Holding out on "Intent to Enroll" = more $?

[playyourcardsright]

So I got into my dream PhD program at one of the UC schools, got offered an amazing financial package, and am 100% planning on enrolling. Yay.

 

However, I have held out on formally accepting the admission offer for various reasons. I mostly am just curious about what responses I will get from the other UC's I applied to, without their decisions being affected by the knowledge that I accepted another offer. I have a feeling these schools would find out if I had accepted another offer within the UC system. If anyone has any insights on this suspicion, I posted a thread about it in the "Waiting it Out" subforum here:

 

Anyhow, my dream school recently emailed me offering even *more* money, saying they really hope I will accept their offer. Someone else who was also accepted into the department and hasn't yet accepted the offer told me they got the same email.

 

I was ready to just accept the offer and get it over with, but now I'm wondering - should I hold out ever longer? Will the school continue courting me with even more $ added to my package? And how should I go about communications with the department/my advisor during this time?

 

On the flip side, is there any reason that holding out on accepting an admission offer is a *BAD* idea?

 

Any insights greatly appreciated!

Edited March 20, 2015 by playyourcardsright

[TakeruK]

It's unlikely you'll get even more money just by holding out longer. If they wanted to offer you more, they likely would have already. I don't think schools want to get into the practice of offering more and more as April 15 approaches because that encourages students to hold out, which makes the whole process harder on them. 

 

If you want a certain stipend value then you should directly ask for it from your dream school. If they say yes, then great. If not, and you are still happy with the current offer, then just accept their offer. 

 

Things to watch out for (i.e. answering your last question):

 

1. Avoid appearing that you are trying to play them for more money. Yes, grad school negotiations are like job offers and you should be able to get yourself the best deal. However, you can earn a bad reputation for appearing manipulative, especially if you already have a generous offer and still want a little more. Note that as an incoming graduate student, we're not in as much of a strong negotiating position as incoming postdocs or faculty. In the latter, new faculty negotiate with some high level administrator, such as the Provost, Dean, or Department Chair and the process is more or less private between them. As a new graduate student, many more professors may be involved and remember that you will be working closely with (and that your success depends a lot on) these people. Be careful of how you portray yourself!

 

So, if you need (or want) a certain financial package, the professional approach is to be direct and just say it. Definitely fight for what you need. But being sneaky and manipulative is poor behaviour. 

 

2. If you are certain (i.e. 100% and no less) that you want to attend a school, simply waiting just to hear back from other schools out of curiosity is poor behaviour, in my opinion. Don't do this. On the other hand, if you aren't completely sure about this school, then you should absolutely wait until you have all the information you need before you decide (not sure if the "100%" in your original post is literal or not).

 

These opinions come from my belief that grad school and academia is a hard enough place to work that we should take care to consider the impact of our actions on others and avoid unnecessarily making things more difficult for others. Sure, you might not face any consequences from your actions now (or maybe not ever). But if I think if you keep up these poor behaviours, it will eventually catch up to you.

 

Note: I'm not saying we should all bend over backwards to ensure no one is ever hurt by us. We do need to ensure we are looking out for ourselves and our needs. But putting others in a bad place for no real gain for ourselves (e.g. simply curious on other admission decisions you don't actually plan to accept) is well...crappy behaviour.

[GeoDUDE!]

The UCs are not in cahoots with eachother and often compete for students just like any other schools.

Edited March 20, 2015 by GeoDUDE!

[playyourcardsright]

Thank you so much for you rapid response, TakeruK - you definitely articulated/confirmed a lot of things I was wondering. I will accept the offer very soon.

 

However - do you think you could respond to the question I ask in the other topic I posted, re: communication between UC schools regarding their admissions? You know, the thread that you immediately closed, stating that it should be discussed simultaneously in this thread....

 

(Snark aside, I really do appreciate your willingness to offer insights to a random person on the internet - seriously, thank you.)

 

To GeoDUDE!: I know the UC's compete with each other. What I am wondering is if all UC's have access to the list of students that have filled out an "Intent to Enroll" form for one of the UC's. They are all a part of the same public university system, after all. 

Edited March 20, 2015 by playyourcardsright

[GeoDUDE!]

To GeoDUDE!: I know the UC's compete with each other. What I am wondering is if all UC's have access to the list of students that have filled out an "Intent to Enroll" form for one of the UC's. They are all a part of the same public university system, after all. 

 

 

They share a lot. I don't think that is something they share, and I doubt they really have time for that. For example, in my department, the faculty run the admissions ( which I think most departments are like that) and don't really have time to keep tabs on particular students that also applied to other UCs. Also, who knows if they applied to other UCs? Sure if they listed it on their application, but in all honestly, what would they do with this information?

[TakeruK]

Oops -- I had meant to respond to that part of your question too, sorry.

 

I don't know the facts for certain but my opinion/thought would be to agree with GeoDUDE! and say that they do compete with each other. I don't think they share applications between UC schools because 1) schools (UC or not) don't share applications with each other since it's not ethical (although people may talk to each other, it's not like they are all plugged into the same system) and 2) many programs are structured differently between UC schools. For example, when I applied to UC schools, I applied to different departments at different schools because some departments/programs don't exist. In addition, I believe the UC schools I applied to didn't even use the same application system/software!

 

From experience with schools with multiple campuses, every system seems to prefer to have each campus operate as an independent university. I think part of the strength of the UC system is that each campus can have its own identity and ability to adjust things to meet their own needs while sharing some advantages of being part of a very large system (e.g. pooling resources for telescopes). However, the kind of communication for graduate admission decisions you are worried about would undermine the purpose of having independent campuses, in my opinion!

[RainbowGold]

This is an interesting question. I too would think that schools would likely do away with a financial aid package if a student were to accept their offer quickly.

[MOR_embryo]

So how does one go about asking for a stipend increase? Do you ask them to match another offer? Do students get increases just by asking for them and do they come in the form of scholarship, fellowship, one time bonus, simply increased total stipend?

[rising_star]

There are several threads in "The Bank" about negotiating for a higher offer.