School giving me an earlier deadline to accept funding

[klack389]

Hi, I applied to 8 schools this fall for a Ph.D. in applied mathematics. So far, I have been accepted from two schools, but only one of them with funding so I declined the other. I am still waiting to hear back from 6 other schools. Here is my dilemma:

 

The school that offered me funding would like for me to make a decision within three weeks after receiving the official letter of my financial awards. This school is a member of the Council of Graduate Schools and are listed in the resolution making April 15 the cutoff date for accepting offers of financial support. I am going on my second week now after having received the official letter.

 

I am not quite sure what to do. I do not feel comfortable accepting their offer without hearing back from other schools so I am hoping they are bluffing in regards to this earlier deadline in order to pressure me to accept. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?

[tapdncingchemist]

http://www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf

 

You can accept as long as you decline before April 15.

[RubyBright]

Politely tell them you're waiting to hear from other schools and ask if you can have an extension.

Edited February 23, 2013 by RubyBright

[n_psych]

I would ask for an extension. 

[klack389]

http://www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf

 

You can accept as long as you decline before April 15.

 

Yea, I thought about possibly doing that, but it seems kind of shady to accept their offer just so they don't remove it off the table. However, given how the school is acting in an unsavory way like this then it becomes a possibility.

 

Politely tell them you're waiting to hear from other schools and ask if you can have an extension.

 

Yea if it comes down to it I was going to do that. I was told they could grant me a 2-3 day extension which isn't much.

 

I don't expect to wait until I get all my offers in and then compare them all at once. But I would like to wait and see for a couple of my higher up schools to respond and see if they give me funding.

[sweetpearl16]

I'm currently having this problem. I got the official acceptance letter from one of my two second choice schools but am currently waitlisted at my first choice (I haven't heard from the other second choice, but I think they've rejected me). If I got into my first choice school, I would accept their offer right away. But I might not know anything until April 15. Second choice school is on the list of schools who have entered into this agreement, but wants me to decide by March 15. 

[ak48]

I thought they had to wait until April 15 for deadlines? I would politely ask about this, and for an extension as well.

[klack389]

I thought they had to wait until April 15 for deadlines? I would politely ask about this, and for an extension as well.

 

They are supposed to. Their behavior is a little unsavory in my opinion They are a member of the Council of Graduate Schools. They contacted me about ten days after the application deadline passed with the acceptance and financial assistance hoping to lock me up right away. Unfortunately, they weren't my number one choice. It's a great college town, but they aren't known for their mathematics and it's also not a really good location in terms of potential job prospects. I kind of have a feeling they are bluffing with this deadline hoping to put pressure on me to accept. I simply won't accept unless I hear back from other schools before their earlier deadline, but it kind of sucks to know they are threatening to remove the offer from the table.

 

I have yet to year back from my top choice yet.

Edited February 27, 2013 by nick898

[TakeruK]

The CGS Resolution is not binding at all and you shouldn't expect the offer to be valid until April 15 if you don't say anything. You will know if the school plans to use the CGS Resolution in your offer because as per the CGS Resolution, they must tell you about the CGS Resolution in your letter offer and either include it or the link to it

 

 

It is further agreed by the institutions and organizations subscribing to the above Resolution that a copy of this Resolution or a link to

the URL should accompany every scholarship, fellowship, traineeship, and assistantship offer.

 

Thus, if they don't include it, I would assume that they are choosing to not follow it. Boo! 

 

However, as you said, they might just be trying to lock people up right away. If so, extension requests are probably always approved -- they probably don't really want to gain any potential negative reputation as the "CGS Resolution breaker" so it's likely they would back down from any challenges but will hope that they can either lock up anyone who really wanted to go there or discourage anyone who was already thinking of another place.

 

There's no accountability for following the CGS resolution but maybe we could publicly shame (e.g. on a website) the schools that have signed the resolution and are blatantly ignoring it (like this case). Currently, the only real "damage" done to violators is potentially harming their reputation, but that doesn't work if the cases are rare and no one hears about it. I'll even put my money where my mouth is -- if people are interested in following through with this website, I'll set something up.