Urgent: Switch PhD schools after accepting offer from another school

[Sol Invictus]

Hello,

I'm starting my PhD this fall (yaay?)! I have the typical X versus Y situation, only with a bit of tang to it.

 

School X is a top school in my field. My PI here is a full-fledged professor who has a huge name in the industry (and I want to be in the industry afterwards). I have applied for a graduate award with my PI issuing a letter on my behalf. He thinks that I stand a good chance to bag that award (this award will give me funding to attend X) and as such this is my first preference. However, the Committee is still reviewing applicants and they are not sure if they will be able to release the results by 15th April deadline. My PI is not on the Committee because they do not want conflict of interest, so he won't know until the Committee has decided. 

 

At school Y, on the other hand, I have an offer with confirmed funding (last date to accept the offer/accept and then withdraw the offer : 15th April). My PI here is an Assistant Professor. He seems nice. He's more academia bent. Everything is okay here except for the fact that my heart and mind wants to go to X. He's been constantly asking me about my decision - I couldn't stall any longer (been waiting for X) so I had told him today that I would attend Y, even though I still have not sent the signed offer letter back. This is my fall back option.

My PI at X knows my exact situation at Y. He told me to go ahead with Y since it is a confirmed offer and if I do not get the fellowship at X, I would basically be screwed if I do not accept Y. I would also be saving a year at X since X will award me a doctoral degree in my Masters department whereas Y is a different department and hence I would need to cover more prereqs.

The trouble that I'm having is - if I accept Y now (I have to - deadline's approaching, second preference school), and say by the 20th of April, if X gets back to me with positive funding news, I would definitely, definitely want to go to X and not Y.

 

Can I change my mind then, without much repercussions? Am I legally bounded or something if I send over the signed terms and conditions offer letter to Y indicating that I would attend? Is this common? I mean it is still April and not July, I have not heard back from one school about my results at all - so it is kind of soonish. I would hate to misguide my PI at Y if this happens, but PhD is a big thing, and I would hate to be stuck in a place knowing that I could have gotten better opportunities, so in the long run - maybe this might be the better idea?

What do you guys think? Please suggest!

Thanks, 
Sol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sol Invictus]

A gentle bump!

[TakeruK]

Hi,
 
Over at physicsgre.com forums, we have some profs that respond to some questions occasionally. Just yesterday, someone asked a very similar question (http://www.physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5491&p=46848#p46848) and one of the profs responded:
 

Rather than play these games, though, just narrow it down to one school, and be honest - tell them the exact situation and ask if you can have until the end of the day on Tuesday, the 15th. If they say no, you must decide before April 15, then accept, and decline a day later if you get something better. Best thing is to be completely honest with the school.

There is a little bit of difference (the asker in this case had more than one school and wasn't sure if "by April 15" meant April 14 11:59pm or April 15 11:59pm). But you can generalize to your school:

 

1. Tell School Y (your 2nd choice) that you are interested in attending but you are waiting for School X and you don't think they will be ready for April 15. Ask School Y for an extension.

 

2. If School Y agrees, then wait and see

 

3. If School Y does not agree, then accept at the last possible minute on April 15 (in case you get a response from X on the 15th) and then wait to see if School X gets back to you. If they do, accept School X's offer and ask for School Y to give you a release. 

 

You are not legally bound in any way to attend the school after you accept their offer. (If you paid a deposit, you will lose it though). You are allowed to quit your program at any time, including before it starts (e.g. in April). If you do change your mind after the 15th and take School X's better offer, you might upset some people at School Y but that is part of the consequence you have to accept to get School X's offer. I think that being honest with School Y now (i.e. tell them that you are waiting for X). I think that if they know this and if they force you to decide before the 15th then they kind of set themselves up for you to change your mind later if X gets back with good news. I wouldn't make this "threat" in your request for an extension to Y though!

Edited April 12, 2014 by TakeruK

[Sol Invictus]

Thanks a lot TakeruK! That certainly does bring in a wave of clarity. I had just accepted the 2nd preference school's offer before reading your response, so I would request them to hold it until the 15th and be honest as to why I'm seeking a possible extension. My offer letter says that I'm free to withdraw anytime before/on the 15th, so that's a good thing. After that, I'm committed and it doesn't mention anything about a 'release' as such. Is there a possibility that a release does not exist at all here? (Y is a world top 40 ranking school btw).

So, let's hope that X gets to me with positive news as quickly as they are able to. 

 

On a similar note, would informing my PI at Y that I'm holding out for another offer make him think that my priority is not his program and he's playing second fiddle? In your knowledge, are there schools that refuse to release a student? Because that would create a really hostile environment for the student really if he has to stay at the same school and work with the same PI.

 

[TakeruK]

On a similar note, would informing my PI at Y that I'm holding out for another offer make him think that my priority is not his program and he's playing second fiddle? In your knowledge, are there schools that refuse to release a student? Because that would create a really hostile environment for the student really if he has to stay at the same school and work with the same PI.

 

I am glad you are taking the honest/open approach To answer this question, yes, telling your PI at Y that you are waiting for another program which you like more will definitely send the message that you prefer X over Y. But there is no way around this. I believe that, as professionals, we should be honest with our future colleagues and not be afraid to take responsibility for our actions (i.e. choosing to wait for X). I think it would be unethical and unprofessional if you were to lie to Y about the reason you want an extension and pretend that Y was your first choice all along. 

 

However, I don't think that telling your PI at Y that you are waiting to hear from X will definitely mean that you and your PI at Y will have a bad relationship. Many profs will understand that students might have other choices, and it's not realistic for a prof to expect that every student at their school chose that school as their first choice. How the news that you preferred X over Y will depend on how you say it and how you act when you end up at Y. I think being honest will help as well as showing that you are also interested in Y too, even if you had (past tense!) liked X more before. Obviously, if you show up at Y acting like you wish you got into X instead, then things won't go well. But if you arrive at Y excited and ready to go, then it wouldn't really matter to anyone that you were waiting for X to respond in the past. Of course, things will depend on each individual prof, and your prof at Y might still be upset with you for waiting for X no matter what. If so, perhaps it's best to work for someone else! You can't make everyone happy all the time, and for cases like this, I think it's better to be honest and make someone unhappy than to try to lie just to hide something (especially if you get caught in the lie later).

 

One way to help you until April 15 would be to keep your interactions between you and the department's official grad student coordinator instead of unnecessarily updating your PI at Y on every development. If you just request the extension etc. from the department itself, you might not have to explain yourself to the PI anyways.

 

Finally, I am not sure if there exists any grad program that legally binds its students to its program after April 15. Like I said above, you can always quit school! I think the whole point of the "release" thing in the CGS agreement is to prevent schools from accusing each other of "poaching" students after April 15. This way, by getting a release, it means that you are going to school X with the blessing of school Y, and it won't be like school X is recruiting students out of school Y's pool. I also don't think a school will refuse to release you if you don't want to be there--why would they want to keep someone who will be unhappy with them around?

[juilletmercredi]

So, the whole Council of Graduate Students agreement is simply that - an agreement between universities/programs about guidelines for students. It's not law, it's not executive policy, it has nothing to do with the government at all.  So no, you're not legally bound even if you sign the offer letter, unless the offer letter is a binding contract.  Every now and then I hear graduate students say that they had to sign a contract agreeing to repay the value of their first year's fellowship if they drop out or decide not to come, but I've never heard of anyone who has been held to that.  Even so, that's uncommon.  I signed an agreement to begin my program but not a contract.

 

You've been as honest as possible.  And no, it's not ideal to turn down a program after you've accepted if you get another offer somewhere else; generally speaking, it's considered a moral gray area and you should avoid it at all costs.  But if you have a clear first choice and that first choice is dithering on your funding, what can you do?  While I think it's important to try to remain ethical and considerate, above all you must consider your own interests and goals.  If X is the best choice for you professionally and personally, and they get back to you in a few days with your dream offer, I think it would be a mistake to turn them down based upon a notion of ethics.  It's not your fault that the fellowship committee is dragging its feet on the fellowships (and really, I think if the CGS is going to make April 15 the agreement date, then they need to also agree to give offers of funding by at least April 1.  Either that or push back the response deadline!)