Does the Apr 15 deadline not apply to U of Toronto/UBC???

[nikeltje]

Hi everyone,

I'm in a bit of a panic right now, and need some advice!

I'm applying to MA programs in East Asian Studies at University of Toronto and University of British Columbia. The good news is I got accepted into U of T's program--I received an email notification less than two weeks after I submitted my application, though I'm sure having done my undergrad in EAS there and knowing quite a few profs had a lot to do with it. The bad news is, they want me to respond with an accept/decline on January 21st!!!

UBC is my first choice (the department is bigger, plus I just want to get out of town), but I emailed the department there and they said their graduate committee isn't meeting until later this week, and likely won't have any decisions or offers of admissions until February.

So yesterday I emailed the program coordinater/secretary to the chair at U of T (quite renown among other EAS students for being quite a bitch), asking if I could possibly get an extension on my decision date, just so I would be able to weigh my options. And this is the response I got:

in fairness to other applicatns, I suggest you send us your decision----

the fact that you admitted that the reaosn why you ahve not sent your

response is because of other applications............I believe you

understand that we can only admit so many applications... and it will be

unfair for others to wait until you decide.

thanks

Now, I don't know exactly the function of this woman in the department, and I don't know if this decision is even up to her. Judging from her response and from my experience with her in the past, she can never be bothered to help out students--so even if it WASN'T up to her, she wouldn't make the slightest effort to find out. There is also a new department chair this year, and I have no idea what he's like--so I'm afraid if I go over her head and ask him directly, it might come off badly.

So I guess my question is, how bad would it look if I DO accept U of T's offer, then change my mind should UBC accept me? I don't want to burn any bridges, and I certainly don't want to make the profs who wrote me reference letters look bad. Also, does accepting an offer from U of T preclude me getting another offer from UBC? I know this issue has been addressed in the forums before, but I'm wondering if anyone has had the same experience with these particular schools?

Also, I haven't really been in touch with my potential supervisor at U of T either, so I don't know how much of a factor that is. I met him once briefly in the fall when one of my old instructors introduced us, and I did send him an email saying that I would like to work with him and intended to put him down as a supervisor on my application, but I never heard from him after that. I'm only assuming that he's willing to work with me because I got accepted, and he's really the only prof in the department that's in the field I'm interested in (pre-modern Japanese lit). I'm also not getting any funding from anywhere, so that's not an issue.

Anyway, sorry for the long-winded post... I'd appreciate any advice you guys can give me!

Thanks =)

[Minnesotan]

Canadian schools do not participate in the agreement most American schools adhere to, regarding the April 15th deadline.

I'm not sure what I would do in this situation. I know I would contact the DGS directly, but if that didn't change anything, who knows?