Problem with University Fellowship, and my commitment

[edu2011]

I got admitted from OSU, a PhD program, and a department's assistant sent me this letter.

 

I have new information for you.  Although you did not win a fellowship in the competition, the department is authorized to request a one year university fellowship for one of our applicants.  The graduate studies chair has chosen you to receive the fellowship. Congratulations! Following the expiration of the fellowship, the department will fund you for up to 3 years as a graduate teaching associate.  We would like to submit your name for the university fellowship, but we must have a commitment from you to attend OSU.  If we submit your name and you decide not to attend OSU, we lose the ability give the fellowship to someone else, so it is very important for us to receive this commitment from you first. 

 

They gave me the deadline of Feb 28, and since decisions from other schools had not come out, so I asked them for deferring the deadline. Then they sent this e-mail.

 

 

I have spoken with Dr.XXX, chair of the graduate studies committee, about your request to extend the deadline.  She understands your circumstances, but unfortunately, she cannot extend the deadline because the department is also under a deadline to submit a name for the fellowship.

 

Since I hoped for getting admission from "A" school, so I told them about my situation, and asked them to give me their decisions until Feb 27, but they did not answer my e-mail.  So, I had no choice but to say OSU that I would accept the fellowship.

 

Then, the school (not the department) sent me the official letter, and it says:

 

 

 I am pleased to inform you that in recognition of your scholastic achievements, the Graduate School has awarded you a University Fellowship for graduate studies at The Ohio State University. On behalf of the Graduate Faculty, I extend congratulations on your selection. We look forward to having you as a scholar on our campus. 

 

 Please e-mail your intent to accept or decline this award to gsfellowship@osu.edu. Include your full name, your graduate program, and “UF” in your email response. Acceptances and declinations must be submitted no later than April 15, 2014. This national deadline is imposed by the Council of Graduate Schools and is firm. The Council of Graduate School’s resolution regarding graduate appointments is supported by virtually all of the graduate schools in the United States and may be found at http://www.cgsnet.org. 

 

 

 Again, please accept our warmest congratulations on winning the University Fellowship. It is a distinction well deserved by your scholastic achievements to date. We hope to be able to welcome you to Ohio State this autumn. 

 

 

However, "A" school gave me an admission offer on March 5, and when I visited the website, decisions on funding would be made after March 17.

 

 

I have not replied to OSU ever since I got the official letter from them, and would it be a much problem if I do not choose to attend OSU because I made my commitment to them?  Or, do I still have freedom to choose "A" school before April 15?

 

Since I am an international student who never visited USA, I need your help.

 

​Thank you,

 

 

 

 

** I found these on the websites:

 

 

 

April 15 Resolution

Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees and Assistants

 

Acceptance of an offer of financial support* (such as a graduate scholarship, fellowship, traineeship, or assistantship) for the next academic year by a prospective or enrolled graduate student completes an agreement that both student and graduate school expect to honor. In that context, the conditions affecting such offers and their acceptance must be defined carefully and understood by all parties.

 

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. In those instances in which a student accepts an offer before April 15, and subsequently desires to withdraw that acceptance, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15. However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student not to accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the institution to which a commitment has been made. Similarly, an offer by an institution after April 15 is conditional on presentation by the student of the written release from any previously accepted offer. It is further agreed by the institutions and organizations subscribing to the above Resolution that a copy of this Resolution or a link to the URL should accompany every scholarship, fellowship, traineeship, and assistantship offer.

 

CGS has prepared a shareable PDF of the Resolution that includes a list of CGS member institutions that have expressed support for the agreement.

 

This Resolution was renewed October 2009.

 

* This Resolution applies to offers of financial support only, not offers of admission.

 

 

-------

http://www.gradsch.osu.edu/award-notification.html

 

April 15 Resolution of the Council of Graduate Schools

Ohio State follows the Council of Graduate Schools’ April 15 award resolution agreement. The CGS resolution states that fellowship recipients have complete freedom of choice in accepting their awards until April 15, with the last award accepted on or before that date being the one to which the student is obligated.  

Graduate programs may make offers in advance of this date, but statements must not be made to students that demand or imply that these offers are contingent on acceptance prior to April 15.

 

Because Ohio State is a signatory to and supporter of this agreement, graduate programs must comply (http://www.cgsnet.org).

 

[EngineerGrad]

You committed yourself with OSU, and ditching them at this point will hurt another applicant. Since they were very clear on the guidelines and you accepted their offer, I think that if you choose to go to another school is extremely unprofessional, and will hurt another applicant who has nothing to do with you and the other school.

as a prospective grad student, you should have enough integrity to not commit yourself with something you will not be able to follow.

Answering your question, yes that would be a huge problem, and I would not even think about doing it...

[Eigen]

I just wanted to agree with the above post. 

 

You gave an in-writing commitment to the department that you would go. 

 

Could you get out of it? Sure. 

 

But it would screw over the department and another applicant, and would start you off with a bad reputation. 

 

Also note that the entirety of the CGS resolution relates to funding offers, not admission. You accepted the departments offer of admission, and that's not discussed under the CGS.

[dhg12]

That has also been my understanding of things as well. It is possible to break your commitment and go to another school, but it is seen as fairly unprofessional after you have previously made a commitment

[edu2011]

Thank you all for your answers.

I am fully aware that my commitment is important and wish it would have been wonderful if I do not have to worry about the situation. I hope there should have been no place where I had to make my commitment so early.

Apart from the question above, can I ask you one more question? If you were me, what would you have done and what will you do?

I think I did everything I could, requesting for extending the deadline, asking for another school about my status.

Should I have not accpeted the fellowship without knowing what will happen? OSU is the school I wish to attend if I did not admitted from A school and I honestly thought that I was rejected because they did not answer me a single word.

Or should I choose OSU even though my dream school gave me an admission?

I really do not know what choice should I have made, or should make, so I really want to hear about your decisions if you were me.

Thank you very much.

Edited March 9, 2014 by edu2011

[Eigen]

It's not about what decision you made, it's about what you do once you make a decision. I'm not sure what I would have done in your case. 

 

Personally, I got awarded a major fellowship at one of my finalist universities the day after I accepted another offer. The timing sucked, but I made a decision and stuck with it. And I'm still happy with my decision. 

 

A lot of moving through life is realizing that you can't always have all the options on the table at one time- you'll frequently have to decide between a sure thing now, and the potential for something better a bit down the road. And you'll have to learn to make a decision, and stick with it. 

 

The job market is definitely like that- you may get an offer at a good university while you're scheduled for an interview with your dream school. You can stall, ask for extensions, and try to get them both on the table together, but chances are you'll have to choose one or the other. 

 

In your case, I think you made a solid decision. Both are good schools, one gave you a great funding offer and pushed to get you there. You accepted. Go with that, and enjoy your time at OSU. 

[EngineerGrad]

I would've thought about it and tried to push even more for a deadline extension... Hard to say what I would do, but if a school is pushing yourself so much to give that early of an answer is always a red flag...

 

good schools like to send out letters at the same time, and most of them follow the April 15th deadline. I heard this from the Dean of my top choice when I visited the campus. He mentioned that OKAY schools send accepts for great applicants too early, and that's when they make these kind of decisions. 

 

If I were you, I'd be pure honest and would've said: I appreciate your offer, and am very grateful for it. However, I still have other programs to hear from, and am not able to make that early of a decision if there is a chance that I will have to change offers in the future. I am positive that if you had explained to them that you are waiting on other schools and didn't want to take the offer because it was too early, and if doing so you could potentially jeopardize the institution or another applicant, no reasonable school would have said no.

 

I think you missed the mark because perhaps you didn't tell them why you needed more time. And if you had said that it was too early and you still haven't heard from anyone, maybe they would've understood. Grad schools need mature people who can think thorough. But since you made the commitment already, and aware of the consequences, right now I would just stick with my decision and attend that program. Afterall, you will still be funded. 

 

In academia, reputation is everything. It's from your reputation that you get students, grants, papers published, etc. Ok, your work matters too... And a lot. But these small things when you are climbing the first step of an academics career can hurt you in the future.

 

But that's my opinion. Perhaps you don't mind, and some might tell you to stick with your guts.

 

Best of luck, just try not to mess someone elses chance to get in because you changed your mind. It could've been you...

[Eigen]

Also to add, you could have simply declined the fellowship. You still would have had the admission and what sounds like full funding, and could have waited until the April 15th deadline.

The only thing they needed an immediate acceptance on was to nominate you for the special 1 year fellowship.

[bsharpe269]

I agree with everyone above. At this point, it would be very very wrong to turn your back on OSU. This whole situation was handled poorly and now I think you need to live with your commitment.

[beccamayworth]

it boggles my mind though why the University would set up a fellowship for graduate students with such an early deadline when they know all about the graduate admissions process and the April 15th deadline. I can't help but wonder whether they do this on purpose hoping many of the fellowships won't be used due to issues like this, and they'll be able to save the $$. Or maybe there's a lot to it that I am not aware of.

[hj2012]

it boggles my mind though why the University would set up a fellowship for graduate students with such an early deadline when they know all about the graduate admissions process and the April 15th deadline. I can't help but wonder whether they do this on purpose hoping many of the fellowships won't be used due to issues like this, and they'll be able to save the $$. Or maybe there's a lot to it that I am not aware of.

 

This is my main takeaway from this, too. Why do schools do this? I honestly can't think of any legitimate/sensible reason. 

[Eigen]

The fellowship didn't have an early deadline.

The OP didn't make the cut for the fellowship, the department said they could pull strings and get him a one year fellowship if he really wanted to come. They told him they could only do it for one applicant, and would lose it if the person they gave it to didn't come.

He could have gone without the first year fellowship and full funding. Also, as per his official offer letter, he has until April 15th to officially accept.

He would just be backing out on a personal assurance he made to the department that he would go, and cost them to lose the fellowship they could have given to someone else.

[EngineerGrad]

This is my main takeaway from this, too. Why do schools do this? I honestly can't think of any legitimate/sensible reason.

I was told that schools put early deadlines and corner the applicants to accept them early so that they secure "good students." Idk wheter it's true or not, but sounds plausible.

And departments cannot use fellowship money for other purposes... When fellowships are assigned to X, only X can use it. That's why if the OP changes his mind, it's bad for another applicant, because the department can't reassign the fellowship to another student

[hikaru1221]

And departments cannot use fellowship money for other purposes... When fellowships are assigned to X, only X can use it. That's why if the OP changes his mind, it's bad for another applicant, because the department can't reassign the fellowship to another student

 

Do you mean the specific department at OSU where the OP applies to, or generic departments?

[beccamayworth]

Yeah I'm not sure I get it. They said they needed his response by Feb 28th, and then when he asked to extend it they said "the department is also under a deadline to submit a name for the fellowship." So it sounds like either the Fellowship did have an early deadline or the department made it seem that way... no?

 

I was told that schools put early deadlines and corner the applicants to accept them early so that they secure "good students." Idk wheter it's true or not, but sounds plausible.

And departments cannot use fellowship money for other purposes... When fellowships are assigned to X, only X can use it. That's why if the OP changes his mind, it's bad for another applicant, because the department can't reassign the fellowship to another student

 

I didn't mean the department would save the fellowship money, I meant the university would.

[Eigen]

It's well possible. 

 

To me, this is very late in the season for universities to still be making financial offers, especially in the sciences. 

 

My year, I had two fellowship offers by December. Generally, schools make offers as early as they can to good candidates. 

 

I would see this as being a bit under the table if it was a multi-year fellowship, or if it was the only funding offered. But it wasn't. It was just slightly more money for the first year, with no service. It's nice, and it's a nice hook IF the OP had really wanted to go to OSU. 

 

That's the type of students these offers are meant for- the ones that know where they want to go. 

 

The department would have been fine if he'd said he didn't want the fellowship, but would still like an assistantship, and needed time to decide. 

 

The department getting pressure to submit a name doesn't imply an early deadline for decision. It means the department may need a few weeks to go through all of their candidates and find one that wants the fellowship. And we're getting really late for them to still be giving out fellowships, honestly. I don't know any CGS universities that don't try to have everything in by March 15th, so candidates have a solid month to consider offers and decide. If the OP hadn't wanted it, they still want to get that fellowship offer out to their second (or third) choice in time for it to be a part of their decision. 

[beccamayworth]

so what you're saying is that the fellowship doesn't really have an early deadline, this is just the department's way of hooking good students early... I'd say in this case that the department must know they're playing a risky game (they're forcing people into making difficult decisions, and they're aware people might still receive better offers). And if you're correct that the fellowship doesn't have an earlier deadline, then they can still offer it to someone else, right? 

 

I agree that it's unethical to go back on your commitment - but I also think there's room to discuss how ethical it is to put applicants in this position. 

 

Also, the other school the OP mentions said they'll only make their funding offer on March 17, which makes it sound that in his field funding offers might not be as early as you mentioned.

 

I must admit, I didn't know some fields made their offers that early. Most of mine came within the last few weeks, and I'm still waiting on one. Also, I'm very glad I haven't been pressured into making a commitment that early. 

[Eigen]

They offered him a bonus if he would commit to coming. 

 

He committed to coming. 

 

Legally, he can still get out of it. But it means going back on his word. 

 

I'm not seeing how this is in any way the departments fault. They went out of their way to get him an extra good package, were honest with him for what they'd need, and he accepted under those conditions. 

 

IMO, this is the time act like an adult, and realize that you will have to make hard decisions. And that the way out of those hard decisions isn't stringing someone else along. 

 

Grad school funding is a negotiation. Schools want good students, students want acceptance and good funding. If you're willing to take an early good funding package, that's great. You made your choice. If you want to hold out for a better acceptance at the risk of someone else getting that extra special funding package, that's also your choice. 

 

I consistently see applicants trying to bring "fairness" and "pressured", and "forced" into this, and I'm really not sure that those types of terms regularly have a role in these discussions. Especially in a case like this, where the department was very honest and upfront with the OP. 

[beccamayworth]

Maybe you're right. It's just my experience has been completely different, so I am just questioning the events presented here. 

 

I tend to believe that questioning, looking at both sides, and talking about leads to a constructive experience - I'm sorry if you feel differently. I'd never say that certain terms don't have a role in a type of discussion (with the exception of hateful terms), because for it to be a discussion, people need to be able to express their thoughts/opinions freely. 

[Eigen]

IMO, when you use traditionally biasing or inflammatory words (as I mentioned above), you slant the argument and it's no longer an even sided debate. It leans toward the side of hyperbole to prove a point, and colors the discussion of the points at hand. Hence, while not hateful, I do find such language inflammatory in terms of a balanced debate. 

[threading_the_neidl]

I think this kind of thing stinks of a program trying to pressure excellent candidates into their (maybe not top notch) program. A February 28th deadline sounds like it was intended for a current student, not an incoming candidate, especially when it's only for a single year. I'm sure there are any number of perfectly reasonable and non-insidious explanations for this, but I don't like the smell of it.

 

OP, you are under no obligation to attend this program, and depending on how big your field is and how prominent the faculty there, it may very well never affect you again. Probably only a few faculty at OSU even know about it in the first place, and even if others are informed at a faculty meeting later (not likely), what are the chances they'd remember a random name they heard 5 years ago? It's a one year fellowship, which should be peanuts, or at least cashews, for them. Don't commit yourself to 5+ years at a place you're not happy with because of this weird institutional game.

[Eigen]

I still don't get how this is pressuring a candidate into something? Would you elaborate?

[bsharpe269]

The school was NOT pressuring him. They went out of their way to get him a fellowship since he didn't make the cut for the standard fellowships. They only could do this for one student though so they needed him to accept first. There was no pressuring... They wanted to find him funding and he accepted their offer

[Quantum Buckyball]

This is part of the admission process. If all the applicants wait until April 15 to make their decision, then some schools might not have enough of money to fund all the accepted students, and some might have a lot of funding but don't have enough of students. 

[geographyrocks]

I think one very important thing has not been mentioned about all of this: if this was a university wide fellowship (which it sounds like it was), that means the department really had to fight to get it.  I agree that it doesn't seem right to ask for a commitment so early (dependent upon the field), but they also bust their asses to get funding from the university.  I've watched my current department struggle and fight for the least little bit of money. 

I was lucky to be given a university TA, and I got that because my POI was willing to fight for me.  I could always accept and then back out later, but that would make me a jerk.  I guess the question is, OP, do you want to be a jerk?