Declining offers/waitlist placements

[Doctorle]

Hi,
This week I was fortunate enough to be able to make a decision about where to accept an offer from, and therefore I have let places that either accepted, or wait listed me know I will not be going there. Oddly enough they all seem to be sending back the same message: "We're very happy for you...etc. Would you tell us where you have decided to go?"

Why is that such important information for them to know? I also wasn't sure how forthcoming I should be in response. What is that information used for?

I though maybe some of you seasoned forum users might know an answer to this.

Thanks!

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[SomeRandomKid3]

I got this same message when I started turning down schools. I don't know if they are just trying to make conversation or if they are trying to compare themselves to other programs, but I don't think it can hurt to tell them where you are going if they ask you directly.

Really, if they google you're name a few months from now (not like they would, I'm sure they have better things to do), I bet they could figure out where you ended up. My point is, it's not really secret information at this point. Who knows, maybe they have collaborations with the school you did choose. Psychology is a small world, especially when you specialize, there is a very good chance that you will run into some of these POI's that you turned down.

 

[doasisay]

I know in my program, they use this information to help determine who our competition is (and therefore, who we should compare our program to). Not nosiness for the sake of being nosy - they just use it for internal benchmarking studies. Psychology is a small world - and within research interests it's even smaller - so most programs would hear anyway from their friends/collaborators at other schools.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I know in my program, they use this information to help determine who our competition is (and therefore, who we should compare our program to). Not nosiness for the sake of being nosy - they just use it for internal benchmarking studies. Psychology is a small world - and within research interests it's even smaller - so most programs would hear anyway from their friends/collaborators at other schools.

This. Additionally, the POI may just be curious to know where you're going to end up so that perhaps they can look for work coming out of that program in the future.