Tell us BEFORE we admit you if you will come.

[slaNYC]

I know I've seen inquiries like this before so I'm wondering if I can solicit some advice too. I just came home to the following email from a school.

"I am writing to let you know you are one of our top candidates and we think you would be a good fit with our program. However, we have to limit our incoming class to five or six students so if possible, please let me know if you have accepted or are planning on accepting elsewhere else. This helps us move more quickly in our decision making process."

At this point I haven't received any acceptances or rejections from any of the schools I've applied to. I'm certainly not ready to commit to anything. Any thoughts on how I should respond beyond saying that I have yet to be accepted, I remain interested, but of course my final decision will depend on a number of factors including any financial or fellowship offers?

[Ampere]

I've had this type of email myself, and I answered straightforwardly that I was still very interested in their program but had to consider other offers as well. They aren't looking for a commitment; they just want to make sure you haven't already ruled them out.

[Italophile]

Off-topic, but this thread title reminds me of Field of Dreams... "if you admit him, he will come..."

[slaNYC]

Ampere, you are exactly right that they aren't looking for a commitment but rather just assessing my interest. Thanks for your feedback. I will say though, unless you've gotten into your "dream" school with full funding and a generous stipend for 5 years, who would make a decision before all offers are on the table? So, I'm not sure these general inquiries get genuine & honest responses from prospective students.

And, Italophile, I sort of thought that too...

[surefire]

While it's true that the utility of this approach is mitigated by the decision timelines of other graduate programs, I can appreciate the move on the admission committee's part. When I was part of an adcomm, we had prospective students who were not only applying to other grad programs, but also law school, wherein the timelines are different. I think that we extended two offers that resulted in the response: "Oh yeah, I accepted a law school admission offer last month, sorry, the PhD was kind of Plan B".

Offers are crafted, not just based on the individual merit of applicants, but also with consideration to how the cohort will get on together. The adcomm kind of builds a little dream team and when offers are stilted (and were really never prioritized to begin with, to the contradiction of fervently-phrased SoPs), it kind of throws a wrench into things... That being said, it is appreciated and respected that students are trying to make the best possible decision (that is, informed and well-suited to their interests/goals). Adcomms don't take it personally if you don't prioritize/accept their program and, really, they would ideally want people who WANT to be there and are EXCITED by the offer.

Think of it this way, adcomms are just trying to make the best decision as well; that is, informed and well-suited to their interests/goals. This e-mail strategy appears to be contributive to their efforts to this end.

Good luck!

Edited February 14, 2012 by surefire

[juilletmercredi]

The question is simply if you have accepted any other offers or are planning to accept any other offers. If you haven't received any acceptances, the answer is no. So you can just say "No, I haven't accepted any other offers, and I am still enthusiastically awaiting your response."