Fellowship Offers

[kyril]

Hello All!

I have a question -- I have been offered a fellowship, which is awesome, great, amazing, and when I thanked the representative who offered me the fellowship, and said i'd be able to get back to them in a week or so (one of my other top top programs hasn't gotten back to people yet, and i do feel i have a real chance there, and they fund well). the rep. seemed a little shocked that i didn't accept the offer immediately. i have 2 questions A) is it okay to take a bit more time to wait for my other schools? i will obviously make my decision as soon as possible. and B) can they somehow rescind that fellowship since i didn't accept on the phone immediately, or do the APA rules for acceptance also hold true for financial aid??

thanks so much!

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[cogsciapp]

Hello All!

I have a question -- I have been offered a fellowship, which is awesome, great, amazing, and when I thanked the representative who offered me the fellowship, and said i'd be able to get back to them in a week or so (one of my other top top programs hasn't gotten back to people yet, and i do feel i have a real chance there, and they fund well). the rep. seemed a little shocked that i didn't accept the offer immediately. i have 2 questions A) is it okay to take a bit more time to wait for my other schools? i will obviously make my decision as soon as possible. and B) can they somehow rescind that fellowship since i didn't accept on the phone immediately, or do the APA rules for acceptance also hold true for financial aid??

thanks so much!

I'm not certain about this, but I don't think funding offers are likely to be taken away once offered officially. My guess is that they were a bit surprised that you did not accept right away, but in the end, are hopefully understanding that you need more time to make these decisions. I know that when I was originally being considered for a fellowship, I was told that if someone does not accept the offer for admission, then the department loses that funding all together because it came from the university, so they wanted to be very sure that I would accept should I be nominated for the fellowship. They may have been counting on your immediate acceptance, thus the shock.

 

[irish80122]

I am not positive but I think the normal rules apply, you shouldn't have to decide right away! Anyway, if they did rescind the fellowship, would you want to go to that school? Just food for thought, but I think you are fine waiting to see your other options.

 

[kyril]

I'm not certain about this, but I don't think funding offers are likely to be taken away once offered officially. My guess is that they were a bit surprised that you did not accept right away, but in the end, are hopefully understanding that you need more time to make these decisions. I know that when I was originally being considered for a fellowship, I was told that if someone does not accept the offer for admission, then the department loses that funding all together because it came from the university, so they wanted to be very sure that I would accept should I be nominated for the fellowship. They may have been counting on your immediate acceptance, thus the shock.

I can see that -- and it is one of my top two -- it was my top choice at interview, but an interview at another school reallly blew me away -- better facilities, amazing connection with my POI, opportunity to do the kind of work I want (and they fund too). this program also has amazing research opps, really and truly outstanding, but possibly poorer clinical opps. the fellowship school is more focused, and may be better for long term career prospects, but my other top choice is also great, great rep, and a bit more balanced in terms of clinical/research. it's just such a tough call and i feel like i need that acceptance (or rejection) from the other school to know for sure. i do feel bad not accepting immediately, since i know there are only 1 or 2 of these, but then again i've worked so hard to get to this place, I want to make a somewhat measured decision.

on the alumni updates page of fellowship school, some alumnae have listed thier emails. thoughts on emailing one or two and asking for thier feedback on thier clinical training? it's the thing the school i'm waiting on seems to do somewhat better than the other. or would that be wierd?

thanks so much. all of my friends are artists and i am a non-trad, and my mentor is strictly research, so i don't have any folks offline i can bounce these ideas off off that know where i'm coming from!

 

[Psyched77]

I got a fellowship offer too & felt under pressure to accept. However, I took more than a month (EARLY offer), & ultimately, they were very understanding.

I'm not under the impression that they can arbitrarily alter the terms of the offer after it's been presented to you. (Think: job offer)

I think you should contact a few of the alumni; I can't think of any reason that would be frowned upon. Surely the school (if they got wind of it) could objectively see that you are making a careful decision. Your attention to detail is certainly part of what made you a top applicant, so how could they condemn that now?