columbia offer

[AHPhDcandidate]

Hi, I am new to this blog and wonder whether other people with offers from Columbia have been put under the same pressure as I am at the moment. They are making me a fully-funded offer but they want me to confirm that I am committed to them. How can I do that before I have heard from the other places where I applied? I thought that one would have the freedom of accepting or declining an offer until mid-April! Or am I wrong?

Thank you for whatever advice you may be able to give!

[mitzydoodle]

First, congrats! Second, is the offer official or unofficial?

[AHPhDcandidate]

First, congrats! Second, is the offer official or unofficial?

I guess unofficial, it was by phone

[mitzydoodle]

I guess unofficial, it was by phone

My impression is that schools want to be sure that the offers they extend are accepted. So they feel out the situation before formally accepting you. While not official, it sounds like a pretty safe offer. BUT, there is the risk that if you tell them you are holding out for another offer, they waitlist you instead of officially extending the offer. There are tons of threads on this- you should be able to search and find a few. It really is an uncomfortable situation to be in.

Perhaps someone has more insight in Columbia's inner workings and can be more helpful.

[veroordeeld]

I guess unofficial, it was by phone

In that case I don't think you have to worry about committing until you get an official offer from the Dean of GSAS, the only person authorized to admit students. Say it's your first choice, massage their fragile academic egos (They just want their program to have the highest yield, after all). No matter what you say to the faculty, you are not obligated to do anything because the true offer doesn't come from them. You can now, however, use this as leverage and gauge interest in your talented self from the other programs to which you've applied. But, this "advice" comes from someone just as new to this process as anyone else, so don't take it as gospel!

And again, congrats!

[paperclips]

They did this to me last year, too. Their problem is that the GSAS only lets them admit a set number of students, and they aren't allowed to have a waitlist (so they don't want to make an offer unless they know you'll come, because they can't fill your spot with anyone else). It's completely against the protocol that the schools agree to, so you shouldn't feel any guilt about telling them it's your first choice and backing out later (that's what I did, and while I felt a little awkward about it, everyone got over it pretty quickly...).

[RedPotato]

What would make you say no to a fully-funded offer at Columbia? That sounds like an amazing choice.

[alaslesenfants]

On the one hand: from what I understand, not everyone at Columbia gets full funding, so it is quite an accomplishment to have that on the table.

On the other hand: this is your first taste of the way the administration there works; if it is indicative of how they generally operate, it is worth pondering if you would be happy dealing with that for 5-9 years.

In my mind the plus outweighs the minus by far, but only you know how Columbia stacks up against your other programs of interest...

Also, they can't really make you withdraw your other applications or sign a binding agreement at this point, can they?

[veneziana]

Hi, I am new to this blog and wonder whether other people with offers from Columbia have been put under the same pressure as I am at the moment. They are making me a fully-funded offer but they want me to confirm that I am committed to them. How can I do that before I have heard from the other places where I applied? I thought that one would have the freedom of accepting or declining an offer until mid-April! Or am I wrong?

Thank you for whatever advice you may be able to give!

Talk to ONLY the DGS at Columbia about this; not the prof you'll study with; the DGS controls the $ and (if you have not already determined this) find out the specifics of "fully funded" Does this mean tuition? What about living expenses? Does this require teaching, etc... Most importantly, is this offer contingent upon immediate acceptance? Simply inform the DGS that of course you are *very* interested and once you have all the details IN WRITING, you will need a few days to make up your mind. If they won't offer it in writing, then proceed w/caution. This is not to say that the offer isn't legitimate until it is in writing, but rather it isn't binding for COlumbia until it is in writing.

Most programs will announce their decisions in the *very* near future so there is no need to commit to Columbia yet; you'll certainly know well before April 15th whether or not Columbia is your only/best offer.

Also, I think it would be useful to the members of the board if you could supply your area of research (ancient, modern, Islamic, nothing more specific than that)

As to the question posted later in the thread: "why not go there it sounds great" - It may not be the AhPhDcandidate's first choice . . . . I was accepted at Columbia but declined in favor of my first choice.

[paperclips]

What would make you say no to a fully-funded offer at Columbia? That sounds like an amazing choice.

There are lots of reasons one might choose not to go to Columbia. Columbia is strong in some fields, but weaker in some, including my sub-field. It’s also a large program, and several of the professors are known for not caring much about their students (and this is often reflected in the students’ work – I had several professors at other schools warn me that the quality of many students’ work there was sub-par, and that it was clear that their advisors had not read their work carefully). In a smaller program, you will get much more individual attention. It completely depends on what environment suits you best – as long as you’re choosing between top tier schools, the name matters less than the quality of work you produce.

[unibuster]

This is horrible! Do other top-tier schools do the same? I think that I have pretty good chances of being accepted at a couple of places that are supposed to announce results soon but I will not want to commit until I hear from one place that is notoriously slow...

They did this to me last year, too. Their problem is that the GSAS only lets them admit a set number of students, and they aren't allowed to have a waitlist (so they don't want to make an offer unless they know you'll come, because they can't fill your spot with anyone else). It's completely against the protocol that the schools agree to, so you shouldn't feel any guilt about telling them it's your first choice and backing out later (that's what I did, and while I felt a little awkward about it, everyone got over it pretty quickly...).

[unibuster]

Does this issue of sub-par work due to professorial neglect apply to other large programs such as Yale, the IFA and Harvard?

There are lots of reasons one might choose not to go to Columbia. Columbia is strong in some fields, but weaker in some, including my sub-field. It’s also a large program, and several of the professors are known for not caring much about their students (and this is often reflected in the students’ work – I had several professors at other schools warn me that the quality of many students’ work there was sub-par, and that it was clear that their advisors had not read their work carefully). In a smaller program, you will get much more individual attention. It completely depends on what environment suits you best – as long as you’re choosing between top tier schools, the name matters less than the quality of work you produce.

[veneziana]

This is horrible! Do other top-tier schools do the same? I think that I have pretty good chances of being accepted at a couple of places that are supposed to announce results soon but I will not want to commit until I hear from one place that is notoriously slow...

It depends on the school and on whether or not you are applying at the MA or PhD level. It is much more common at those schools that accept a larger # of students (Columbia, NYU).

Other schools (i.e., Princeton, Harvard) regularly admit less than 10 students and the funding is established from the outset; and if the candidate turns it down it may (or may not) go to someone on a waitlist.

[aar5h]

Hi, I am new to this blog and wonder whether other people with offers from Columbia have been put under the same pressure as I am at the moment. They are making me a fully-funded offer but they want me to confirm that I am committed to them. How can I do that before I have heard from the other places where I applied? I thought that one would have the freedom of accepting or declining an offer until mid-April! Or am I wrong?

Thank you for whatever advice you may be able to give!

hi there,

congratulations on your acceptance! that's really amazing. i just was wondering, when did you hear from them? in what form? and if you don't mind (perhaps this is rude but i'm just really curious), where did you go to undergrad and what are your stats? (gre, gpa, etc). also -- what's your concentration?

thanks so much! i really do appreciate it. columbia's one of my top choices and i'm trying to gauge if i might possibly have a chance of being let in.

peace!