RA offer

[Essy]

I received an RA offer for Phd from one of the mid-ranked schools a couple of week ago. The offer is signed and sent by the advisor and he had asked me to reply to it by the end of this month whether I'm joining his group or not. In the meantime, I received admission from one of the top schools in my field (electrical engineering), however, no decision about the financial aid is stated in their acceptance email. I'm now very tentative whether to accept the first offer or not. Because, there is a possibility of getting assistantship later and in this case I would missed the opportunity of getting into a top university. What do you suggets?

[kdilks]

I'd just reply back with an e-mail mentioning the April 15th resolution (ie, they can't force you to decide before then). Except you'll want to phrase it in the context of "because of this resolution (and the associated timeline most schools take), I'm still waiting to receive information from other schools I am highly considering, and will need additional time before I can make a final decision". If you just mention the April 15th resolution by itself, it'll come off as you saying "what the hell are you trying to pull here?"

[ohheygradschool]

I'd ask the 2nd school when they will be making funding decisions first.

[Essy]

I knew about the 15th April resolution, but does it apply to the RA offer? Because the school itself has not asked to accept the admission offer by any deadline. The offer which is signed by the advisor is asking that. Probably, he wants to be able to find other students in case I did not accept.

[csApplicant]

yes, there is an april 15th deadline, but let's not forget we want to not step on anyone's toes because we will be working with them.

what i would do is call up the 2nd school and tell them as nicely as you can that you have another offer pending from another school in which they have offered you full funding and you would like to know when you can expect to hear about the funding so you can make an informed decision.

if the school wants you bad enough, they'll make decisions FAST.

keep in mind, be careful to state your reasons for knowing because it is true. schools are not alloweed to make you reply by the end of this month. that is 100% against the rules and they could get in trouble for that.