Should I take this offer? and my chance to be admitted to other schools?

[John John]

Hi All. I got admitted to U of Edinburgh, Finance and investment. But the decision is due 25th Dec! All of my other applications haven't came out yet. Should I take the offer? I actually want to stay at the US.

I have applied MS Finance at WUSTL, American University, University of Rochester.

My major is Business Admin, GPA 3.79, GMAT 660 with verbal 28, Math 50, AWA 4

What do you think is my chance to be admitted to those schools?

[heyo]

I would send the program an email to see if you can get an extension on the decision.

[Loric]

And what are the repurcussions of bailing on the decision later...? If they're minimal, accept and then see if a better offer presents itself.

 

If nothing does, you have a plan. The school is most certainly doing what is best for it - you need to do what is best for you.

[John John]

And what are the repurcussions of bailing on the decision later...? If they're minimal, accept and then see if a better offer presents itself.

 

If nothing does, you have a plan. The school is most certainly doing what is best for it - you need to do what is best for you.

Is it ok for me to accept an offer but end up not going?

[John John]

I asked about the extension already but they declined because too many people are applying

[Lisa44201]

Is it ok for me to accept an offer but end up not going?

It's somewhere between tacky at best and potentially harmful to your career at worst. 

[John John]

It's somewhere between tacky at best and potentially harmful to your career at worst. 

should I decline and wait for the rest of schools decision?

[Loric]

The other schools may not come through - and you'd be left with nothing.

 

The chances of it hurting your career are slim. Someone would have to be very bitter to hold that sort thing against you for more than a few months, at which point they'd forget it ever happened.

 

Why apply to this school if you're not willing to go there..? You are, so accept on the basis that you dont have other options yet.

 

I would wait until the end of their deadline to see if a better offer appears before then - but since you asked nicely and they wont play nicely you have zero that you owe to them if another school offers full funding and whatever else that may be better for you.

 

Do what is good for you, as I said - the school is doing what is best for them. There's no GOOD reason to not allow you an extension. It's just selfishly about them and making their lives easier - you need to be selfish and do what is best for you.

 

Ignore anyone who is telling you not to do what is best for you. They are jealous and somehow think you're holding a spot that "belongs" to someone else. If someone else was as good as you or better and had gotten their materials submitted they'd be holding the spot and not you - they didn't and they don't. The failings of others are not your responsibility.

[TakeruK]

I agree that if the school does not allow you an extension past Dec 25th and the other schools will not give you a decision before then, you should ultimately do what is best for you. 

 

This might mean accepting an offer and then declining it later. There are consequences to doing this, but it's up to you to decide if it's worth it. I think it's completely ethical to do this as long as you are willing accept the consequences of your actions. In most cases, you are under no legal obligation to attend the school and a student can always drop out of a school at any time, even before the program starts!

 

Here are some potential consequences that might help you think about what you want to do:

1. You may have to pay a deposit upon accepting the offer and thus you will lose this deposit if you don't enroll. I'd wait as long as possible to pay the deposit, and ask for as many extensions as possible. Usually this is a small cost though.

 

2. You may make some people at Edinburgh upset and they might use this information against you in the future. This is probably more true for research based programs though and I'm not sure if you are in a professional program or a research program. But depending on the person, this "grudge" might only last a few months before they have other things to worry about. Even so, in your case if you plan to mainly stay in the US, then damaged bridges over in Edinburgh might not hurt so much.

 

3. If you end up not getting in anywhere else, then you will be going to this school. So, make sure your correspondence with Edinburgh is always pleasant and don't push things too much.

 

4. If you do end up going somewhere else, to be ethical, you will have to disclose to this new US school that you actually did accept an offer from Edinburgh earlier but you plan to reverse that decision and accept the US school's offer instead. At many schools, when you "accept" an offer, you are signing an affirmation that you have no other commitments at that time. 

 

In my opinion, these consequences are minor and it is likely worth it to accept the offer on Dec 25th and wait and see what happens next. You have a tough decision. The right thing to do is to never try to deceive anyone/any school, especially on point #4. It will mean more work for you but I think this is part of taking responsibility for a tough decision. 

 

But another important thing to consider is whether you want to go to Edinburgh at all, even if you don't get any US offers! Sometimes people change their minds between application and decision time. I don't think all of the above consequences is worth it if you plan on accepting Edinburgh's offer on Dec 25 and then rejecting Edinburgh in 2014 even if you don't get in anywhere else.  You at least owe it to U. Edinburgh to re-evaluate your decision to apply there and decide if you would even attend if that was your only offer.

[John John]

Thank you all! I am going to wait a little to see whats gonna happen. The deposit is just..ridiculously expensive. It is 1500 pounds!! like more than $2000.....

[Loric]

Eww, private ridiculous art schools don't even ask for that much of a deposit. Are they offering any sort of funding? 

[juilletmercredi]

I disagree with Loric…but only at the PhD level.  It's not bitterness, it's risk perception.  If you say you are coming and they prepare for you, only for you to bail out, that could have consequences on the department.  They could lose a student slot (because they couldn't find anyone to replace you).  They could lose the funding for that slot.  And they would remember.  I still remember the student employee I supervised who didn't show up for work during one of our final important days of work, and if called for a reference for her - even now, two years later - I couldn't give her a good reference.  Let's say that you later apply for a job in this department.  They would remember that you were a person who agreed to come but pulled out when something better came along…and maybe would be wary that you'd be willing to do it again.

 

And of course there's a good reason not to give you an extension.  They want to begin preparing for their incoming class now; there's a lot of work to be done for a new class.  They also may find themselves on the "second tier" and competing with the best schools for the best students, so maybe they want to lock you in now before you hear back from the other better schools.  It's a retention strategy - maybe inconvenient for the student/  And of course they are concentrating on their needs for the program and not the students' needs.  Other people telling the OP not to burn bridges aren't necessarily jealous - why would I be jealous, when I am already in grad school and have no desire to do finance?

 

But I don't think it is as much of a problem for MS programs, simply because they have many more students who applied and who they potentially have to turn down.  Finding another student would be relatively easy, and even if they don't there are variations in the size of their class from year to year anyway.  Furthermore, these programs are rarely funded, so it's not like you are potentially endangering any money the department is entitled to.  So in this particular case I think it's safe to accept and later retract that acceptance if you get admitted somewhere better.  And I also don't think you should tell your new school that you accepted somewhere else but are now reversing that decision; I don't think it's really any of their business.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Thank you all! I am going to wait a little to see whats gonna happen. The deposit is just..ridiculously expensive. It is 1500 pounds!! like more than $2000.....

 

I was going to say, you certainly can accept an offer and reject it later (they have back up lists if you have to decline later - they plan for that). The thing you put on the line is your money.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

They would remember that you were a person who agreed to come but pulled out when something better came along…and maybe would be wary that you'd be willing to do it again.

 

They're academics, they understand how competitive everything is, and they know that there's a higher risk with American students than European students. Chances are, the people making hiring decisions in 6-7 years will be entirely different people than those making admissions decisions right now - and never having met her/him, they likely won't remember. 

 

I say this all with experience after I was accepted to a program last year and 1.) I had to defer to take a fellowship abroad and 2.) I asked about the ethics of applying elsewhere despite having accepted a deferral. This is an extremely important decision to make, and schools know this. They have contingency plans. So should students. This type of logic would suggest that it's unethical for a student to decide they don't really fit in a certain department and apply elsewhere for a transfer. Why can't a student make that decision before matriculating? If anything, that saves the department time, money and resources in comparison to a transfer.

[Quantum Buckyball]

If you want to stay in the US then I think you should definitely wait a little bit longer, especially for a Masters degree. If it was a PhD program and they were offering you a reasonable amount of stipend then I should accept the offer immediately because some opportunities only come once in a lifetime. 

[TexasGuy]

If it were me, I would accept the offer and turn them down them down if I get a better offer. I would Call the school and give them a good reason why you cant enroll in their institution anymore. 

[John John]

thanks god, American University's MSF just gave me a offer and it expires till Jan 15th. I don't have to worry about U of Edinburgh anymore. Hopefully other university's offer would come.

[VioletAyame]

Congratulations! I'm glad everything works out in the end