ladygradgrad Posted April 22, 2013 Posted April 22, 2013 So i'm wondering about this issue from a legal/moral standpoint and i guess in general. I accepted an offer at program #1 (a 2 year humanities masters program with full funding in my first year and likely funding in my second year) before the april 15th deadline. After april 15th, I received a full funding offer from my first choice program (program #2, the same masters degree, but a 1-year program). I have accepted the offer from program #2, but now that it comes time to contact program #1 to withdraw my enrollment, i am wondering if I can ask to defer program #1 for a year and do it AFTER i finish program #2? I would want to do this because 1)i might want to do a phd down the road and i can polish my language skills and just prepare more in general 2)if i cant find a job right away, it could be a cool thing to do. the fact that program #2 is only a year makes this seem like a possibility. i guess the question is, how committed must i be if ask to defer? is this legally/morally ok if I am straight with program #1 about the situation? has anyone ever done this before?
hesadork Posted April 22, 2013 Posted April 22, 2013 I think this is not a good idea for a bunch of reasons. Your eligibility for admission to program one may well be retracted upon completion of program two (you did say they were "the same masters degree"); typically programs do not allow you to matriculate if you already possess the degree. This is something you'd absolutely have to disclose upon deferral and my hunch is that it wouldn't be looked upon favorably. Even if program one permitted a deferral, which I think is unlikely, it may not be accompanied by a promise of full funding a year down the line. Separately, I'm not sure two back-to-back master's degrees in the same discipline looks all that great in the eyes of PhD admission committees. It sounds like you had an amazingly successful admission season even if program two's decision came a little late. I'd say move forward with program two and let program one know ASAP so they can make someone else's dream (of admission or funding or both) come true. Best of luck with your decision.
ak48 Posted April 22, 2013 Posted April 22, 2013 why in the world would you want 2 master's degrees in the same program? makes no sense at all Darth.Vegan, Biostat_Assistant_Prof and student12345 3
JungWild&Free Posted April 22, 2013 Posted April 22, 2013 Agreed, 2 masters in the same thing would be useless to you and would look very odd. You need to contact whatever school you are going to back out of and tell them you have chosen to attend a different school. I'm not sure how it works for Masters programs, but you may need a written release from the first school you accepted to attend the other school.
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