Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

  • This has become our largest and most active forum because the physics GRE is just one aspect of getting accepted into a graduate physics program.
  • There are applications, personal statements, letters of recommendation, visiting schools, anxiety of waiting for acceptances, deciding between schools, finding out where others are going, etc.

Post Reply
TomServo
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:55 pm

Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by TomServo » Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:20 pm

Cuz that's what UT Dallas told me.

kap09c
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 10:59 pm

Re: Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by kap09c » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:51 pm

Decide or else what? They can't retract an offer of PhD admission legally. Are they some how by passing this law with a technicality?

TomServo
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:55 pm

Re: Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by TomServo » Tue Feb 25, 2014 11:01 pm

kap09c wrote:Decide or else what? They can't retract an offer of PhD admission legally. Are they some how by passing this law with a technicality?
This is the wording:

"Our offer to you is in force until March 3, 2014, but we would appreciate learning of your decision as soon as it's final."

I haven't made up my mind yet, I've only heard back from two places so far!

TakeruK
Posts: 941
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 3:05 pm

Re: Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by TakeruK » Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:09 am

As far as I know, there are no laws about retracting offers. I don't want to go into it further to avoid revealing someone else's personal details, but it's definitely possible to retract an offer of admission.

Also, like any offer/contract, they can totally make you an offer and set a deadline for you to decide or the offer is off the table. In this case, the school decided the deadline is March 3 and they are well within their rights to choose that date (or any date).

To TomServo: I think a good idea would be to contact the remaining schools and ask them their approximate timeline on their decisions and let them know that UT Dallas gave you a deadline of March 3. They might be able to get a decision to you by then, or at least say "We'll know by March 5" at which point you can ask UT Dallas for a 3 day extension.

Once you have all your offers though, that should be enough information to decide! Of course, if there are some schools you really want to visit after March 3, then you should also ask UT Dallas to extend their deadline to past your visit! If they absolutely refuse, then maybe it's not so great to attend a place with such unreasonable and inflexible policies!

kap09c
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 10:59 pm

Re: Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by kap09c » Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:10 am

TomServo wrote:
kap09c wrote:Decide or else what? They can't retract an offer of PhD admission legally. Are they some how by passing this law with a technicality?
This is the wording:

"Our offer to you is in force until March 3, 2014, but we would appreciate learning of your decision as soon as it's final."

I haven't made up my mind yet, I've only heard back from two places so far!

Did it come with a financial offer? Youve probably heard of it, but look up the april 15th resolution. That's kinda crappy for them to do, I'd factor that into your decision.

bfollinprm
Posts: 1203
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:44 am

Re: Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by bfollinprm » Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:58 am

They've signed the 4/15 resolution, so I don't know why they'd have sent you this. I'd be hesitant to go there, they don't seem to care about you very much.

TomServo
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:55 pm

Re: Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by TomServo » Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:59 am

kap09c wrote:
TomServo wrote:
kap09c wrote:Decide or else what? They can't retract an offer of PhD admission legally. Are they some how by passing this law with a technicality?
This is the wording:

"Our offer to you is in force until March 3, 2014, but we would appreciate learning of your decision as soon as it's final."

I haven't made up my mind yet, I've only heard back from two places so far!

Did it come with a financial offer? Youve probably heard of it, but look up the april 15th resolution. That's kinda crappy for them to do, I'd factor that into your decision.
It did come with a financial offer for GTA or GRA, and a mention of "competitive" Summer funding.

User avatar
quizivex
Posts: 1031
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:13 am

Re: Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by quizivex » Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:09 am

If they're going to force you to make a decision by March 3 against conventional custom, you could give them a taste of their own medicine by "accepting" the offer and then backing out later if a better one comes along. They can't force you to attend or punish you in any way as far as I know.

ol
Posts: 57
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:07 pm

Re: Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by ol » Wed Feb 26, 2014 9:25 am

UT Dallas signed the Council of Graduate Schools' resolution regarding graduate scholars, fellows, trainees, and assistants. It says:
Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15; earlier deadlines for acceptances of such offers violate the intent of this Resolution.
Since they offered you funding, these are the guidelines both you and they must operate under. You should gently remind of them of this agreement.

astroprof
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:47 pm

Re: Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by astroprof » Wed Feb 26, 2014 9:34 am

I recommend a polite e-mail response with a statement along the lines that you understood that the universal reply date to accept/decline offers of admission and financial support was April 15, as per the Council of Graduate School's April 15 Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees, and Assistants ( http://www.cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution). And, that while you understand the importance of deciding as quickly as possible, you will need time to visit other schools and to consider your options.

These "early response" requests happen every year (and not just in the context of graduate admissions). As has been noted in other threads, graduate applications are reviewed by faculty and the offer letters and e-mails are not always vetted by the administration to verify that they are factually or legally correct. For example, a new faculty member may not be aware of the April 15 resolution if they were not educated in the US, or an older faculty member may have simply forgotten about this resolution since it has been so long since they were involved in the admissions process.

If you continue to get push-back regarding an early decision date, I recommend (1) take this into consideration when making your decision (do you really want to be affiliated with a program that cannot correct its errors?) and (2) notify the Graduate School of that University that one of their departments is not abiding by the April 15 resolution. However, I also should clarify that the April 15th resolution is for graduate schools, not for medical schools, and interdisciplinary programs such as medical physics are sometimes located in the medical school, not the graduate school, so folks in medical physics do sometimes have an earlier reply date than the rest of us.

Finally, even as I abhor hearing of schools playing hardball tactics to get early responses, I do still urge everyone to let departments know as soon as possible if you have decided not to attend (even if you have not made your final decision yet). Although most schools can estimate the percentage of students who will accept their offer, the earlier we can know that we are under (or over) our target class size, the sooner we can let those on the wait list know their fate.

TomServo
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:55 pm

Re: Has anybody else been told they have until March 3 to decide

Post by TomServo » Wed Feb 26, 2014 12:42 pm

Thanks for the replies, especially astroprof.



Post Reply