Informal offer LSE

[CandyMaker]

Hello everybody!

Monday I received an email from the programme director of my intended graduate course at LSE, where he says: "I am pleased to confirm that I will be recommending you for an offer of a place on the programme, starting in September 2016. I have returned your application to the LSE Graduate Admissions Office, and they will be in contact by email in due course with confirmation of your official offer from the School". 

I believe this is an unofficial offer, isn't it? It caught me by surprise this mail from my dream school, since I didn't know programme directors can send private mail to potential future students!

My problem is that the deposit deadline for the other course where I was given an offer (City University: Cass Business School ) is about to expire and I haven't received the LSE official offer yet! Therefore I don't know if  I should  turn down the offer from Cass and just wait for the official mail from LSE or I should contact the admission office of LSE before. 

Has ever happened something like this to you guys? Do you have any idea of when I should expect to receive the official offer from LSE?

I apologize in advance if I'm asking something that looks very obvious and superfluous to the most of you, but LSE would be my dream school and I've been working on its application for very long time.

Thanks in advance for your attention!

Edited January 13, 2016 by CandyMaker

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

I'm in the same boat you are, but here is the gist I have gotten:

Typically how it works is your department will choose its students, but in order to be officially admitted the "graduate school" has to admit them. You can always clarify, but a lot of admissions notifications do come in this "unofficial" format, since it may take awhile to get your official letter. It can't hurt to clarify, but it sounds like you got in.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Pink Fuzzy Bunny

[CandyMaker]

10 hours ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

I'm in the same boat you are, but here is the gist I have gotten:

Typically how it works is your department will choose its students, but in order to be officially admitted the "graduate school" has to admit them. You can always clarify, but a lot of admissions notifications do come in this "unofficial" format, since it may take awhile to get your official letter. It can't hurt to clarify, but it sounds like you got in.

first of all, thank you very much for your reply! Where did you apply?

Following your suggestion I scheduled a Skype chat with the a Faculty member of the LSE programme for today at 14,30 UK time. I'll ask her when to expect my official offer and some other info about the programme. Also, I'll ask if she knows something about the conditions in the offer, because if these are the normal entry condition then everything should work out, but if these are more restrictive it might cause me some problems!

Since this situation applies to you as well, I'll keep you informed of her answers.