Prof offers me admission but wants me to decide now

[chron]

A prof at a school I applied for contacted me and said that she would give me an offer, but then seemed to say that I'd have to tell her now whether or not I will be going there. I have not received an official offer, which seems contingent on this prof accepting me. I have not received word from any other school I applied to. How should I respond? I don't want to lose this offer, as it's possible I may not get in anywhere else, but I want to wait to see whether or not I've been accepted by other schools.

[kaister]

That seems unsavory.  I would tell her that you're excited about the possibility of working with her and she's one of your top choice (I'm assuming this is true?) but that you are still waiting to hear back from other schools.  If she still isn't having it, then 1) I'd consider if I even want to work with someone who wants to rush a decision upon you and 2) you could always just accept it and then withdraw it later if you happen to get a better offer (obviously this is not ideal).  As long as it's not a funding offer that you're accepting, I don't think it's binding in any way.  I would definitely ask her about funding though, especially since she wants an answer so soon.  You can tell her you can't decide until you know about funding, which is a legit request.

[smmmu]

I got a similar email from a professor at one of my programmes as well, though the wording was a bit more careful than what your post seems to suggest. As kaister also suggested, I replied with something along the lines of the programme in question being on of my top choices, but that I would consider one or two other places as well and that I couldn't give a definite answer without having visited in person. That did the trick for me.

[msakbo01]

Same thing happened to me. A professor (who also part of the admissions committee) emailed me and said whether I'm still interested in the program, and what's the chance of attending if I receive an offer with full financial aid.

 

I told her that I'm very interested, and the chance of attending is likely since the program is one of my top choices.

 

It's been a week, and I haven't heard back...don't know what's going on. What do you guys think?

[smmmu]

I wouldn't worry. Not all departments will let you know informally that you've been accepted before going through official channels, and a formal offer can sometimes take a little while. But based on the email you have received I would assume that an offer will most likely be coming eventually. If you need to make a decision on an offer from elsewhere I'm sure you can ask the professor that emailed you about the status of your application.

[mmajum01]

If it helps any, you shouldn't feel at all pressured to respond right away. Technically, you have until April 15th to make your decision... In fact, even if you make your decision now, you're 100% allowed to withdraw as long as it's by April 15th. Though it's not a "policy", the CGS April 15th Resolution was enacted for this very  reason - to give students the time and space they need to make the decision that is best for them. You can find it here if you're interested in reading the resolution itself: www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf

 

Good luck!

[uromastyx]

If it helps any, you shouldn't feel at all pressured to respond right away. Technically, you have until April 15th to make your decision... In fact, even if you make your decision now, you're 100% allowed to withdraw as long as it's by April 15th. Though it's not a "policy", the CGS April 15th Resolution was enacted for this very  reason - to give students the time and space they need to make the decision that is best for them. You can find it here if you're interested in reading the resolution itself: www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf

 

Good luck!

But the issue seems to be that chron will only receive an acceptance if (s)he pre-commits to the program.

[mmajum01]

But the issue seems to be that chron will only receive an acceptance if (s)he pre-commits to the program.

Oh, I see. In that case, I totally agree with kaister. Very unsavory.

[chron]

If it helps any, you shouldn't feel at all pressured to respond right away. Technically, you have until April 15th to make your decision... In fact, even if you make your decision now, you're 100% allowed to withdraw as long as it's by April 15th. Though it's not a "policy", the CGS April 15th Resolution was enacted for this very  reason - to give students the time and space they need to make the decision that is best for them. You can find it here if you're interested in reading the resolution itself: www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf

 

Good luck!

 

This school is outside of the US, so I don't think that rule applies.

 

Anyways, I talked to this professor and there was a miscommunication. The prof says it's OK for me to wait until I receive the official offer before I have to decide.

Edited February 15, 2013 by chron

[TakeruK]

By the way, although it is moot here, the April 15th rule only applies to financial offers anyways, not simply offers of admissions.

 

I can understand why profs ask students these unsavoury questions. It might be the case where that prof has two students that they are interested but after negotiation with the admissions committee, they can only offer admission to one of the students, or that the prof only carries enough weight to "fight for" one of the two students. At the same time, they want to make sure they actually do get a student, so they don't want to fight for student A and have it turn out that A already wants to go somewhere else (while B would have been happy to go their school but ultimately get rejected). 

 

So, they send out these "feeler" emails. I think it's a little unsavoury, but they might make it vague enough or cause a false impression on students and to make students think/feel like they need to decide right away. It might prod a student who has already been accepted to their more preferred school(s) to realise "well, this school is 5th on the list of all the schools I've already been accepted so I probably won't go here if they are asking me to reply right now" and then the prof would be happy to know that and fight for the student who might actually attend. But if students are unsure about where to go, they would say something like all the above people have suggested and that would obviously be allowed -- they just wanted to apply a bit of pressure to filter out the ones who have already decided elsewhere.

 

I think a more honest way to do this would be more like "Dear Student A, are you still interested in our school?" etc. but I think these days, most students want to keep options open to them as long as possible (sometimes unnecessarily long) so they will always answer "yes" even though it might not be true. So I think it's really the responsibility of applicants to be honest, responsible and timely in making their decisions and informing all of the schools as well as the responsibility of schools to not do "unsavoury" things to cause applicants to need to feel guarded and unable to act honesty in fear of harming themselves. Of course, I'm not saying people should rush and decide right away, but I know a lot of students who will procrastinate since the wording usually make it sounds like it's not "due" until April 15th, but really, it's in the best interest of everyone (all students nationwide and schools) if people decided whenever they are 100% certain (which might be as late as April 15th or later, for some people).