Using admissions as leverage?

[historyguy0289]

Hi:

 

I've received a formal offer of admission to a PhD program. I'm still waiting on the other schools to get back to me. Is it appropriate to contact the other schools? If so, how would you go about doing it?

[SiSi26]

I am wondering about the same thing. But in my circumstance I have one early offer and want to use it to have schools make their decisions more quickly.

[TakeruK]

I might not understand what you mean by "leverage". From my interpretation, I would say I don't think it is a good idea to use other admits as "leverage" on other schools. Few schools are going to care that University XYZ already made their decisions, so they should make their own decision faster. Also, few schools will think "well, this person was accepted by Top University X, so we better accept them too, if Top University X wants them!"

 

I think it's a very terrible idea to just flaunt your acceptances at other schools and hope something good happens to you.

 

Here are instances where I think it would make sense to tell other schools about other offers:

 

1. It just comes up in a conversation between you and the other school. No need to hide your results.

 

2. The school that accepted you (let's call it A) has given you a short deadline and you want to know an estimate of decision timelines from the other schools. Then, you can politely let the other schools know that A has given you a deadline and you want to know approximately when a decision will be ready so that you can ask A for an extension. [i would not do this until about 2 weeks before the deadline though]

 

3. You are visiting School A and you know from the past (or from the website) that another school in the area is having a visit weekend at near the same time. You might want to ask the other school about their decision timeline so you know when to book flights etc.

 

4. You are ready to make a final decision and you like School A the most, however, another school, B, has offered you a better financial package. You can then ask A if they can match or at least increase their offer. However, in my opinion, you should only do this if you will absolutely say yes to A if A agrees to increase your offer. You should not try sending the best offer to all your schools and seeing which one will give you the highest value. The whole argument for an increase in stipend is that "you like A the most, but need more funding", and you can't say this truthfully to all schools.

 

In my opinion, you don't have to keep your offers a secret, but I don't think you should try to use your offers to force other schools into any actions other than ones that are necessary (e.g. to extend a deadline). Don't wave another offer around just so the other schools get back to you a week earlier so that you panic less etc. Calm down and relax! Also, don't just wave other offers around in an attempt to make yourself look better to other schools. I am pretty sure this will not work. Instead, think about what you want (matching offer? finding out about visit days? etc.) and ask for it directly, mentioning your previous offers if relevant.

[TheMostPowerfulApplicant]

I don't think that this will help you get in.

 

I mean even in the perspective of getting a jobs, you only tell the employer you offer salary so that you can try to negotiate a bump in pay. This is already assuming you GOT the job offer in the first place.

 

The only reason to use this, is if you know that the deadline to reply to that acceptance is very early and that you may risk not knowing your outcome from the other university. 

[Bluebird86]

I am wondering about the same thing. But in my circumstance I have one early offer and want to use it to have schools make their decisions more quickly.

when did you find out you were wait-listed for IHEID?

[dhg12]

110% do not do this

[Icydubloon]

One of my letter writers recommended I reach out to schools (specifically POIs) who are slow and tell them I've received acceptances from other schools. It's just like when you have a job offer and are waiting for your top choice to get back to you. You say "Hey Google, Facebook gave me a job offer recently. I'm very interested in your company (school). When can I expect to hear back?" Note: this is not about negotiating (which is an entirely different thing).

Since you're trying to squeeze a decision out of the schools rather than flaunt your current offer in an attempt to increase your funding, for example, I'd say it's okay.

[elanorci]

I wouldn't use it as leverage to get an /acceptance/, but I think it's fair to use it as leverage to get their decision out of them faster, if it's actually the case that (for whatever reason) you need or want to make your final choice sooner rather than later. 

[TakeruK]

Since you're trying to squeeze a decision out of the schools rather than flaunt your current offer in an attempt to increase your funding, for example, I'd say it's okay.

 

I disagree--I don't think it's appropriate to use your current offer to squeeze a decision out of the school faster unless your current offer is going to expire really soon. If you have until April 15 and it's March 1, there's no need to rush the other school. You might also want to ask about a decision timeline if you are visiting another school/place in the area and want to combine visits to save money for everyone. 

 

I also think it's perfectly acceptable to use other offers to increase your funding but only in the cases I mentioned in the my post above (i.e. you are ready to accept their offer if they match it or make a good attempt to do so).

[fuzzylogician]

I think it is entirely appropriate to contact schools once you have an offer to let them know that that is the case and to inquire about when you might hear back from them so you can make a final decision. This may speed up the process, or it may not. Unless you actually need to decide quickly, I wouldn't pressure the school to make a decision or give you an offer. Programs know how other peer programs work and you don't want to lie about your situation. 

 

As for negotiating your funding based on another offer, this works in some fields but would be completely inappropriate in others, so I'd ask around before doing this. In some fields everyone is funded equally and there is no room for negotiation, but in others there could be ways of increasing your stipend. I would only engage in this negotiation if I were willing to take the school's offer if they matched what I asked for (or came close to it). If you negotiate but don't take the offer, I am sure people will remember you and not in a good way. 

[kurenai325]

I wouldn't say that it is inherently bad to try to use your acceptances to leverage a response.

 

For example, one of the schools I applied to is about a month behind most of the other major schools in this field in terms of its admissions calendar (i.e. they might release decisions in late March/April when most of the other schools do in late Feb/March), so they sent out an e-mail last week saying that they are currently reviewing apps and to please "inform them of any admissions offers". Clearly, they don't want students to go ahead and commit to other schools whether due to impatience or simply thinking that they would probably get rejected because it was taking so long, so they are willing to expedite the process by request.

[dhg12]

I disagree--I don't think it's appropriate to use your current offer to squeeze a decision out of the school faster unless your current offer is going to expire really soon. If you have until April 15 and it's March 1, there's no need to rush the other school. You might also want to ask about a decision timeline if you are visiting another school/place in the area and want to combine visits to save money for everyone. 

 

I also think it's perfectly acceptable to use other offers to increase your funding but only in the cases I mentioned in the my post above (i.e. you are ready to accept their offer if they match it or make a good attempt to do so).

I agree with this. If there is no deadline looming overhead for the program to which you've already been accepted, then sending an e-mail just to inform them that you got another offer will not come across as helpful. If they have said on their website/correspondence/whatever that they usually hand out decisions after your current acceptance deadline, then it would perhaps be okay to contact them.

[shalala]

On one of my admission letter, it says that" While you are under no obligation to respond before that date (4/15), please realize that delaying your decision until the last moment and then declining our offer hurts our ability to attract other highly qualified applicants". I think it is a good point. It is no harm to ask other schools to make decisions faster.