 I have a question regarding this topic as well. I was admitted into the Clinton School of Public Service, which is part of University of Arkansas Little Rock. They gave me a deadline of March 19th (which I pushed from Feb 22), as they want to know who is coming to fill the spots in their class, it is a small program. Little Rock is a member of the the Council of Graduate Schools, or whatever it is called, it is really hard for me to make my decision by the 19th, as I am still waiting on funding decisions from other schools. Do they have to follow the April 15th deadline, is there an appropriate way to ask for more time, even though I have already had it extended? Thanks
sinequanonsarah Posted March 12, 2008 Author Posted March 12, 2008 l0vdagame - while I'm sorry that you're having to go through this, I'm also glad to know that I"m not the only one! What I decided to do was to email the grad secretary at school B, explain the situation, and ask if she might be able to give me an idea as to the decision-making timeframe so that I can inform the other program that has given me an offer. So maybe you could email the schools from whom you are awaiting funding decisions and try the same approach... At least with them, you know that you've already been accepted!! I have a little more time than you, but as a last resort, I will pull out the April 15 thing. If I were you, I would call the graduate school at UA-LR first, just to make sure that the program to which you've been accepted applies under the CGS agreement (I'm sure that it does, but at least this way you have "official" notification from someone at the university). At that point, I would then say to the program, "I'm a bit confused as to when I have to respond to your offer, because the Graduate School said that I have until the 15th of April because of this CGS agreement..." That will be my approach, anyway, if I have to go there. I hope I don't, though :|
engguy Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 please understand, i'm no expert on this, but two last points: 1) I had my own school A and school B situation several yrs ago, when i was going into my masters program. school A notified very early and was courting me with a nice offer and giving me "soft pressure" to decide. school B accepted me, with no word on funding. after looking at their program web site and determining that they could do little more than match school A, i finally said yes to A, mostly to relieve the pressure. well, i was very shocked a week or so later when school B came back with a gigantic fellowship that i hadn't even known they offered... and this was the last weekend in march! turns out, their committee didn't meet to decide on the fwshp till then. needless, to say, it made for a very awkward phone conversation with the DGS of school A when i called to tell her. but even she had to admit that there was no way they could match it. now, if i had known about the CGS agreement at that time, i would have been much more sanguine about the whole process and saved myself and them a lot of trouble. that's why i think it might be foolish / pointless for you to pressure school B too much, btw -- they might be waiting to have a meeting and decide funding. 2) the other side of this is that school A has probably made indirect promises to those on the waitlist -- along the lines of, 'we should be able to let you know something by the third week of march.' while you should sympathize with these people and let them know asap so they can move on to them, it's really not your problem. again, don't be a jerk about it, but also don't take on responsibility for every single person who's waiting and for the harried admissions officer who's dealing with them. by whatever measure, you've earned a spot in their program, and you owe it to yourself to gather all the information you can before deciding. 8) again, best of luck!
greenpapaya Posted March 20, 2008 Posted March 20, 2008 I am in the same predicament. Thanks to the info above about the Council of Graduate Schools, I emailed the graduate chairperson for the department and asked about it, as politely as possible. They gave me 10 days in my acceptance letter! (8 left, in counting...). I haven't heard from my first choices, thought I have been notified that the decisions will be made soon, at least.
greenpapaya Posted March 20, 2008 Posted March 20, 2008 Just sent the email to the graduate director and got a response already! He said it was fine and to let him know by April 15th. It worked!
Quarex Posted March 25, 2008 Posted March 25, 2008 The talk of "official offers" in this thread brings up an interesting point--how common is it to dangle unofficial offers in front of students as a reward for accepting soon? I know someone who was informally offered an assistantship, but it was implied that the competition was strong enough that if she could not commit by the end of March, they would need to "officially" give it to someone else.
engguy Posted March 25, 2008 Posted March 25, 2008 how common is it to dangle unofficial offers in front of students as a reward for accepting soon? Shady but, I think, all too common. If it's a straight assistantship offer, though, it might be downright illegal, assuming they're part of the CGS agreement. I can sort of understand schools pressuring you if they're offering a plum fellowship, because the money streams for those are often particular and originate outside the program. Funders get anxious when their top choices don't accept. They like to close the deal quickly. Understandable, but still shady and against the principle of the CGS. That's why you should always get something in writing. Even if it's just an e-mail. At this point, it's all a big game of musical chairs, and programs are just as eager as we are (well maybe not, but pretty damned eager) to flesh out their cohorts and get everyone to sign on the dotted line for the coming year. On a separate note, speaking of this, I have to start writing e-mails today to turn some offers down... Part of me wants to keep offers open as long as possible, but partially for the reasons stated above, and also for my own peace of mind, I have to do this.
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