<p>Hi guys, I got wait listed at a school and I don't know what to do besides waiting? I think I'll definitely accept an offer from my second most wanted school by Apr. 15th. But if there's a space available for the wait listed school, anyone know how do I turn down the original school, is it possible? Don't the grad programs have a pact or something?</p>
<p>The only "pact" that graduate programs in general have is to notify students of acceptance by April 15. This is not always possible for waitlisted students.</p>
<p>Given your situation, you should notify program #2 that you are waiting to hear from one other program before you accept their offer. Then you should simply wait. As April 15 approaches, if you have not heard from your #1 program, then contact the DGS of the program, and ask if they are accepting anyone from the waitlist. The DGS's reply will then guide your actions.</p>
<p>You should NOT put yourself into a situation where you wish to rescind an acceptance of admission. That is just dishonest, and may alienate future contacts/colleagues. The normative approach is just to be honest with everyone. </p>
<p>Best wishes to you.</p>
<p>thanks a lot prof x, </p>
<p>The #1 program tells me that they'll know if there are openings shortly after Apr 15th. What if it turns out that #1 program has no space for me and I also missed the Apr 15th deadline to accept the offer at the #2 school? That would be a real crappy situation.</p>
<p>I think what Prof X is saying is that you should keep the communication going with both schools. First of all, it's not exactly "close to April 15th" yet. "close" would be April 10th. If you contact the DGS of school #1 again at that time, maybe he'll have answers to more specific questions like where you are on the wait list and how many people they would expect to accept from the wait list. Secondly, if you don't hear from them by April 15th, at least you can ease the situation by letting your school #2 know clearly that, although you'd be happy to attend their school, you would like to attend school #1 if they should accept you. Do this over the phone, with the DGS, not over email, so you can hear their reactions. If they're sympathetic to your situation, then maybe when you "accept their offer" by April 15, they won't be AS offended when you rescind it.</p>
<p>That is not exactly what I said. Let me clarify.</p>
<p>YOU ARE NOT BOUND BY ANY APRIL 15 DEADLINE -- that is the date by which MOST programs agree to NOTIFY applicants of their status (acceptance, etc.).</p>
<p>In your case, program #1 is waiting to find out if any of their top candidates decline, and thus, if they have space to admit you.</p>
<p>Therefore, you tell program #2 that you are DISPOSED TO ACCEPT, BUT CANNOT MAKE YOUR DECISION UNTIL YOU HEAR FROM PROGRAM #1.</p>
<p>Do NOT accept a spot at program #2 until you are ABLE TO DO SO WITHOUT DUPLICITOUSNESS, and WITHOUT ANY POTENTIAL NEED TO RESCIND.</p>
<p>that's not exactly true-- in sciences there's an april 15th deadline to accept an offer and tell all of the other schools that you are not going there. They send out letters showing all of the schools that abide by the agreement.</p>
<p>ec1234,</p>
<p>You are correct. In SOME of the sciences, there is an April 15th agreement. In the humanities and social sciences, the dates are, in general, much looser. </p>
<p>In this thread, however, I am trying to emphasize that one should NOT accept an offer, and then rescind one's acceptance. Just be up front with everyone. This is not a shell game, it is grad school.</p>
<p>wouldn't it be really awkward to tell the #2 school what's going on?</p>
<p>^^^ Mmmm that's what I was thinking too...</p>
<p>If it strikes you as less awkward or insulting, you could tell a little white lie; that you're waiting to hear about financial aid that could sway you decision. That way, it won't sound like you're sure to ditch them if #1 comes through. Also, they might get off their ass about your offer if you're still waiting.</p>
<p>This is not a prom date, folks! No one at your second choice school is going to cry! A grad program does not have feelings!!!</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, we LIKE to hear where you've chosen to go instead. That helps us to know (for administrative benchmarking purposes) which other programs we're competing with.</p>