Violates the Council of Graduate Schools Resolution

[drizzleB]

Hi everyone,

I have been in a situation which violates the Resolution of CGS and I am seeking advice.

I had received the official admission offer (an offer of financial support) letter from X University. The PhD coordinator of X University had continuously contacted me asking for a definite answer to the offer. The coordinator also pressured me for an answer by informing the  situation of the wait-listed student right behind me and asked me to disclose which school's result I was waiting for (by giving him the exact school name). When I told the coordinator that I was waiting for another school's results and asked him to give me a little more time to decide, he pressured on me by saying "It is unfair to give you more time. You would choose the Y University over X University if you get an offer there". The coordinator told me that he would withdraw my offer.

I realized this is wrong and contacted to the department chair and the director of X University but they only told me that the offer is still valid as they have to follow the school's rules but asked me to go to another school. 

X University is one of the CGS member institutions that indicated its support of the Resolution.

"Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15; Earlier deadlines for acceptance of such offers violate the intent of this Resolution."

However, my right to decide until April 15th was deprived. I had been pressured to respond to the offer continuously and was told that my admission offer was no longer available even though I have no reason to be disqualified. In addition, I was forced to give up the offer by myself even though the offer is valid now and X University did not even apologize for this situation.

What should I do?..

I would appreciate any suggestions or advice regarding this matter, thank you!

 

Edited April 5, 2017 by drizzleB

[TakeruK]

Sorry to hear about this situation. I think the PhD Coordinator of X University acted poorly in this case and that would be a huge red flag. 

However, the CGS resolution is not legally binding and there are no consequences for breaking it. So, unfortunately, there isn't much you can do. In my opinion, when Universities behave poorly like this, the best we can do is "name and shame" so that others know about this bad behaviour. But you will have to be careful about how you to do it so that it doesn't reflect poorly on you or make you liable to libel lawsuits. It might be best to wait until you are more established in your career to do something about it.

For more immediate advice, here's what you should do: 

1. Don't reply to X University any further. 

2. Wait and see what other results you get (perhaps Y University). If you get an offer from another school that is equal to X University or better, then take it. Breathe a sigh of relief that you escaped the terrible situation at X University. Imagine if you had accepted X University earlier on and not realise the people you would be working with!

3. If X University is your only offer in the end, you have a tough decision to make. As the Dept Chair and Director says, the offer is still valid because the school doesn't let them withdraw offers, but if you take it anyways, you are going to be fighting with them the entire time. But at the same time, that admission spot is your right---you've earned it. I would only considering taking the spot if you are able to contact professors in the department and have them on your side. Otherwise, I'm not sure it's worth the fight.

In the future, you could write to the CGS to let them know what happened. I'm not sure if anything is actually done, but it could be worth letting people know. You could also write to the Graduate School or other administrative bodies higher up than the Department at X University to let them know. You can write to faculty in that department to let them know. You could write to students, postdocs, staff etc. to let them know. 

However, doing any of this comes at a risk to you! You're new to the field and being public about this can hurt you. So, you might wait until you are more established and have more protections before you tell your story of what happened at this school. It's up to you.

[Neurotic_Jay]

I second the "name and shame" solution, but as TakeruK mentioned, it's important to maintain total anonymity (or some other ways to protect yourself). Writing to CGS would also be a good solution. Although the university is not legally bounded to follow the 4/15 rules, I'm guessing CGS wouldn't be happy about their behavior.

 

IMO Anonymity is the key. If you choose to disclose this situation to anyone (by the way, sorry to hear about this situation! It's awful.), use a non-identifiable email account and disclose as little personal info as possible.