So I’m accepted by the Linguistics departments at Schools A, B, and C. Great! I sit back and wait to hear from them about financial offers. School B gets back to me first, with a pretty decent offer. School C comes second, with an equivalent one. School A, my first choice, is taking its sweet time, dangling the possibility of a much better financial situation in front of my nose all the while. I wait some more.
Then I start getting emails from School B: “We need to hear from you: yes or no?” “Where’s your answer?” “Our deadline’s approaching.” Yesterday I get a phone call to the same effect, reminding me kindly that the deadline for accepting or declining the fellowship is Monday. (Monday? Come on!) Still no answer from School A.
I am very angry at School B. Very angry indeed. So much so that I would like to call them up and scream, and then maybe do it again six or seven or eight times. I like the department just a little bit better than the one at School C, so if I don’t get enough money from School A, I’d like to end up there. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to accept an offer from them before I know for sure one way or the other about my first choice. Unless I hear from School A sometime today or early Monday, School B is basically forcing me to turn them down! :mad:
Somebody please tell me I’ve got something wrong about the protocol for this type of situation–it all seems so stupid.
I though the general date for accepting/declining admissions is April 15? I realize this isn’t set in stone, but most schools seem to follow this. Anyway, you may want to contact School A today or Monday and see when they were planning to let you know. While March 22 seems a little early to force a decision, it is also REALLY FREAKING late for School A to be letting you know.
I really, really hate when schools treat prospective students with so little consideration. Have you tried telling School B the truth, that finances are a large part of your decision and you’re waiting to hear what all your options are? Likewise, have you tried calling School A and telling them something similar, adding that you’re worried that some of your options may vanish if they don’t get their ass in gear?
– Dragonblink, Linguistics/French double major and soon to be entering USC’s Linguistics PhD program
Not written in stone but the guidelines of the Council of Graduate Schools states that students should have until April 15th to decide. Of course, this is not law but most places abide by this and would likely run into flak from the discipline if they don’t…
http://www.cgsnet.org/PublicationsPolicyRes/resolutions.htm
Triton and Dragonblink: Yeah, I’ve been trying to stay in contact with the departments at all three schools and I’ve mentioned how important money’s going to be for my decision. The problem on School A’s end seems to be that the graduate school won’t tell the department exactly how much money they’ve got to dole out. It’s a pain, but I can at least understand how they’d be reluctant to make any hard and fast commitments. Hopefully after my last email School B’ll back off a little. If not, spudbucket’s post at least gives me something to throw at them. Thanks for that.