Requesting an extension on offer deadline

[BioChallenger12]

Hi. I got accepted to a very excellent competitive graduate program, but their deadline for me to respond to their offer is March 15th. I am waiting on another program's decision on my application, but they personally mentioned in an email that they won't release a decision on my application until late March. I am strongly considering both of these programs equally. I would like to ask the graduate program that I got accepted to for an extension on responding to their offer to early April, so I can wait on the other graduate program's response and make the best most informed decision. If I ask for an extension, can that graduate school rescind their offer? I highly doubt so, but I am paranoid because at the moment this is the only competitive program I got accepted to. I won't hear back from other grad schools until late March. 

[HopefulPHD14]

I had a program do this.

They probably will not rescend their offer, but they also may not offer you an extension.  The school I applied to ended up calling me and talking through my situation with me.  They said they wouldn't offer an extension of my offer guarantee, but they said that they would be happy to accept me after the deadline as long as funding was still available.  Honestly I really have no clue what they meant by that.   But after lots of thinking I decided that I knew I would be happy with that program and accepted the offer.  I was 60-40 between that school and the other school and for me it was worth it to accept.  I haven't regretted my decision.

Hopefully they will be understanding of your need for an extension.  I think usually schools are.

[BioChallenger12]

Thanks for your reply! I have an update. I have decided to accept the offer! I was at 60-40 (if not 70-30) between this school and the another school, but after thinking through about 6 hours last night between the two schools, I decided to accept the offer! I thought about this school the whole month. I am really excited about my graduate program! 

[antaresb]

http://cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution

[Gram Neutral]

I'm fairly certain that although a school can push you to commit, they cannot actually rescind funding or an offer of admission until April 15th.