Any legal responsibility to applicants?

[p4718]

I want to ask you about the legal responsibility of applicants.

I received an admission letter from one Ph.D. program in January 6, and a funding letter in January 10. The admission letter required me to notify my intention to enroll no later than February 1, and the funding letter required me to respond no later than March 1.

However, there remain many other programs I applied that did not make admission decisions yet. As you know, many programs usually make their decisions in February.

I want to wait and see the result of other programs, but the February 1 time limit is too tight.

My question is, can I ask the program that gave me an admission to extend the time to notify my intention?

If they do not allow the extension, can I notify them to enroll and cancel later when other program gave me an admission(that would be before submitting funding document)? Is there any legal responsibility about canceling notification of intention(that is not about funding, but about admission)?

Edited January 14, 2011 by p4718

[LJK]

Is the university offering you admission and funding on this list? (you need to open the pdf): http://www.cgsnet.org/?tabid=201

If so, you are not required to respond until April 15th. Otherwise, the university can set their own deadlines (as it appears they have). You can request an extension, but they don't have to give it to you. The situation where you accept then back out is more murky... you may end up getting black balled for this admission year if you go that route without getting a signed release from the school you committed to.

Edited January 14, 2011 by LJK

[p4718]

Yes!! The university is on the list!! Then, they cannot urge me to respond no later than February 1, huh?

I wonder why they require me to notify that early.

As you noted, I really do not want to notify and cancel - I agree with you that it is murky.

So the best option is to request extension, right?

Thanks!

[Strangefox]

Yes!! The university is on the list!! Then, they cannot urge me to respond no later than February 1, huh?

I wonder why they require me to notify that early.

As you noted, I really do not want to notify and cancel - I agree with you that it is murky.

So the best option is to request extension, right?

Thanks!

Yes, do request extension. I've read about several people on this forum who did that and recieved it with no problems.

Even a school who is on the list can technically require you to make a decision earlier because they need to know your decision in order to be able to make an offer to another applicant if you say no. They do that because they want to finish the whole process by mid April and if you wait until the 15th to say no then they will have to make an offer to another applicant after the date, which is also not good. The whole process is like a vicious circle!

Good luck!

[p4718]

Thank you very much!!

I will request extension next week. I don't need that much time-until April 15th. I only need a few weeks.

By that time, most of the programs that I applied and I want to go will notify their decisions.

Thanks again.

[Haustier]

Is the April 15th deadline legally binding...short answer is no. The reason that some universities push for earlier acceptances is generally due to a significant backlog of wait listed candidates which is understandable. Its just like, for instance, at my university there is a section of the academic code which prohibits professors from assigning projects or giving tests in the week before finals, however, it happens all the time. Even though it is formally written in the academic code, its not really legally enforceable. Likewise, the April 15th situation is more of a guideline for admission departments. Think about it, if you're running admissions and you make 20 offers and its April 1st and only a couple of people have responded and you've got 10 people on the wait list....what do you do? You force all outstanding offers to be answered immediately and then start moving through the wait list.

[p4718]

Is the April 15th deadline legally binding...short answer is no. The reason that some universities push for earlier acceptances is generally due to a significant backlog of wait listed candidates which is understandable. Its just like, for instance, at my university there is a section of the academic code which prohibits professors from assigning projects or giving tests in the week before finals, however, it happens all the time. Even though it is formally written in the academic code, its not really legally enforceable. Likewise, the April 15th situation is more of a guideline for admission departments. Think about it, if you're running admissions and you make 20 offers and its April 1st and only a couple of people have responded and you've got 10 people on the wait list....what do you do? You force all outstanding offers to be answered immediately and then start moving through the wait list.

Thank you for the answer. I agree with you that the university may not follow the April 15th code.

But what I need is not that much time-April 15th. I just want them to be wait until the beginning of March.

I didn't send a letter requesting extension of the response date yet, but I'm thinking of sending one this week.

Thanks anyway!

[garbledy]

I think the April 15 deadline is only for fall applications. Your info says you are applying for 2011 Spring, so I think April 15 is would be too late, since it would be half way through the semester by then (typically).

I'm not sure if there is a commonly known deadline for spring admissions. I would definitely request an extension!