Declined Offers, 2013-2014 Cycle

[TorrentOfArdentPathos]

Hi.  This thread is for people to post offers that they decline.  This should be useful (and a source of many clicks) for those of us on waitlists.

 

I have declined an offer from Illinois (IR subfield).  

 

Good luck to anyone else waiting to hear back on a waitlist!

 

Edit: If you are willing, please include your subfield.

Edited February 12, 2014 by TorrentOfArdentPathos

[Ella Simmons]

Sorry, I fail to see the usefulness of this thread.  Whereas posts about admissions communicate information about when schools have started announcing, posts about offer declination say nothing more than that people are declining offers, which is a foregone conclusion.  On one side, it's an opportunity to show off (hey, I'm declining all these great schools, I'm so awesome!) and on the other side, it's a desperate and misplaced attempt to mollify people who have been wait-listed.  While I am sure you had good intentions, the implicit point of this thread seems to be to pressure people to hurry up and dump their offers.  I think that everyone who has earned multiple offers should take all the time they need to make an informed choice, as I plan on doing.

[packrat]

My suggestion: If you don't like it, don't read it/post in it. No one is forcing you to, and those who are waitlisted and find it helpful will peruse it for you instead

[Ella Simmons]

My suggestion: If you don't like it, don't read it/post in it. No one is forcing you to, and those who are waitlisted and find it helpful will peruse it for you instead

 

That is just such a meaningless response.  It's like saying "Everyone's entitled to their own opinion!"  A completely empty statement that totally ignores the substance of what I was arguing.  If you had thought about what I wrote, you might conclude that this thread does a disservice to everyone; I am sorry that you don't care about the collective good of the rest of the users on this forum.

[TorrentOfArdentPathos]

That is just such a meaningless response.  It's like saying "Everyone's entitled to their own opinion!"  A completely empty statement that totally ignores the substance of what I was arguing.  If you had thought about what I wrote, you might conclude that this thread does a disservice to everyone; I am sorry that you don't care about the collective good of the rest of the users on this forum.

 

Of course everyone who is lucky enough to receive multiple offers should take any amount of time they need to adequately inform themselves before making a decision about what program to attend.  The intention of my post was not to pressure anyone into rushing the difficult choices they face, and I fail to understand how this post is any more an example of "showing off" than celebrating acceptances in the cycle thread or listing acceptances in a signature.

 

That being said, I feel like the right thing to do is to tell a program as soon as you definitely know you are not going to accept their offer.  This allows them to adjust their expectations of yield and inform waitlisters sooner rather than later (which can affect their ability to attend visiting weekend, and more importantly, their ability to have the time to fully consider all their options).

[TheGnome]

So everyone is not entitled to their opinions then? I thought I was entitled to mine! Damn. Now I am curious who is entitled to my opinion..

[TorrentOfArdentPathos]

Because I don't want this thread to be consumed in a debate that prevents it from being the source I information I intended, I won't be engaging in any more discussion about why I started this thread or how we feel about it or if it serves the collective good of GC or whatever we are talking about.

[Ella Simmons]

Because I don't want this thread to be consumed in a debate that prevents it from being the source I information I intended, I won't be engaging in any more discussion about why I started this thread or how we feel about it or if it serves the collective good of GC or whatever we are talking about.

 

Sorry, I just don't see how learning that someone declined an offer is useful or informative.  Tons of people get offers, inevitably some decline them, maybe they are members of this forum, maybe not.  Frankly, the school has probably already anticipated that many of its offers will be declined, and upon declination, a new offer probably doesn't even go out to a wait-list candidate.  The school will only go to the wait-list if the actual rate of declinations is greater then the expected rate of declinations--good luck trying to estimate that from the postings in this thread. So if anything this is just contributing to unnecessary anxiety and offering false hope.

Edited February 13, 2014 by James Alcott

[smallworld]

So everyone is not entitled to their opinions then? I thought I was entitled to mine! Damn. Now I am curious who is entitled to my opinion..

 

I am.  I claim all rights to Gnome's opinion.  I would be willing to negotiate, though.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

This thread is nothing new to the Gradcafe crew, and who cares if the only purpose it serves is to "mollify" those on a wait list? If nothing else, it provides more information than is otherwise available. And though you're certainly right, James, that the wait list is a backup to the regular acceptance:yield ratio, this doesn't meant that others won't find the information useful. 

[Nords]

This thread is nothing new to the Gradcafe crew, and who cares if the only purpose it serves is to "mollify" those on a wait list? If nothing else, it provides more information than is otherwise available. And though you're certainly right, James, that the wait list is a backup to the regular acceptance:yield ratio, this doesn't meant that others won't find the information useful. 

Indeed.  It seems that half of the conversation on here is about soothing all of our nerves anyway. (What else could we call all our discussions about our applications that we can no longer change?) I think this is a perfectly good topic, particularly for those of us trying to get even the smallest idea of the likelihood of being admitted off a particular waitlist, for whatever reason Well done, TorrentOfArdentPathos

[Orlien]

James, I think it's a little bit ironic that you're complaining about people bragging about declining great schools when you've got all of the schools you have been accepted to detailed in your sig.

 

And in any case, I see this forum as kind of a collective support group for the people who are applying to graduate schools. Face it, most people who we interact with regularly (other than grad students and profs) don't know what this process is like, how nervewracking it is. It's good to have a forum where we can all go through this collectively.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Orlien

[TheGnome]

Do not want to come across as bragging but I think this info might be useful for someone out there.

 

I just declined an offer from Pitt. Their admission letter said "...we would greatly appreciate knowing your decision as soon as you make it.  We have a number of highly qualified applicants on our waiting list that we cannot accept until we have a better sense of the composition of our incoming class." So at Pitt, I suspect that there might be a more direct link between people declining offers and others getting in from wait-lists. You know, at some places, especially when the money is a bit tight, schools may not want to play the "accept Z number of people and expect X to come, give or take Y" game and may opt to remain on the safer side. Just saying.

 

Oh and IR subfield. 

[Nords]

Do not want to come across as bragging but I think this info might be useful for someone out there.

 

I just declined an offer from Pitt. Their admission letter said "...we would greatly appreciate knowing your decision as soon as you make it.  We have a number of highly qualified applicants on our waiting list that we cannot accept until we have a better sense of the composition of our incoming class." So at Pitt, I suspect that there might be a more direct link between people declining offers and others getting in from wait-lists. You know, at some places, especially when the money is a bit tight, schools may not want to play the "accept Z number of people and expect X to come, give or take Y" game and may opt to remain on the safer side. Just saying.

 

Oh and IR subfield. 

Hey Gnome, as someone currently on the Pitt waitlist, I really appreciate you getting back to them with your decision so quickly! They're one of my top choices and I'm really hoping to get accepted off the waitlist (Also IR subfield!)

[astreaux]

In the same vein as TheGnome, I'll share that I rejected a funded offer from the University of Washington today. Since they appear to be admitting on a rolling basis, I hope that spot finds its way to someone who's still waiting.

 

Edit: IR

Edited February 17, 2014 by mygrotianmoment

[wwmiv]

Speaking of declined offers, does anyone have information on when schools (cough cough) want their acceptances to make a decision by? That itself provides a good deal of information for those on waitlists.

Edited February 19, 2014 by wwmiv

[AHL]

Speaking of declined offers, does anyone have information on when schools (cough cough) want their acceptances to make a decision by? That itself provides a good deal of information for those on waitlists.

All Apr. 15.

[wwmiv]

All Apr. 15.

 

All? 

[AHL]

All? 

To my knowledge, all the graduate schools are in an association which makes these rules.

[jeudepaume]

To my knowledge, all the graduate schools are in an association which makes these rules.

All the graduate schools in the US—important specification

 

These schools to be precise: https://www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf

[wwmiv]

All the graduate schools in the US—important specification

 

These schools to be precise: https://www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf

 

I didn't know this, but note that this resolution specifies the entire opposite of what I asked: "Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15; earlier deadlines for acceptance of such offers violate the intent of this resolution". 

 

Also note the qualifier at the bottom of the page: "*this resolution applies to offers of financial support only, not offers of admission." 

Edited February 19, 2014 by wwmiv

[IRToni]

I didn't know this, but note that this resolution specifies the entire opposite of what I asked: "Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15; earlier deadlines for acceptance of such offers violate the intent of this resolution". 

 

Also note the qualifier at the bottom of the page: "*this resolution applies to offers of financial support only, not offers of admission." 

 

In the case of Phd admissions, most schools do actually follow this rule to the letter, i.e. the 15th tends to be the due date. However, many schools regularly send reminder emails to their admittees to please let the school know if they are sure they're rejecting the offer, so that traditionally, many school's WL decisions have happened around the end of March already (see the results page)!

[astreaux]

Note that although the 15th is the most common response deadline, it's not universal. According to my offer letter, UCLA's graduate division has an April 11th deadline.

[IRToni]

Note that although the 15th is the most common response deadline, it's not universal. According to my offer letter, UCLA's graduate division has an April 11th deadline.

 

Didn't all of the UCs sign the agreement? Or is the deadline for admission, not the financial offer (UCLA doesn't fund everyone, do they?). Strange!

[astreaux]

I don't have the details of my Berkeley funding offer yet, but I'm pretty sure that either my acceptance letter or my POI mentioned that their magic date is April 15. Here's what UCLA says:

 

"We would like to know as soon as possible whether you will accept your award. I would
be grateful if you could let me know your decision informally before our Graduate
Division’s April 11 deadline... If we have not heard from you by April 11th, we will assume you are not coming."