Will my decisions have impacts on the following year's results?

[BayernFans]

Hello everybody, I would like to give an example to illustrate my problems:

 

Suppose that I get the PhD admittance with either fellowships or other financial aids from University A and B in U.S. this year, and I take the offer from University A and reject that from University B before Apr. 15. However unfortunately, for some personal reasons, such as family, VISA rejection (I am not a native U.S. resident), health, and girlfriend, etc, I cannot register for University A timely. Therefore, I have to apply again for the next year's admittance of University A and B, and my questions are:

 

1. Will my rejection of University B in the first year have impact on their decision on me in the next year?

2. Will University A deny to give me admittance again for my registration failure in the first year?

3. Or their decisions in the second year should depend on their policies on these situations? Then could I ask for their policies before applying? From whom, the secretary?

 

Thank you for viewing and replying!

[jujubea]

Different schools have different policies. One of my schools said the only reason you can reject their offer of acceptance without it having a negative impact is for financial reasons (i.e. they don't give you a stipend but you need one). 

 

Another school allows deferrals - i.e. you can tell them, "Yes, I want to attend your school, but I need to wait another semester, or another year, because of XYZ reasons," which they may or may not agree with.

 

In my very limited opinion, the worst thing to do would be to stay silent about your situation, and just ignore registering for example. Better to be honest, and up front, and just say, "Hey, this is my dilemma, what do you recommend?" I know that some schools can be very lenient when it comes to visas not getting issued for international students.... which probably means some schools spare no leniency at all.

 

My two cents.

 

Best of luck to you!

[BayernFans]

Different schools have different policies. One of my schools said the only reason you can reject their offer of acceptance without it having a negative impact is for financial reasons (i.e. they don't give you a stipend but you need one). 

 

Another school allows deferrals - i.e. you can tell them, "Yes, I want to attend your school, but I need to wait another semester, or another year, because of XYZ reasons," which they may or may not agree with.

 

In my very limited opinion, the worst thing to do would be to stay silent about your situation, and just ignore registering for example. Better to be honest, and up front, and just say, "Hey, this is my dilemma, what do you recommend?" I know that some schools can be very lenient when it comes to visas not getting issued for international students.... which probably means some schools spare no leniency at all.

 

My two cents.

 

Best of luck to you!

Your opinions are really helpful   , and thank you very much!

[TakeruK]

1. Will my rejection of University B in the first year have impact on their decision on me in the next year?

2. Will University A deny to give me admittance again for my registration failure in the first year?

3. Or their decisions in the second year should depend on their policies on these situations? Then could I ask for their policies before applying? From whom, the secretary?

 

Here are my answers to your questions. Definitely agree that a lot of this will depend on each school's policies though.

 

1. Yes. I would expect that your chances to getting into University B in your second year would generally decrease. They don't want you to reject them again! This is because in some cases, the fellowship or spot in program you rejected means they can't offer it to someone else. I'm not saying this is your fault--the school decided to make the offer to you and decided it was worth the risk the first time around.

 

2. I'll assume that you will properly notify University A that you will not register. I think if you just reapply again, this can have a negative impact on you (see answer above). 

 

3. You should ask for the policies if you end up having to not register next Fall. As jujubea alluded to, you want to ask about "deferral" policies.

 

That said, I think it might be helpful to look at it from a different point of view. I would not ask about any of these policies unless you do end up in the situation where you cannot attend the program. Here's what I would do:

 

As soon as you know you cannot attend, you should notify University A immediately and ask if you can defer your admission for one year. Many schools will allow you to defer for up to 1 year for personal reasons like visa rejection or health/family matters. If they agree, then you should be all set! Sometimes a deferral does mean a different financial package though, so keep that in mind.

 

If University A does not allow you to defer, they will make you apply again next year. In this case, I would also call up University B (and all the other universities that accepted you) and ask if their admission offer is still valid. Explain your situation. Some schools actually will allow you to enroll within 2 years of the initial admission offer, even if you rejected them in the past (no school will guarantee that their original offer will still stand after you reject them but they might still grant it on a case-by-case basis). Keep in mind that if you get in this way, you might have a different funding package if the fellowship was assigned to someone else instead.

 

Then, If University B (or another university that gave you a funded offer) says yes, you can still enroll with a financial package that is still desirable to you, then you have a decision to make! You can either take University B's offer or you can reapply to Universities A and B. It would be very dishonest though to take University B's offer while also applying to other schools. That is, if you take B's offer now, you should be ready to commit to B.

 

On the other hand, if University B says no, then you basically will be reapplying to all schools next year. 

 

Finally, I have a question for you! Are you just preparing for all the worse case scenarios, or do you think there is a very real chance that you will have personal reasons interfering with your ability to start a grad program next fall? I guess you can never predict the health or family reasons, but if you do end up with fully funded offers from schools, you probably do not have to worry about failing to get a visa. For the personal reasons, I think if you do not feel ready to start grad school next fall, you should wait until you do feel ready before you apply. I think applying, being successful, and then not taking any offers does hurt your chances at the same schools next year, so don't "waste" an application (and the school's time) if you are not really ready for graduate school. Of course, it's hard for most of us to know 100% that we are ready, so I'm not saying you have to be 100% certain! Just that you should know the consequences of rejecting a school and that you should feel that the risk is worth it. That's something only you can decide!

[BayernFans]

Here are my answers to your questions. Definitely agree that a lot of this will depend on each school's policies though.

 

1. Yes. I would expect that your chances to getting into University B in your second year would generally decrease. They don't want you to reject them again! This is because in some cases, the fellowship or spot in program you rejected means they can't offer it to someone else. I'm not saying this is your fault--the school decided to make the offer to you and decided it was worth the risk the first time around.

 

2. I'll assume that you will properly notify University A that you will not register. I think if you just reapply again, this can have a negative impact on you (see answer above). 

 

3. You should ask for the policies if you end up having to not register next Fall. As jujubea alluded to, you want to ask about "deferral" policies.

 

That said, I think it might be helpful to look at it from a different point of view. I would not ask about any of these policies unless you do end up in the situation where you cannot attend the program. Here's what I would do:

 

As soon as you know you cannot attend, you should notify University A immediately and ask if you can defer your admission for one year. Many schools will allow you to defer for up to 1 year for personal reasons like visa rejection or health/family matters. If they agree, then you should be all set! Sometimes a deferral does mean a different financial package though, so keep that in mind.

 

If University A does not allow you to defer, they will make you apply again next year. In this case, I would also call up University B (and all the other universities that accepted you) and ask if their admission offer is still valid. Explain your situation. Some schools actually will allow you to enroll within 2 years of the initial admission offer, even if you rejected them in the past (no school will guarantee that their original offer will still stand after you reject them but they might still grant it on a case-by-case basis). Keep in mind that if you get in this way, you might have a different funding package if the fellowship was assigned to someone else instead.

 

Then, If University B (or another university that gave you a funded offer) says yes, you can still enroll with a financial package that is still desirable to you, then you have a decision to make! You can either take University B's offer or you can reapply to Universities A and B. It would be very dishonest though to take University B's offer while also applying to other schools. That is, if you take B's offer now, you should be ready to commit to B.

 

On the other hand, if University B says no, then you basically will be reapplying to all schools next year. 

 

Finally, I have a question for you! Are you just preparing for all the worse case scenarios, or do you think there is a very real chance that you will have personal reasons interfering with your ability to start a grad program next fall? I guess you can never predict the health or family reasons, but if you do end up with fully funded offers from schools, you probably do not have to worry about failing to get a visa. For the personal reasons, I think if you do not feel ready to start grad school next fall, you should wait until you do feel ready before you apply. I think applying, being successful, and then not taking any offers does hurt your chances at the same schools next year, so don't "waste" an application (and the school's time) if you are not really ready for graduate school. Of course, it's hard for most of us to know 100% that we are ready, so I'm not saying you have to be 100% certain! Just that you should know the consequences of rejecting a school and that you should feel that the risk is worth it. That's something only you can decide!

Thank you, Cup o' Joe. Your reply was remarkably informative and amazing!

 

On one hand, I did want to make preparations for some worse case scenarios and tried to apply for some graduate school when I was not fully prepared before reading your reply  . On the other hand, visa may not so easy to get in some cases , even if you have got a funding. That should depend on your nationality, educational background (students who were majored in nuclear, weapons, aviation, and some other majors related with national defense and security may have some troubles in getting their visas ), intended major and college in the U.S., and surely your performance in visa interview (in my country), and many of my friends, who were in the same major with me, had been rejected before. Therefore, I created this topic for helps, and your explicit answers had made the risks and consequences clear to me.

 

Thanks again  !

Edited January 5, 2015 by BayernFans

[BayernFans]

Here are my answers to your questions. Definitely agree that a lot of this will depend on each school's policies though.

 

1. Yes. I would expect that your chances to getting into University B in your second year would generally decrease. They don't want you to reject them again! This is because in some cases, the fellowship or spot in program you rejected means they can't offer it to someone else. I'm not saying this is your fault--the school decided to make the offer to you and decided it was worth the risk the first time around.

 

2. I'll assume that you will properly notify University A that you will not register. I think if you just reapply again, this can have a negative impact on you (see answer above). 

 

3. You should ask for the policies if you end up having to not register next Fall. As jujubea alluded to, you want to ask about "deferral" policies.

 

That said, I think it might be helpful to look at it from a different point of view. I would not ask about any of these policies unless you do end up in the situation where you cannot attend the program. Here's what I would do:

 

As soon as you know you cannot attend, you should notify University A immediately and ask if you can defer your admission for one year. Many schools will allow you to defer for up to 1 year for personal reasons like visa rejection or health/family matters. If they agree, then you should be all set! Sometimes a deferral does mean a different financial package though, so keep that in mind.

 

If University A does not allow you to defer, they will make you apply again next year. In this case, I would also call up University B (and all the other universities that accepted you) and ask if their admission offer is still valid. Explain your situation. Some schools actually will allow you to enroll within 2 years of the initial admission offer, even if you rejected them in the past (no school will guarantee that their original offer will still stand after you reject them but they might still grant it on a case-by-case basis). Keep in mind that if you get in this way, you might have a different funding package if the fellowship was assigned to someone else instead.

 

Then, If University B (or another university that gave you a funded offer) says yes, you can still enroll with a financial package that is still desirable to you, then you have a decision to make! You can either take University B's offer or you can reapply to Universities A and B. It would be very dishonest though to take University B's offer while also applying to other schools. That is, if you take B's offer now, you should be ready to commit to B.

 

On the other hand, if University B says no, then you basically will be reapplying to all schools next year. 

 

Finally, I have a question for you! Are you just preparing for all the worse case scenarios, or do you think there is a very real chance that you will have personal reasons interfering with your ability to start a grad program next fall? I guess you can never predict the health or family reasons, but if you do end up with fully funded offers from schools, you probably do not have to worry about failing to get a visa. For the personal reasons, I think if you do not feel ready to start grad school next fall, you should wait until you do feel ready before you apply. I think applying, being successful, and then not taking any offers does hurt your chances at the same schools next year, so don't "waste" an application (and the school's time) if you are not really ready for graduate school. Of course, it's hard for most of us to know 100% that we are ready, so I'm not saying you have to be 100% certain! Just that you should know the consequences of rejecting a school and that you should feel that the risk is worth it. That's something only you can decide!

Sorry, your name should be TakeruK. Thank you TakeruK!

[rising_star]

There was a student in my PhD program that had some trouble getting a visa initially. What happened is that instead of starting in the fall, he started in January. His visa was delayed due to area of study and country of origin issues in all likelihood, even though he had previously earned a bachelor's in the USA before returning to his native country for a master's and to work for a while. So, if your visa is delayed or rejected initially, you may be able to negotiate a different initial enrollment date with the institution just like the student in my program did. Good luck!

[BayernFans]

There was a student in my PhD program that had some trouble getting a visa initially. What happened is that instead of starting in the fall, he started in January. His visa was delayed due to area of study and country of origin issues in all likelihood, even though he had previously earned a bachelor's in the USA before returning to his native country for a master's and to work for a while. So, if your visa is delayed or rejected initially, you may be able to negotiate a different initial enrollment date with the institution just like the student in my program did. Good luck!

Thank you, rising_star. Thanks for your vivid and kind reply, and I feel more relief about visa now.

Edited January 6, 2015 by BayernFans