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Do I need to be released from a previous acceptance if no funding was awarded?


CL1NT5

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Like many, I'm sure, I have been accepted at my second choice and waitlisted at my first.  I will likely not find out if I make it off the waitlist until after April 15th but do not want to be left without any other options.  Can I accept my second choice and back out of it after April 15th if my first choice pulls through?  I only ask because people keep telling me I will need to be release based on criteria of the CGS but the excerpt they are referring to seems to only apply to those that are offered some sort of funding, which is not the case for me.   

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Nobody is going to "blacklist" you in your field (as if an MA student has enough clout to even be affected by that--no offense, OP). Most of the time, unfunded students don't have to commit by the April 15th deadline as the deadline deals with funded students. I think you should shed some light on the correspondence you did have so we GradCafians (ugh) can best advise you--what exactly did you tell the school that accepted you?

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Legally they can charge you for the first year if you accept the offer and then just back out. Most likely they won't but its very bad form and you could be black listed in yor field 

 

I'm not even sure this is true.  The CGS agreement isn't a legally binding contract, just a suggestion that graduate schools have agreed to adhere by.  There's nothing the CGS could even do if a program decided to back out of this agreement, besides sanction them and drop them from their council, I suppose.  And so it is with you - you can't sue a program because they don't give you until April 15 to decide.

 

But the flip is also true - I'm about 95% sure that legally, there's nothing a university can do if you decide to back out of your agreement after April 15 unless you sign some sort of legally binding contract with them. The majority of schools do not ask this of incoming students.  You could decide not to come the day before the program and while you may burn some bridges and the program will disapprove, there's not much they can do to you legally.  Even if you did sign a contract, though, most schools don't want an unhappy student hanging around the department, so it's unlikely they will force you to attend if you clearly don't want to come.

 

And even all this only applies to people with funding offers.  It doesn't apply if you aren't funded.

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