Pseudo Posted April 12, 2015 Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) Hi folks, I have PhD offers from some decent ranked colleges in US and Europe. I am extremely unsure at this moment which I should join. I have to make a decision on the US offer by April 15 and the Europe offer by 20th. Currently I am waiting to get some reply from two professors at the US university I want to work with. If they express an interest in taking me as their student then I will go there or else I will go to Europe. I was wondering if right now I can accept both offers and then later rescind one of them. Do you see any problems, like both schools cancelling their offers if they find out, if I do this? Or any other issues. I tried asking for extension at US school but they declined. For two US colleges the CGS resolution rules out doing this, but what about one US and one Europe college? The Europe offer actually says that accepting the offer "does not" commit me financially or academically to the school and if I later decide I can withdraw my acceptance. But the US offer dosnt mention any such thing, Edited April 12, 2015 by Pseudo
Jean0001 Posted April 12, 2015 Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) Hi folks, I have PhD offers from some decent ranked colleges in US and Europe. I am extremely unsure at this moment which I should join. I have to make a decision on the US offer by April 15 and the Europe offer by 20th. Currently I am waiting to get some reply from two professors at the US university I want to work with. If they express an interest in taking me as their student then I will go there or else I will go to Europe. I was wondering if right now I can accept both offers and then later rescind one of them. Do you see any problems, like both schools cancelling their offers if they find out, if I do this? Or any other issues. I tried asking for extension at US school but they declined. For two US colleges the CGS resolution rules out doing this, but what about one US and one Europe college? The Europe offer actually says that accepting the offer "does not" commit me financially or academically to the school and if I later decide I can withdraw my acceptance. But the US offer dosnt mention any such thing, Since you already asked for an extension and they declined I would take my decision by April 15th if I were you. The Academic world is small and the April 15th deadline is taken very seriously in the US. Put pressure on you, drink coffee and even don't sleep but make your decision before April 15th midnight. I am nearly in the same situation...I just received the PhD offer 2 days ago (very unexpected) and have interview abroad on Tuesday for a job in a reputed environment. For the PhD I only had one short Skype interview in January with one Professor...then no news until this email which asked me to decide withing 1 week (a simple letter offer with 1-year assistantship). And on the side of that I have a nice supervisor from a highly ranked university that I am in contact with since nearly one year and who is searching for alternative options for me (I got the PhD offer but no funding so maybe I could get a job and re-apply). I think you have the chance to have the choice...and there is something really simple to know which one to choose. For me for example, I hoped I would get offer from Uni A and Uni B...but in the end just got offer from Uni A. And today I realize I really preferred Uni B over Uni A. Here is how I would do: 1) Consider you ONLY received the offer from the US --> would you accept it right away ? YES/NO 2) Consider you ONLY received the offer from Europe --> would you accept it right away ? YES/NO --> if the answers are different then your choice is already made, go for the one you would have taken. If now the answers are YES in both cases think about the differences between the US/European PhD (the length of the PhD is a major point, relocation cost etc) and the confidence you have in your supervisor. This last point is very important. Personally I exchanged many many emails with Uni B supervisor and department staff during many months, I went there to pass interview, chat with lots of people and I can tell you it really makes the difference...for Uni A I only had a 20 min short Skype interview with one person, that's it. So today I am unsure about what to do but I will have to take a decision as well by Wednesday. My job interview is on Tuesday so I hope they will tell me directly what. Edited April 12, 2015 by Jean0001
Pseudo Posted April 13, 2015 Author Posted April 13, 2015 Thanks for the reply and best of luck in your decision. I still want to know if this is possible, specially since this is US & Europe and not two US colleges. Can someone who has any idea about this please reply?
happy little pill Posted April 13, 2015 Posted April 13, 2015 It's not considered good form to do this. You have until the 15th, I would make a decision by the 15th. The US professors know that you're coming up to a deadline and so assume that they will respond before the deadline.
nugget Posted April 13, 2015 Posted April 13, 2015 Are you waiting on additional information about any of the 2 offers? ie: funding, etc. If not, I'd make a choice within the deadlines. The decision isn't going to get any easier if you wait and the facts aren't going to change. You will also give someone else more time to decide and prepare who is on the waitlist.
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