What happens if you reject an accepted offer after April 15?

[Soapcase]

I am waiting to hear from my preferred school and they say they can tell me only after April 15. In the meantime, I have an offer from another school which I have to accept before April 15. If I accept the second offer and get accept in my preferred school in May: what will happen if I decide to leave the second school? how bad can/will it get?

[jblsmith]

I am waiting to hear from my preferred school and they say they can tell me only after April 15. In the meantime, I have an offer from another school which I have to accept before April 15. If I accept the second offer and get accept in my preferred school in May: what will happen if I decide to leave the second school? how bad can/will it get?

I'm going to bump this becasue I'm in a similar situation, except with respect to funding. I have a funded offer at one school but I'm waitlisted at one of my top choices and likely wont hear back until after the April 15th. What happens if I accept the offer at school A only to find out on April 16th that I have funding at School B. Can I reneg on my acceptance.

[AClockworkGreen]

In my current program the summer emails from the assistant director were encouraging. Basically, you might piss someone off at the school, and you might lose whatever deposit they asked you to put down to hold your seat, but you can absolutely pull out. The exact phrasing was "We understand that plans change."

Plus, if you're funded, that means they can get another marginal candidate who WANTS to be there.

[Eigen]

It really depends on the school. Technically, once you accept you have a binding contract with them to attend the school- especially if they're funding you.

Often, if an offer is accepted and then later rescinded, they cannot give that funding to someone else on the list- this has been brought up on the boards a few times before. Sometimes the administration won't allow the reallocation of funds if someone drops out after having accepted the offer.

Rescinding your acceptance of an offer past April 15th can result in anything from a nice e-mail telling you they understand, to the burning of bridges within the department (and possible effects to your reputation), to the school requiring you to pay them back the first year of funding they had offered you (less common, but I've heard of it happening).

Think very carefully before you accept an offer you may well have to reject down the road- and try to find out specifics on the school policies if you can do so without drawing too much attention.

[AClockworkGreen]

Wow, thanks for clarifying, Eigen. I had no idea my experience was atypical. I appreciate the extra information.

[Eigen]

Wow, thanks for clarifying, Eigen. I had no idea my experience was atypical. I appreciate the extra information.

I should clarify:

I don't think your experience is necessarily atypical (I think it's probably the most common outcome), but I wanted to make sure the OP was aware that there were some other worse conclusions to consider as well- at least worthy of checking into before they make their decision.

Edited March 27, 2011 by Eigen