Asking for an extension?

[LaDiDa]

Has anyone asked for an extention to accept/decline an offer of admission and how did you go about it? I was waitlisted at my top choice and want to wait it out before committing to another school by their deadline on April 13th.

[Rexbocker828]

i emailed the Dean that I had been corresponding with and asked if it was possible to have an additional week or two. I told her that I wanted to make the most informed decision possible and if there was any possibility of additional time that would greatly help. She was really nice and gave me more time than I requested and said if I hadn't heard back by that time we could reconvene and discuss.

[bluebunny]

If everyone on a waitlist asked for extensions, wouldn't that just drag out the process even longer? Programs want to see who commits by April 15 before going to their waitlist.

[TakeruK]

This is the email I wrote 2 years ago after visiting school X -- they made an offer on Feb 1 and their deadline to reply was March 1 but School Y's *application* deadline was March 1 (Canada doesn't use the April 15 thing). I wrote this email after making a trip that visited Schools X, Y and Z.

Hi [prof name],

I just returned from visiting [school Y and Z] yesterday and I would like to thank you again for taking the time to show me around and hosting my visit to [school X]. The visits and conversations with the graduate students and faculty at all three schools were tremendously helpful! Now I just would like a week or so to digest my experience and make the right decision for myself. Also, [school Y] application deadline is March 1 so I am still waiting for a response from their department. I have told them about [school X's] March 1st deadline and they are trying to get back to me ASAP -- I'll probably hear from them early next week.

So, I was hoping it would be possible for you guys to move back your decision deadline to March 15 instead of March 1. That would give me a bit of time to not feel rushed. I will try to let you know as soon as I have decided though!

---

Their reply was very nice -- gave me as much time as I needed!

If every student did this for every offer they got, it would just delay everything, but not every student needs to have an extension on every offer -- if you are still holding out for a certain school, you can probably decline all other offers except one.