"You are recommended for admission" vs. "You are admitted"

[thegraydude]

This one is really troubling me these days. I got into two schools of my choice and got TA offers from both (more or less the same amount of money).

 

University A is my first choice and it says "We are pleased to recommend you for admission into the Computer Science department".

 

University B says: "I am pleased to inform you of your admission into B to study Computer Science PhD".

 

I have accepted A's offer; and signed, scanned, and emailed my acceptance to them. However, I cannot decline B's offer because of this recommended for admission clause that A has sent me. That means it is not official yet. A says that my acceptance (and other material) has been passed on to their "Office of Admissions" and they will then issue I-20. This should take 2-3 weeks.

 

Meanwhile, B has given me until 15th of April to accept or decline the TA position that they are offering me.

 

I am an international student, and I am not familiar with what would be best in this situation. I definitely do not want to respond to B until my I-20 has been issued by A. I have read here on GradCafe that if, in case of international students, funding is not available, Office of Admissions might decline department's recommendation for my admission. In any case, I want to hear A has sent my I-20 before 15th of April but I cannot force them either.

 

My dilemma is how do I tell Office of Admissions at A that I need their official decision of admission (and I-20) until the 15th of April before I respond to B's offer. I am not sure I can contact Office of Admissions directly and tell them to "hurry up". That would be rude.

 

Any suggestions about what is best for me in this case?

 

 

 

 

[Vene]

If you haven't received a fully official admission by mid March it may be worth contacting A. Seeing how there's still a month and a half left before the April 15th deadline for B, there's plenty of time for the graduate college to send out the official forms. I also see no problems with not formally declining B's offer until everything about A is completely official. You need to make sure your ass is covered first.

 

In all likelihood, you're in at A. It's very unlikely for the program to recommend you for admission without the ability to pay for you. I get the impression it's more common for the recommendation to be denied if you don't meet some minimum standard (TOEFL, GRE, GPA, etc).