Someone Please Explain April 15th

[Auzzfest]

So I have two funded offers, with April 15th deadlines and am on the funding wait-list at two other schools, including Georgetown which is my first choice. I emailed the graduate director at GT and asked her how things were shaping up, and she told me that they were still waiting on decisions from the people with offers. She made it seem that they wern't close to knowing if I would get off the waitlist but made it seem like it was totally possible. She was nice enough to email the administrative secretary to tell that person that I might need more time to make my decision. But what I don't understand is whether or not she realizes that I have other offers that I must either accept or reject by tomorrow. What happens if I accept another offer and then get in off the waitlist on Friday. Can I then accept another offer or am I locked into the first one.

This is sooooooo annoying because it's just a massive trickle down effect. Until people commit to the top ten schools, the people who are on those waitlists and are accepted to the next 15 schools will just sit around, and then the people who are on the waitlists for those next 15 schools must wait even longer and so on and so forth. So PLEASE do us all a favor and if you know where you are going COMMIT ALREADY!! Especially if it is a top school. For the rest of you guys who are still in purgatory I know exactly how you feel.

If you guys have any idea of how this all works and why programs would think they could tell people after April 15th please let me know.

[RF237]

The graduate director fully realizes that you need to respond to other offers tomorrow, but she also realizes that it's your decision if you want to accept one you already have or gamble on getting in off her wait list. If you accept another offer and then hear from Georgetown after April 15 that you were accepted there, you will have to ask the program you accepted in writing to formally release you from your obligation. They can say no, although they will most likely say yes, but in doing this you will likely be burning some bridges and creating bad blood. You will also possibly be delaying someone from getting in off their waitlist or getting funding.

There has to be a deadline to decide because otherwise there would be utter chaos--a program could admit you in January and ask for a decision immediately. Other programs could wait until July to decide. The April 15 deadline was agreed on to protect the rights of applicants and create a more uniform process, not to protect the universities. Programs realize that people they notify after April 15 may have already committed to another program, but still want to give you the option of going to their program if you get in from the waitlist.