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BU Medical Sciences
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Unprofessional? Most likely since you've already accepted their offer, but these things happen.
 
Uh oh. I disagree with the people above me. I was taught to never rescind an offer once you've accepted it. It's very unprofessional. But, that's just my two cents, and clearly other people feel otherwise!
 
JustAPhD said:
Unprofessional? Most likely since you've already accepted their offer, but these things happen.
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mellie0 said:
Uh oh. I disagree with the people above me. I was taught to never rescind an offer once you've accepted it. It's very unprofessional. But, that's just my two cents, and clearly other people feel otherwise!
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Hm, it's one thing to accept and matriculate into a program and then backing off, since that's clearly unprofessional. But simply accepting an offer and backing off due to changing circumstances isn't really unprofessional. And it really isn't burning bridges as well.

However, it depends exactly when OP plans to rescind the offer. If it is a few days before (or even just 1-2 weeks before), that is bad. The program needs to know this ASAP so that they can make changes accordingly.
 
It is your time that you will be investing. You will not be doing them or yourself a favor if you end up feeling regret for passing up the better offer the entire time you are there. If it is a good internship they will have plenty of other applicants to offer it to. Accept the internship offer that you will enjoy, have a great summer, and move on.
 
I agree depends on how much notice you are giving them and how difficult it is for them to fill the spot

is this the sort of any-undergrad-will-do sort of position or does it rely on very specific siills (ie it's a wet lab pharm reserach project) or is most of the training on the job?
 
Lawper said:
Hm, it's one thing to accept and matriculate into a program and then backing off, since that's clearly unprofessional. But simply accepting an offer and backing off due to changing circumstances isn't really unprofessional. And it really isn't burning bridges as well.

However, it depends exactly when OP plans to rescind the offer. If it is a few days before (or even just 1-2 weeks before), that is bad. The program needs to know this ASAP so that they can make changes accordingly.
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It's an internship. Not sure why you're using the term matriculating. An internship is a job, and declining the offer after you've already accepted the job is in poor taste and is unprofessional.
That being said, the OP is young and I'm sure this won't be the first time this has happened to the medical school. I wouldn't consider bridges burned.
 
JustAPhD said:
It's an internship. Not sure why you're using the term matriculating. An internship is a job, and declining the offer after you've already accepted the job is in poor taste and is unprofessional.
That being said, the OP is young and I'm sure this won't be the first time this has happened to the medical school. I wouldn't consider bridges burned.
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Too much SDN does that 😛 , but the point is there: OP didn't formally start the job on day 1, so she's not leaving in bad terms. The key thing here is how much time there is between leaving the job and the job start date.
 
If you haven't already started then it's not unprofessional to drop one offer for another. It all matters on how you approach them when you tell them you've elected to go elsewhere. And give them as much notice as possible to find someone else.
 
It's not unprofessional to thank them for the offer, but decline saying the other position is a much better fit for you. Happens all the time with job/internship/whatever offers - everyone understands that other opportunities arise and you should accept the one that's best for you. What would be unprofessional: not showing up on first day
 
supercoolturtles said:
Thanks for the responses! The program starts on May 30th, so if I told them now it's about a 5 week notice. That seems sufficient, right? But I feel bad because they've already matched me to a lab and whatnot.
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It's not unprofessional in the slightest, but if you're going to decline the offer, do it ASAP. 5 weeks is plenty of time, but if you wait til there's only a week or so then that could make them mad.
 
@supercoolturtles Five weeks will be fine. It's not a huge deal, but you have to think like HR. Now because you accepted/then rejected the job they have to go and reopen the position and contact applicants who they've already passed on. Just a hassle.

But I suppose I'll agree to disagree with the above posters. I'll say this though, OP, don't make a habit of doing this. Perhaps for an internship it'll be no big deal, but I can bet you that if you did this with a real job you would definitely come across poorly.

Anyways, best of luck to you!
 
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Pretend this is a date, and you got the date you wanted and are leaving the date you were going to go out with in the dust.

I wouldn't mention the other opportunity, just say "some things came up and I will be unable to go through with XYZ, I apologize for the inconvenience and hope all is well." No need to rub it in the internship's face unless they press you a lot.

supercoolturtles said:
Thanks! Should I mention the better offer or is that unprofessional? Sorry, I've never been in this situation before. 🙁
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I would not call it unprofessional, unless this is a pattern of behavior.

Just thank them for the opportunity, apologize for the hassle, and tell them that your summer plans have changed and you will no longer be able to attend the internship. Leave it vague.

People in entry level positions do this all the time. My lab has hired a couple new grads that bailed last minute- you have to send out so many apps for these things that it not surprising that some people end up getting mutiple offers at different times.
 
IMO this is mildly unprofessional and you will likely not get a job in that particular office again.

That said, the medical school adcom will never hear about this or care about it.
 
I had a similar scenario where I was offered one internship that wanted me to accept/reject the offer by a Friday, but I was hearing from another that Monday. I asked whether I could have a few more days to think it over, but they wanted a decision Friday. I accepted, then the next week when I got the other offer I said something like "thank you very much. I regret to mislead but another opportunity has come up that is closer to home... blah blah"

I asked my dad about it who works in business and he said it's pretty common to be in this scenario and they obviously understand when you do it in a professional way
 
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