What is the standard procedure after receiving an offer?

[penguinshooray]

I got accepted to grad school, yay! It's a great option that I am seriously considering. The school says I must give a decision by April 15th. However, I am waiting to hear back from one other school, so I can't immediately accept.

 

 

What is the standard procedure? I just got an email notifying me of the offer. Should I email back and say, "Great! I'm gonna wait tho?" Should I email anyone at all acknowledging the offer? Should I say nothing? (Saying nothing from now until April 15 seems pretty weird though...). I literally can't say anything until I hear from this other school, but is it polite to acknowledge the offer?

[iphi]

Was it personalized? If no, you don't need to bother replying. If it was, you can just say, thank you and that you are excited about the offer but are waiting to hear from all schools before you make a decision.

[dhg12]

I've gotten two admits, but am still waiting for my top choice school. Neither of my notifications were super personalized, so I did not bother replying. They were clear that I had until the deadline to accept/decline, so there really was not anything that needed to be said.

[phdcandidate022014]

I got accepted to grad school, yay! It's a great option that I am seriously considering. The school says I must give a decision by April 15th. However, I am waiting to hear back from one other school, so I can't immediately accept.

 

 

What is the standard procedure? I just got an email notifying me of the offer. Should I email back and say, "Great! I'm gonna wait tho?" Should I email anyone at all acknowledging the offer? Should I say nothing? (Saying nothing from now until April 15 seems pretty weird though...). I literally can't say anything until I hear from this other school, but is it polite to acknowledge the offer?

Is there a visitation day or weekend? In that case, yeah, you need to reply.  If not, figure out if visiting the school ahead of time is important.  If so, again you'll be replying to them.  Otherwise, unless there's something in the letter suggesting that you should reply (to at least acknowledge the offer), you don't have to respond. 

 

Not sure if you applied for a master or PhD, but it may be a good idea to touch base with any professor(s) you corresponded with ahead of time (or mentioned in your SOP) just to let them know you were accepted.