Accepting, then rejecting, a grad position?

[amandastarfish]

So I've been accepted at all five schools I've applied to: University of Madison Wisconsin, Illinois Urbana Champaign, IU Bloomington, Louisiana State, and Syracuse University.

 

I was told by most there won't be funding decisions until beginning to mid-April, yet a few days ago I got an unexpected offer from LSU for a graduate assistantship position with full tuition waiver, $12,000 a year stipend, and health insurance. And, they are asking for a decision by March 25th.... meaning I need to tell them before I even know my other funding decisions.

 

Problem is... I don't want to go to LSU like I want to go to Illinois or Syracuse. They are better ranked by far, and the classes are more interesting and appealing to me. But at the same time, I am scared not to accept in case it's my best or only offer.

 

My question basically is this: What happens if I accept the position, sign the contract, then decide I don't want to enroll at that school and will enroll in another one? Does anyone have experience with this, or know in general?

 

Not sure what to do!!

[eeee1923]

You can ask them for an extension. However, I would advice against taking the position, getting the ball rolling, then screwing the department over by pulling out at the last moment. Will it be the end of the world? Of course not but you then screw over someone who would have committed to LSU all the way. Just my two cents and congrats on your acceptances.

[dr. t]

I would be very surprised if the universities you mention don't beat a $12k a year stipend.

[hikarizx]

I'm wondering about this too.. different schools but I was offered a position and I have to reply by March 30.

[Aroma Black]

Most schools are not supposed to make you reply to a funding decision before April 15 as part of their adherence to the April 15 Resolution. LSU is listed as an institutional member at http://www.cgsnet.org/institutional-members. There is an informative post about this at http://www.insidetheadcom.com/applications/april-15-graduate-school-deadline-day/.

 

I'm not in library science and don't know whether their policies are different, but would hope they'd adhere to the rules if you ask them to. (I know Illinois is a top choice, but didn't know they offer stipends to grad students except as part of assistantships.)

[amandastarfish]

Thanks everyone... I'm still trying to figure out what to do. If anyone else has any suggestions, I'm still open to hearing them. I have tentatively reached out to the program director at my top school with an email today about getting offers elsewhere, but I haven't heard back.

[techboy]

Hello,

I am in the same boat. I received a "preliminary award letter which may be adjusted. hopefully not. I had to accept as a student said if I don't they may award to others who are in the "waiting list" or offered partial funding. So I strongly advise to accept. The preliminary award is worrying me tho...

[virtua]

I'm in the same situation as yours, I would suggest you to accept the offer, then reject if you have better offer later. I know, everyone will attack me, saying that it is unethical and etc., but is it ethical or fair to ask student for decision before the 15th of April???

[Observer001]

It is HIGHLY unethical for a program to demand that you reply before April 15- in fact this is one of the worst things that they can do other than reneging on an offer of admittance. The whole reason why the agreement was put in place was to enable students to compare funding offers. Even if a program (for example, a Canadian school) is not a signatory, they still know about this and If they are demanding a response before it is a cynical abuse of the system. Those that do are not respected by other programs. Frankly they have put a bullseye on themselves by doing this.

What you should do: contact the programs you have been accepted to (perhaps start with the one where the Dirextor of Graduate Studies has been most friendly/helpful/in contact) and tell the DGS what LSU has done. If you you are doing/did your undergrad at a research university talk to your department's DGS in addition, though it would be less hard to trace if it came from one of those other schools if you have any interest at all of attending LSU. The DGS will email their counterpart at LSU or ask their graduate dean to contact LSU's graduate school to get this rogue department to quit it. If you have been compelled to accept this offer before reading this you are perfectly within your rights to withdraw and accept elsewhere since they coerced you to do so under false pretenses in the first place; again whichever dept. ultimately offers you the most money and/or best program could facilitate this if need be. Once a program transgresses this agreement a prospective student owes them nothing- no other institution would shed a tear for them- just protect yourself. The bastards.

[Observer001]

P.S. Here it is in writing and Inheard this directly from the mouth of the graduate dean at my institution: http://www.cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution

[guttata]

Ask them for an extension, but be prepared for them to decline to offer one. Up to you whether or not to call them on the April 15th thing - the resolution is NOT binding and I'm not even so sure it's unethical to deviate, especially in instances where the funding offered is outside of the normal packages (e.g., I'm on an in-house fellowship that comes from a different source than other grad students in my dept, and I had a deadline of mid-March to accept while everyone else had April 15).

 

While you ask them for an extension, ask all the other schools you are interested in 1) for an estimated timeline for an offer and 2) a ballpark amt for what you can expect their offer to be. Explain that a school that is not your first choice has presented an offer with an earlier deadline that may or may not force your hand, depending on what they can tell you. You should also remember to take anything they tell you with a grain of salt - since you're asking for early info it will be unofficial and not binding.

Edited March 26, 2015 by guttata

[Peg]

On 3/16/2015 at 6:00 PM, amandastarfish said:

So I've been accepted at all five schools I've applied to: University of Madison Wisconsin, Illinois Urbana Champaign, IU Bloomington, Louisiana State, and Syracuse University.

 

I was told by most there won't be funding decisions until beginning to mid-April, yet a few days ago I got an unexpected offer from LSU for a graduate assistantship position with full tuition waiver, $12,000 a year stipend, and health insurance. And, they are asking for a decision by March 25th.... meaning I need to tell them before I even know my other funding decisions.

 

Problem is... I don't want to go to LSU like I want to go to Illinois or Syracuse. They are better ranked by far, and the classes are more interesting and appealing to me. But at the same time, I am scared not to accept in case it's my best or only offer.

 

My question basically is this: What happens if I accept the position, sign the contract, then decide I don't want to enroll at that school and will enroll in another one? Does anyone have experience with this, or know in general?

 

Not sure what to do!!

Amanda - I'm applying to MLIS grad programs for fall 2018 and interested in which university you decided on and how your experience has been. So far I've been accepted by Wisconsin - Madison's on campus program, but waiting for funding info.