Admission Offer Withdrawn

[chadottir]

I applied to a prestigious Canadian institution (though I'm American) for a PhD in the social sciences. It was my top choice, I was interviewed by the advisor I wanted to work with, got offers from two other programs, and waited. I thought I'd try to use my other acceptances as leverage for my top choice and emailed the professor and asked if I could expect to hear from them in the next couple of weeks. She emailed me back right away and informally offered me admission and let me know how much funding I'd get. I rejoiced, felt all my dreams had come true and figured I'd wait until I got the official letter before I turned the other offers down, which she also recommended.

Two days later, the professor contacted me again to reiterate that her offer was merely informal and that the graduate college would have to approve my application, which they were now scrutinizing because I do not have enough undergraduate coursework in the chosen field (but do have a Master's degree in it).

Just heard today that they cannot admit me because I am missing too much required undergraduate coursework. Professor said she was sorry and that it was an oversight on their part to informally offer me admission and that I should take one of my other offers. Will be Skyping with her tomorrow to discuss in detail.

I'm pretty heartbroken. I'm trying to figure out how to approach our conversation tomorrow. This program remains my top choice and the advisor, despite her blunder, remains my top choice.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[DualCitizenIR]

I just have to say that that is just horrible... You said you have a masters degree in the same field, right? That just doesn't seem right to me. Isn't that the place of the masters program to not admit you if you don't have enough courses in UG? I don't know if anything anyone says can make you feel any better, but just keep your chin up. At least you have some other choices. It would have been catastrophically worse if you notified the other programs that you were declining before hearing this... Is the graduate college's word final and absolute over the department (which I assume wanted you)? Any chance of appeal or conditional/deferred admission? Best of luck, keep us posted.

[chadottir]

I just have to say that that is just horrible... You said you have a masters degree in the same field, right? That just doesn't seem right to me. Isn't that the place of the masters program to not admit you if you don't have enough courses in UG? I don't know if anything anyone says can make you feel any better, but just keep your chin up. At least you have some other choices. It would have been catastrophically worse if you notified the other programs that you were declining before hearing this... Is the graduate college's word final and absolute over the department (which I assume wanted you)? Any chance of appeal or conditional/deferred admission? Best of luck, keep us posted.

Yes, I have a Master's in the field from an Ivy League in the U.S. but it did not require the number of undergrad courses that this Canadian Ph.D program does. Ridiculous! I guess the main issue is the difference between the Canadian and U.S. requirements. It sounds like the final word from both college and department but I'll have to find out more from tomorrow's conversation. I was going to try to argue for a conditional admission and will do so. I hadn't thought of a deferred admission so thanks for that. : )

[ktel]

That just seems ridiculous. You should try to press this a little further, see if you can perhaps make up the required coursework during your PhD or before completing your PhD

[cyberwulf]

Having attended both Canadian and American universities, I have to say that my experience has been that universities north of the border are a *lot* more bureaucratic and tend to be wedded to official policies, guidelines, etc. Sounds like whoever reviewed your application wasn't willing to stick their neck out for a slightly unusual case; or it could be that there is some regulation on the books regarding pre-reqs that an administrator refused to budge on. Agree with the above posters who said you should pursue the issue if it seems there is any hope at all that the decision can be... re-reversed?

[dntw8up]

Maybe you can pick-up the undergraduate courses somewhere during the summer?

[milara]

I have to agree with what @cyberwulf said. Canadian universities tend to have strict cut-offs and regulations that they will not budge on. Often the regulations are imposed not just at the university level, but by the governing body that sanctions programs as able to grant doctoral degrees. My suggestion is that you follow up on it, but expect to fail.

[abc123xtc]

This makes me nervous that my admission offer will be withdrawn...

[DustSNK]

This makes me nervous that my admission offer will be withdrawn...

I 2nd that. This thread has gotten me nervous. If there is even a chance of the offer being taken away by the graduate school , why even email us until both the department and grad school accept.

[fes_alum]

I think this is less likely to happen in the U.S. than it is in Canada. For one, U.S. PhD programs generally require two (or more) semesters of coursework . This gives students the opportunity to address any deficiencies in their training. Whereas Canadian PhD programs generally tend to be focused on research (i.e. limited to no coursework) and are completed in 3-4 years. Hence, students are generally required to have completed all the of the required coursework BEFORE entering a PhD program.

[Muna]

That is really messed up who does that ?

Isnt right you cant make an offer and then take it back and the reason is not serious in my opinion.

Anyway hope you get into a better program.

[rowlf]

I'm really sorry. Not only is it terrible that they withdrew an offer, but also that they can't offer you admission because you don't have enough undergraduate coursework when you have a masters degree! That seems like a really unreasonable policy given that many people change their field between undergraduate and graduate school, and that is partially what a masters is for. If it is true that the policy is in place because Canadian Ph.D. programs don't include as much coursework, then your masters degree should more than compensate.

I agree with nullsymbol and cyberwolf, definitely push it further but don't get too hopeful, which I am sure you won't after what happened.

[talific]

That is really messed up who does that ?

Isnt right you cant make an offer and then take it back and the reason is not serious in my opinion.

Anyway hope you get into a better program.

Well, the thing is, they didn't make an offer. The professor said that she had accepted his application, but the application still has to go through the DGS. I don't know what US schools are like, but Canadian schools generally make it very clear on their websites that although students may be contacted by the department/professor they are applying to, it is not a formal offer and it's not binding. The only offer that is official is the one from the DGS. I'm not saying this doesn't suck, but it's not the school's fault. The professor probably should have looked more closely at the requirements, etc before notifying anyone.

[marXian]

talific is right.

When I got a call from Northwestern for my first acceptance, the DGS made it clear that it was an unofficial offer of admission--the department was recommending me for admission, and assuming everything went well (which I'm sure it almost always does), I would be receiving an official admission offer. Basically, she had to make sure I knew that it wasn't official until I received the letter from the dean of the graduate school.

So those above who are worried about having your offer rescinded, remember that chadottir's adviser offered him/her an unofficial admission, not an official one. That DEFINITELY doesn't make it suck any less (really, really sorry to hear about this, chadottir), but US schools are similar in, if nothing else, the fact that an unofficial offer from a POI or DGS doesn't necessarily guarantee admission. If you have an official admission offer from a dean or DGS, it is highly unlikely it will be withdrawn without there being some sort of impropriety on your part.

Also, remember that in chadottir's case he/she was contacting the POI trying to leverage a decision (a perfectly reasonable move, btw), which probably elicited a response from the POI that was a little hasty, since chadottir is clearly a qualified, desirable candidate. If your department/POI/DGS is contacting you before you've made any sort of contact post-application, chances are they've done their homework, and they're more than 99.999% sure they can offer you admission.

Edited March 3, 2012 by jdharrison

[ANDS!]

That is really messed up who does that ?

Isnt right you cant make an offer and then take it back and the reason is not serious in my opinion.

Anyway hope you get into a better program.

As has been stated, the GRADUATE SCHOOL didn't make an offer, an individual in the department did. The Grad School is the great arbiter of all things admissions, all the department can do is recommend someone for admission. You can appeal, but I would just focus on those places that did accept you. They couldn't have been that bad if you applied to them in the first place.

[electrochoc]

I think this is less likely to happen in the U.S. than it is in Canada. For one, U.S. PhD programs generally require two (or more) semesters of coursework . This gives students the opportunity to address any deficiencies in their training. Whereas Canadian PhD programs generally tend to be focused on research (i.e. limited to no coursework) and are completed in 3-4 years. Hence, students are generally required to have completed all the of the required coursework BEFORE entering a PhD program.

I'm not really sure about that in regards to the Social Sciences field. Whereas in the US it is common to go straight into your PhD (without an MA), most Social Science programs in Canada still require an MA (1-2 years) and a 5 year PhD (which can be reduced to four years in some departments) that includes at least a year of coursework (intense seminars) and then that little hell we call comps. They might just be taking an issue with the overall amount of credits he/she has in their subject area, since you only have a very limited number of credits at the MA level in comparison to UG.