Received a very late funding offer

[GraspingAir]

So here's the situation, I already accepted an offer from an MS program that included an $8k stipend with no tuition remission. This means I would need about 10k in loans per year, so about 20k for the 2 years, with no guaranteed acceptance or funding for the PhD program. I did just receive this offer last month, and accepted a few days later.

Today I received an offer from a PhD program including a $15k stipend, full tuition remission, and health insurance. Clearly this offer is superior and places me directly into a PhD program, which is my ultimate goal. This program was one of my top choices.

My question is, how bad would it be to take back my acceptance of the first offer to go to my preferred school with full funding? I realize it's pretty late to be changing my mind, but both of these offers came later than expected so I imagine that these schools would realize that things like this happen. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Edited June 22, 2011 by GraspingAir

[Eigen]

I would say that backing out of an MS to do a PhD won't be too badly received.

It's kind of like Post-docs or adjunct positions: Most people consider it perfectly acceptable to drop an offer for either if you get a TT position elsewhere, as that's the eventual goal.

If you want to do a PhD, and you've been accepted to do a PhD, I doubt the school at which you were going to do your MS will be that upset about it- it's a very good reason to back out.

[lyonessrampant]

I totally agree with Eigen. If you're uncomfortable, don't detail the reasons you're having to back out of the MA offer; just say personal reasons have come up that necessitate you making a decision different than you anticipated when you accepted their offer. Glad things worked out this way; what an awesome outcome!

[Mal83]

I totally agree with Eigen. If you're uncomfortable, don't detail the reasons you're having to back out of the MA offer; just say personal reasons have come up that necessitate you making a decision different than you anticipated when you accepted their offer. Glad things worked out this way; what an awesome outcome!

This is essentially what I did when I got into my top choice off of the waitlist long after accepting another offer. You are the only one that will do what's best for you. I emailed the program coordinator and said "due to very personal reasons that have dramatically changed my plans I have had to make the difficult decision to not attend the program...I dropped my classes and have been in touch with the financial aid office to cancel my loans. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience." It was something to that effect and a few hours later she emailed back to say she was sorry I wasn't attending and best of luck. That was that, and I was on my way to a school I really wanted to be at.

[ZeeMore21]

I would definitely go ahead and do the PhD...don't let temporary feelings of guilt get in the way of your goal...you have to do what is best for you. But most importantly, Congratulations!!!

[tangrinka]

Go for the PhD program - it's a no brainer! Inform the MA program coordinator and other people involved asap. I understand that you might feel a bit uneasy or guilty but I can't imagine that anyone would blame you for making such decision!