Simma Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Hi. I am an applicant this year, and I have a question regarding the admissions process. I am wondering if there is any possibility that declining an offer from a school might leave a negative impression of me on the faculty at that school. I know that this would be the case if I, for example, receive an offer in late January and hold it all the way until early April before I finally decide not to go. What I want to know is whether declining an offer can still be harmful if I notify the school promptly (e.g., within a week after receiving the offer). Thank you, and hope you all enjoy your New Year's Eve! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tm_associate Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Declining quickly is much more preferred over holding it all the way until April. If you know for sure that you do not want to attend a particular program that has given you the offer, let them know ASAP. This way, they can move on and start recruiting the next applicant. Although schools may be curious as to why you are declining their offer, this is much better than leading them on until April, when the other candidates on their shortlists may have already accepted offers from different schools, but would have came to theirs. In addition, if you have applications pending at other schools and you have not heard back from them, but you have decided that you have an offer from a school that you would for sure choose over them already, then also email the phd coordinator and 'withdraw' your application. This way, they do not invest more time into deciding whether they should give you an offer or not. All being said, you need to put yourself in the department's shoes... The faculty on committees invest their time and energy into the process. They would like to recruit the best candidates that have applied. By holding on to an offer when you already have decided that you would not go to their school, this diminishes their own ability to pursue a different candidate. Best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simma Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 tm_associate, Thank you for your quick and friendly answer. I am afraid, however, that my question was not about holding an offer all the way until April. I was asking about holding an offer just for a relatively short period of time (e.g., one week) and then declining. I was wondering if it might upset the committee members of the school I rejected and make them develop a bad impression of me. I am an international, so my point might not have been very clear on my initial post. Or what if I withdraw early from a school? Would it hurt their impression of me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accgirl Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Hi Simma, No, none of those things would leave a bad impression on the school or the committee members. In fact, I did the same and accepted my offer after two weeks. I made sure to stay in touch with the Phd coordinator and conveyed my reasons for waiting to accept. Frankly, I have never heard of anyone who accepted asap, unless it's an offer in April. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XanthusARES Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 No hard feelings from declining too soon. It's a much better situation for the school and as long as you decline with good reasoning you'll be fine. When I withdrew my applications I simply wrote to the coordinator and said that I had accepted an offer and would no longer like to be considered for admission. More than half of the schools I emailed sent out congratulatory emails back and told me to stay in touch (which I did). When I'm on the market in a year, we'll see if they really did have any hard feelings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simma Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 Accgirl and Xanthus, Thank you for your answers. I knew that there exist some cultural differences between the U.S. and my country, so I wanted to check. Again, thank you for the answers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accgirl Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 No problem, Simma. I see that you are an Accounting applicant, good luck with everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pqhai Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Hi Urch fellows. This thread is old but I would like to bring it back. I think my applying season is almost done. I have some offers and would like to decline some this week. I really don't want to keep all offers until Apr 15. Some universities contacted me to get updates. I was straightforward about all my offers and said that I would decide quickly after I have all options. I feel not very good as in all the interviews I always mentioned that those universities are my top choices and Profs seemed to appreciate. (That's why they gave me offers!??). But now I will decline their offers. When I responded to universities to update my offers status, some Profs seem to appreciate (and congrats me) but some really don't. As the world of academia in the business field is pretty small, I was wondering whether there is an issue if I meet them again in a conference or on the job market later? I'm not sure if I overthink or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaSvoboden Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Telling them that they were top choice was a mistake. That is the only real problem here. Business academia is small and some people will probably be bothered by you lying. That said, you are here now. Write to the programs. Thank them for the time that they spent with you and explain that you have received dominating offers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pqhai Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Thanks YaS! Your advice really helps as always. Back to my situation, I said they are my top choices in the interviews because at the time I did my interviews I didn’t have any offers in hands. I would never think I have more than two offers. But PhD Admissions are more random than I expected. As choosing a university to do my PhD is a big decision and there are many factors (research Profile of universities, Profs, stipend, location, etc) we need to consider, I wanted to have all possible options before making a final decision. But it seems not to be a good strategy in the long run. Yes, I think I should decline politely and quickly. It will help others in the waitlist. Any other thoughts are very welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsenot Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 You learned not to lie which is a good thing. Given you did best thing now is to decline now quickly. Doubt anyone will remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XanthusARES Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 YaS's advice is right on. For future applicants only tell a school that they are your top choice if they really are. Then only tell one school that. You are likely correct that you received some offers because schools thought you would go there. At this point, though, it is what it is. Just politely email thanking them for their time and consideration and tell them you've chosen somewhere else. Don't worry about the impression you made at this point, there is nothing that you can do now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pqhai Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) Thanks Xanthus and elsenot! For more update, I had some chats yesterday to those universities. I was open and the Profs also gave me their advice how to choose the school that fits me best. They said the same that unless I were too rude and declined the offers unpolitely, they would not remember me after one year. After some careful consideration, I declined some offers that I’m sure I won’t go and emailed to those Profs about my decision. The Profs emailed me back, said thanks and good luck to me. Now I feel a lot better. Edited March 11, 2018 by pqhai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.