Accepting an offer and possibly later declining?

[planner2019]

Hello everyone, 
I am resurrecting this rather polemical thread from nearly a decade ago because I can potentially see myself being in this situation this time next year and would like advice as I decide where to apply this coming fall. And maybe if someone is in this current position this year, it could help them. I'm an American student but my top choice is a 1 year masters at a particular university in the UK. I am also considering applying to PhD programs in the States. Like the above poster, I would likely not hear about funding for the UK school until after the April 15 deadline. So, in the hypothetical scenario that I got accepted to the UK program and also somewhere in the States, but didn't know about UK funding until sometime in June or so, I'd be faced with the same dilemma as the OP. Hopefully without resurrecting the highly visceral reactions voiced above, a few questions: 

1) I imagine that prior to the US school making an admissions offer, it's not a good idea to tell them that my top choice is the UK and if I were to get funding from the UK after April 15, I plan to rescind any commitment I might make to them. Obviously, they want to make admissions offers to people who are likely to actually come so that wouldn't be in my best interest. However, I wonder if after I received an admissions offer (which I presume is unrevocable on their part), I could then tell them my situation and tell them that I plan to commit to their program by April 15 but if I were to get funding from the UK later, I would rescind. At that point, they couldn't revoke the admissions offer, right? So I would have a back up if UK funding were to fall through, but still let them know that I might rescind. Is this more honest/ethical? If a school/POI saw a rescind coming, rather than being caught totally off guard, would it make it less acrimonious for all involved? 

2) I understand the thing about keeping the waistlist people in mind and not flippantly taking spots away from them. So in the scenario that I get accepted to a US school, commit, and take a spot away from someone else, that person gets a rejection letter. They commit to another school - maybe not their first choice, but somewhere else. Were I to rescind in that scenario, I would have potentially deprived someone else out of their first choice, which meant they subsequently ended up at their second or third etc choice. I can see how that's unfortunate and shouldn't be done flippantly. But, what about people who get in nowhere? So in that scenario, I get accepted to a school, commit, and then rescind. But that other person is not planning to go to any school because they didn't get in anywere. So could a school not theoretically offer my spot to them? Or is this against the rules? If they could, I wouldn't feel so bad because someone who thought they didn't get in anywhere would get a spot. 

3) If I got accepted to a US school for a PhD as well as the UK masters and felt that the UK masters would give me more training/coursework/preparation that I lacked and would help me succeed in a PhD program, could I ask the US school for a 1 year deferment after April 15? Say I committed to the US school by April 15 and later got UK funding, could I then ask the US school to hold my spot for a year? 

This all could be avoided, of course, if the UK would get in sync with the US timetable and offer students full funding. 

Edited April 5, 2018 by planner2019

[ElaineX]

My daughter finds herself in this difficult position as well. She was accepted into one university and waitlisted for another, which is her first choice. She has to let the university she was accepted to know by April 6th and the waitlisted university, they will notify her by April 15th. She is really torn as to what to do.

[MrsPhD]

2 hours ago, ElaineX said:

My daughter finds herself in this difficult position as well. She was accepted into one university and waitlisted for another, which is her first choice. She has to let the university she was accepted to know by April 6th and the waitlisted university, they will notify her by April 15th. She is really torn as to what to do.

If this is the US, then the deadline is April 15. It is strange to have an earlier deadline. 

I think that she can still accept and decline later if she is taken out of the waitlist from her first choice.

A lot of previous comments refer to hurting people on the waitlist. This is absurd, departments make more offers than places they have to fill. This means that one person who decides to change an accept to a decline is not affecting anything and probably nobody will be taken out of the waitlist. My department regularly makes 20 offers when we have 8 spots. There are usually 10 people on the waitlist and I don't remember the last time we accepted any of them. 

Also, with my comment above, you should notice that being taken out of the waitlist will be hard at her first choice. So she should not miss the opportunity at the other university. Unless she is really set on her first choice and she tries to beef up her CV, and reapply next year. It will depend on whether she likes the other university. 

But being taken off the waitlist is not impossible. A long time ago, when I applied to PhD programs, I had a professor call me the day of the deadline (April 15) that she wanted me to go to their program. They had rejected my application a month before! Anyway, this was a top program but I was already going to my first choice, so I say no. But I guess that if my first choice had called me, I would have had to re-think my decision. People want students to go to the best place possible and for students to be happy. At least that is how I see it. As a professor I would be disappointed but most of these students turn into colleagues and you just want them to do well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by MrsPhD

[ElaineX]

She would prefer the university that she is waitlisted for, it's for her master's degree. She received an email a few weeks ago asking her if she would still be interested and that they were waiting to hear back from two people. There are only six spots available though so odds are not in her favor. She even thought about putting it off for a year and then reapplying but I don't know if that's a wise decision or not.