Will professors be upset if you don't attend after accepting offer

[Guest criminologist]

My question is will professors be upset with you if you did not attend the school after accepting a funded offer? or will they understand if a funded student will have to withdraw even after accepting an offer like a few months before the semester starts?

Thanks.

Edited April 1, 2014 by criminologist

[QASP]

This has been covered a number of times. The answer is yes. Accepting a funded offer and then rescinding it creates problems for the program, limits options for other applicants, and is likely to be upsetting for the professor who was planning on having you as a student. It is viewed negatively.

[Eigen]

There are always reasons why it's understandable (health problems, visa issues, family problems that necessitate a break from grad school, etc, etc.) but in general, yes, rescinding an acceptance after April 15th can really cause problems for schools, and frequently will result in them not being able to bring in a student to replace you. 

 

This screws over the school, who had put aside the funding for you, and will likely lose it, as well as another applicant who could have had that funded spot. 

 

Some schools also have stipulations about having to pay back at least a semester of stipend, depending on how close you cut it. 

[MastersHoping]

^Will they be upset if you turn them down in a normal, timely fashion much before April 15th and for an unfunded offer in a masters program? 

For some reason, I feel guilty about turning down this one school I got into (I only got into two) and chose the one more appropriate for my career interests. 

I feel like it's a dumb question, but I can't help but feel kinda bad...

[Guest criminologist]

What about students who go into the program without funding, couldn't they just give that funding to them? At least it is better then people going to the program for a semester then dropping out once they find a job. Thing is there is a possibility I may get a job offer for a position in my field after the deadline date which I would likely accept (PHD is a backup).

Edited April 1, 2014 by criminologist

[Eigen]

No, they likely can't transfer the funding. 

 

For many schools, once the funding is allotted to a particular student/employee, the University frequently won't let it be reallocated, and it will go back into the University (rather than department) funds. 

 

To be honest, unless you have a major shift in life situation, you shouldn't be attending for a semester and leaving for a job either. 

 

A PhD shouldn't be a "temporary backup" to a job search- you're screwing over the school and other applicants that actually want the PhD when you do it that way. 

 

Choose now to either go on the market or get a PhD, don't do both and screw the school over if you get a good job offer. 

[Guest criminologist]

No, they likely can't transfer the funding. 

 

For many schools, once the funding is allotted to a particular student/employee, the University frequently won't let it be reallocated, and it will go back into the University (rather than department) funds. 

 

To be honest, unless you have a major shift in life situation, you shouldn't be attending for a semester and leaving for a job either. 

 

A PhD shouldn't be a "temporary backup" to a job search- you're screwing over the school and other applicants that actually want the PhD when you do it that way. 

 

Choose now to either go on the market or get a PhD, don't do both and screw the school over if you get a good job offer. 

 

I heard that the reason why a lot of people don't finish PhD programs is because they end up accepting a job offer when they are in it though. There is a low probability that I would get a job offer, but I need to have a PhD program as a backup because I do not know when or if I will get a job offer. Of course I would not just drop out during a middle of a semester if I got a job like some people, I think that would really be screwing them over, not withdrawing an offer before you even registered for classes

Edited April 1, 2014 by criminologist

[TakeruK]

As others said, you still "screw over" (i.e. cause potential funding and personnel/staffing difficulties) if you say you will attend the program and then take a job offer on say, August 1 (before the school term starts). Funding is not always transferable! 

 

However, I would disagree with the others and say that it is not your responsibility to worry about this. In my opinion, accepting a PhD position is the same as any other job offer and you are allowed to quit school/your job at any time, unless you have a contract that says otherwise. It is the school/program's responsibility to absorb any risk of a student changing their mind, and they should have made plans for cases like this. Because I have the opinion that grad student = apprenticeship level job, taking a grad student position offer should not mean you are not allowed to change your mind! In fact, if for some reason, you take a school's offer but in August, another school decides they want you after all (for some reason) and makes you another offer, you should be free to switch and in my opinion, there are no ethical problems with doing this. I would consider all of these actions as typical and natural in the job market that we currently have.

 

I should note that while I think it is ethically okay, this is not the same meaning as "there will be no consequences". There will definitely be consequences! As we said, backing out after April 15 causes problems for the school. The profs there might not be happy and they might remember you. In addition, if you drop out after officially starting a PhD program, and then you decide to apply for more PhD programs in the future, you will have to include this your application. It will not look good for future PhD programs if you have dropped out of previous programs!

 

My advice would be to carefully weigh the pros and cons of your decision and do what's right for you. I think there are no ethical issues with saying "yes" to a school on April 15th as long as you make it in good faith (i.e. have all the intention of actually attending that school at the moment you made the decision). So, if you don't have any other job offers by April 15th, then I would say that you don't really have any other opportunities at that moment and I would count your acceptance as one made in good faith.

[Eigen]

I would argue that while in some cases, it's like a job market, in others it's not. 

 

In a typical job market, if I leave for another job, the amount of money that was going to my paycheck is immediately available in my budget to hire a replacement for me. 

 

That's rarely, if ever, the case in academics- either faculty positions or grad students.

 

It means that the ethics behind the decision are more important in this case. 

 

Also, outside of STEM fields (such as yours and mine), graduate students are rarely getting "paid" due to "work", but are given funding packages to help with the cost of education with very little expected in return (numerous threads on the CHE discuss this). 

 

Accordingly, you have to consider not only the ethics of the damage you might do to the institution, but also to other applicants who may not be able to receive funding. 

 

For example, our school can apply for, and receive, funding for fellowships from our state board of education. That said, if we have students on those fellowships not attend, there's no way to transfer them- the school just loses that money. Similarly, the board has at times refused to give fellowships the following year due to poor retention the previous year. 

 

I understand the core point that you should do what's best for you, but I don't think this is a comparable situation to a "free" job market- it's more complex, and there are different issues at stake. 

 

I think this also goes to a "good faith" acceptance on the job market. 

 

If I accept an offer for a position, it's considered good faith to remove myself from consideration from other jobs, and no longer interview/pursue those. It's different to choose to go back on the market later, and another ethical consideration. You can find an abundance of threads talking about this on the CHE- you'll earn yourself a bad reputation, and it can be considered a breach of contract to continue to interview/visit schools after signing an offer with one. 

 

If, in the case of the OP, he has no offers on the table by April 15th, but is still interviewing/in consideration for a job (that he will take if he gets it), then I wouldn't consider that a good faith acceptance, and I would say ethically, he has to either choose to remove himself from consideration for the job after accepting the offer, or not accept the offer and remain in consideration for the job. 

 

Also worth considering- if we want the schools to start accepting more responsibility for (and shielding themselves from) things like this, I would assume we'd see a move to a system where there were fewer and fewer funding offers given out until people had actually started/enrolled in the fall. And that's not a system that benefits students, but it protects the school against the risk.

[TheGirlWhoLived]

I heard that the reason why a lot of people don't finish PhD programs is because they end up accepting a job offer when they are in it though. There is a low probability that I would get a job offer, but I need to have a PhD program as a backup because I do not know when or if I will get a job offer. Of course I would not just drop out during a middle of a semester if I got a job like some people, I think that would really be screwing them over, not withdrawing an offer before you even registered for classes

Are you talking about dropping out of the program or not finishing a dissertation? A lot of people go on the job market before they finish their dissertation, and this sometimes causes problems because they get so busy with work that they don't finish their dissertation. I haven't heard of someone attending a PhD program just until they can land a job. I don't think that is fair to other students, but I think it also could hurt you in the long run, like TakeruK said.

[Guest criminologist]

Thanks for the replies yes I had all the intention of going when I accepted but I'm also in the process of interviewing for jobs in my field and  it can take a month before I know whether I will get an offer so it may be after the deadline. I had to accept the offer to school otherwise if I didn't get a job offer then I would end up with nothing.

 

If I did end up starting the PhD program I would likely intend on finishing it but I don't see anything wrong with leaving if you got a good job offer since funding is offered by the year and people do often leave PhD programs because they find a good job during school. Also if I did get a job I wouldn't have any intention of going back to school

Edited April 1, 2014 by criminologist

[Vene]

^Will they be upset if you turn them down in a normal, timely fashion much before April 15th and for an unfunded offer in a masters program? 

For some reason, I feel guilty about turning down this one school I got into (I only got into two) and chose the one more appropriate for my career interests. 

I feel like it's a dumb question, but I can't help but feel kinda bad...

Is this a case where you accepted the offer or where you were accepted to two different schools?

Either way, it's unfunded, who cares? Do what is best for you.

[MastersHoping]

Is this a case where you accepted the offer or where you were accepted to two different schools?

Either way, it's unfunded, who cares? Do what is best for you.

I got into two schools and turned one down.

 

And yeah you're right! Thanks. 

[TakeruK]

Eigen, I agree with you that there are pretty strong incentive to not drop a funded offer like this. I would say that these strong negative consequences are part of the nature of the job market for PhD students, not because it is an unethical decision.

 

I also agree that a decision like this will damage the school. I would argue that a system that lets money go to waste like this is broken, and it's not our (the students) responsibility to make decisions that are in the best interest of the school / the system. I think that by treating academia as different from the "regular" job market (i.e. that our job is our calling instead of a job), we are letting the system take advantage of our desire to do research. 

I agree that grad students are in a weird situation where it's kind of like a real job and kind of not like a real job market. For example, in a real job market, if 3 years into my job, my employer changes the terms of my employment (stipend change, benefits change, etc.), I can apply to a competing employer and switch jobs. But in the grad students' case, we have pretty much no leverage to do anything like that. We are tied to our employer for both our pay and our qualification, which gives them a huge advantage over us. So, this is why I think it is not reasonable to expect students to be concerned about what happens to the funding at the recruitment point.

 

I think we might have to agree to disagree whether a decision to attend grad school as a "backup" is in good faith or not. 

 

Finally, it might be true that if more and more students change their minds in the summer as better opportunities open up, then schools won't make funding offers until the Fall. But I don't think this is a realistic outcome. Schools want good grad students as well, and if they don't make offers before other competing factors (e.g. other jobs), then they will lose students. Perhaps the entire application cycle might shift from December-April to March-August, but that won't benefit the school either since they probably want more advance notice to plan for their incoming class. I don't really see a downside to a March-August application cycle either. Or, perhaps, the funding model for schools/students will evolve to recognize the fact that students have other choices. Ultimately, it might not be fruitful for either of us to speculate on what might happen, but getting schools to recognize that students should certainly change their mind if a company offers them a better job is in general a good thing.