Saying No to a School!

[mhindawy]

Hello all,

 

I'm accepted into two schools and I already made my choice. I just don't know how to say No... Do I say the real reasons I chose one program and not the other? Or just say sorry I'm accepted somewhere else?

 

Thanks, Maha

[queenleblanc]

I had to turn down three other offers as well as two wait lists. I basically said "thank you for the honor of the offer of admission. I had a tough decision. I have accepted another offer of admission to another program." Since I am doing a MS, and will eventually pursue a PhD with some of the places I applied for the MS, I included a sentence about how I am very impressed with the calibre of their whole program and will be contacting them after successful completion of the MS about the PhD. Close with a nice sentence, something like thank you for their time (as I have emailed these profs several times over the course of this year), or best wishes for the new class. It doesn't need to be overly verbose or confusing. They likely will understand that you have other offers and they aren't going to be the only choice for all of their admitted students.

Edited March 28, 2013 by kcald716

[Huw]

I just wrote that email a few days ago. I thanked them so much for accepting me, but have decided to attend at another school. Then I listed some things that impressed me about their program and recruitment event. They were very happy for me and thanked me for the compliments. It was pretty easy actually.

[mhindawy]

Honestly, I want to tell them why I chose another program. Is this acceptable?

[TakeruK]

Honestly, I want to tell them why I chose another program. Is this acceptable?

 

It depends on the reason. If the reason is not a negative on the program you're declining then it should be okay to say. For example, if the other program is mostly doing research X while this program is doing research Y and you want to pursue research X, you can say something like "I am very interested in X so I think [other program] will be the best fit for me as in I am very excited about [something about what the other program is doing with X]". 

 

But if the reason is a criticism of the program you're declining, then it might not be a good idea to say why. For example, if you chose another program because you didn't like your stipend offer, your TA workload, the courseload, the city, the people, etc. then a quick explanation might be misinterpreted. In any case, it can't help you to say the reason and it could potentially hurt you. There was some programs where I declined because I didn't think the stipend was enough to live on or the course requirements. In these cases, I just said something about a better fit at another school and thanked them for the opportunity (and for hosting a visit if that was the case). I saved the criticisms for the semi-anonymous exit-survey that almost all schools ask you to fill out after you accept or decline. That way, if there is an actual problem with the school's program, they will get lots of rejections with similar comments and they could hopefully fix it for future students.

[jmu]

I just sent a quick email of "Thank you for considering me and extending me an offer to your program. I had a difficult decision when deciding but have ultimately chosen to accept an offer elsewhere. I hope to stay in touch with [you/professor ____] in the future concerning [our subfield]!"