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Declining 2016


lostwanderer

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Since I'm on a few waitlists, I thought I would start a thread where people could post the places where they will be declining admission offers from. Hopefully, this should give a little hope to those applicants like me out there!! 

Congrats and good luck to everyone this cycle!!!

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This is a great idea. I will post the (3) schools I decline, but only after I notify each department. I hope to see some movement on a waitlist myself, so I hope others also participate on this thread. 

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1 hour ago, GradSchoolTruther said:

Threads like this are not helpful and serve to induce unseeded anxiety. 

I somewhat agree. Knowing that someone turned down an offer in no way guarantees that you will be the one picked to take their spot. It can even add to frustrations, especially if you are then not offered that funding/admission. 

Also, try not to hold it against those of us who have offers to more than one program and are still figuring out where we will be going. I realize that being wait listed is probably very frustrating and anxiety inducing, but know that for some-read: myself-being admitted to some of the programs was unexpected and has made the decision making process very difficult, and visiting the programs is a big part of that process   

That being said, I don't feel I have the right to declare something to be universally "unhelpful," and will post once I've finalized my decision and informed the programs. 

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18 hours ago, GradSchoolTruther said:

Threads like this are not helpful and serve to induce unseeded anxiety. 

I think of it more like this --- Many posters name the schools to which they were accepted either on the forum or in their signature lines. If they are accepted to more than one school, we can assume that they will be turning down all but one at a minimum. Eventually, many people make their final choices known, again either on the forum or in their signature lines. Thus, if we are dedicated readers of GradCafe (which you know we are :)), we can deduce which schools that they have declined. Now, we can either do the hard work and study the conversations across multiple threads in order to figure out what schools might accept off their waitlists, or we can look at this thread and see people's final decisions more clearly in order to draw our conclusions. 

I agree with you that people could get anxious if they start seeing schools at which they are waitlisted named on this thread; but, I think most people are reasonable enough to know that many factors go into waitlist decisions, including the declining scholar's field of study, target number of enrolled students (yes, many schools over enroll and still have a waitlist), and departmental politics. I would caution everyone who reads this thread to not expect anything. That being said, I'd like to know where people are deciding to go & where they will be declining offers. :D

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15 hours ago, hbnj said:

If it will help I'll also post once I notify the respective schools 

I'll do the same, although I don't know exactly when I'm going to finalize my decision.

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On 3/7/2016 at 8:15 PM, KLZ said:

Congrats on making your decision! Best wishes!

 

On 3/8/2016 at 2:15 PM, archersline said:

Congrats!! That is awesome! 

Thanks, guys.

Also, I just found out I got an offer for Fordham's MA in History. I am declining this also.

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On 3/2/2016 at 11:09 AM, hbnj said:

I have officially declined:

University of Delaware, PhD

University of North Carolina-Charlotte, MA

I have also declined:

University of North Carolina-Greensboro, MA

And I sent the letter today to decline:

The College of William & Mary, PhD

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Declining PSU. Currently deciding between UCLA and Rutgers for Latin American history (specifically indigenous history), see my thread in the Decisions forum.

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8 hours ago, archersline said:

So many people declining William and Mary...congrats on UC Irvine!! :) 

Indeed. And as someone who is on their wait list, I am quite intrigued.

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4 hours ago, meo03 said:

Indeed. And as someone who is on their wait list, I am quite intrigued.

Unsolicited W&M comment from someone who declined: they have a great program and some awesome people, but to me it was a very niche fit. I'm not interested in early American, so the program just doesn't work for me even though they have some really great faculty. Also, the cohort this year is so small (6-8). 

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1 hour ago, hbnj said:

Unsolicited W&M comment from someone who declined: they have a great program and some awesome people, but to me it was a very niche fit. I'm not interested in early American, so the program just doesn't work for me even though they have some really great faculty. Also, the cohort this year is so small (6-8). 

Yeah, I didn't realize how small their typical cohort is until after I applied. Shoddy research on my part, I suppose. The school fits my research interests very well (not to mention it is close to family and friends). We'll see what happens!

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