Pre-April 15 Change of Mind?

[linsylizard]

I formally accepted an offer for a PhD program a week ago. After visiting the school and meeting with my advisor, I was very happy with the decision. I had reached out to the schools I had not yet received an admissions decision from and had not heard back from them. Yesterday, however, I received an offer at a higher-ranked program for a fully funded (for 5 years) PhD.

 

In all honesty, I am not sure it is a better fit. However, I am interested in learning more about this new offer/program. Is it possible to retract an acceptance before April 15? How binding is a decision? What is the process to do so?  

[threnagyn]

I formally accepted an offer for a PhD program a week ago. After visiting the school and meeting with my advisor, I was very happy with the decision. I had reached out to the schools I had not yet received an admissions decision from and had not heard back from them. Yesterday, however, I received an offer at a higher-ranked program for a fully funded (for 5 years) PhD.

 

In all honesty, I am not sure it is a better fit. However, I am interested in learning more about this new offer/program. Is it possible to retract an acceptance before April 15? How binding is a decision? What is the process to do so?  

 

It is definitely still okay to retract acceptance. Its just best to let them know as soon as you change your mind (i.e. don't accept the other offer and wait until June to tell University 1). I would just send an email the the advisor and some official contact person within the dept you applied to. 

 

Did the first school not offer you funding? How much different are the two schools rated? Is it like one is top 10 and the other isn't in top 100? Or is it like one if 9th and the other is 13th - because these small differences don't matter much. 

 

If you had a 'good feeling' about the first University and advisor, thats definitely not something to ignore... but if University 1 is lower rank and does not offer funding and University 2 is much better and does offer funding, then the decision is obvious. Funding vs. no funding makes the difference of $150,00-$300,000 over 5 years.

Edited March 26, 2014 by threnagyn