Decided not to go to grad school. Worried about hurting my chance of getting in in the future. Please help?

[DesperateLOR]

I have decided that it would be best for me to delay attending grad school. Now I have several questions:

How do I tell the school that I can't go this year without hurting my chance of getting accepted in the future when I reapply to the same program?

Do grad schools keep a history of which faculties you applied to and which ones you were accepted to/rejected from/rejected offer?

If a student rejects an offer and applies to that same program in the future, will the chance of getting accepted be significantly lower? How about if the student applied to the same school but not the same program?

Edited April 17, 2016 by DesperateLOR

[juilletmercredi]

Well, I think it depends on when and how you turn down the offer. Did you already tell them that you can attend next year and are now reneging on that agreement? Then yes, you will hurt your chances of getting accepted in the future; the program is going to wonder why you made that choice, and whether you'd do it again. The only time it wouldn't is if you have some serious issues to deal with - illness, military service, caring for elderly relatives - that weren't apparent issues before.

If you haven't already accepted them this year, then it shouldn't change your prospects in the future too much. You can just send them a short note saying that although they were your first-choice program, you're unfortunately unable to attend graduate school at all this year, and you hope to reapply in the future because you are very excited about the prospect of working with XXX on YYY. You might include the reason if you think it's compelling, but it should be serious.

Some programs do and some programs don't. I would imagine most departments keep a record back a few years (actually - I think FERPA might require them to keep your application on file for 3 years after you apply). Even if they don't, they still might remember your name.

It's impossible to tell, and it probably varies from program to program. Some programs may not care that you rejected the offer especially if it worked out in the end, or if you had a serious reason for not coming.

But applying to the same school but a different program - that won't make a difference. The different program wouldn't even know you applied.

[GradSchoolTruther]

If you flake on a funding offer after April 15, it would probably hurt your chances at that school. It might hurt your chances just turning town a program and reapplying the next year.