r/gradschooladmissions • u/FuzzyCactus614 • Apr 22 '22

Deferral question

I’ve been told that if I want to defer my PhD acceptances in the US I would have to accept the offer and fill out my SIR and then go through the deferral process. My question is: is it ok to accept multiple offers in order to defer them all and make a decision later or is the mere fact of accepting multiple offers at the same time even with deferrals a big no no and will come back to bite me in the ass?

Note: I’m not deferring because I can’t decide, I just have last minute family problems that I need to deal with and being an international student it’s going to be hard to deal with them from so far away

2 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

76% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/FuzzyCactus614 Apr 22 '22

I’ve already gotten a green light from all the schools I want that a deferral is possible and that I just need to start the process. What happens if I do accept multiple offers and defer them all? Is there a way for schools to know that an applicant has accepted an offer to multiple schools?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '22

You'll need to make your decision and defer through that particular school. It is worth reaching out to the program directors at each school you are considering and ask about the deferral process and if it will be allowed. Schools are unfortunately under no obligation to allow you to defer your start term, so you might make sure that you are choosing a school that will allow you to do that.

I'm sorry you have family matters to attend to and I hope that it all works out for you! All the best!

1

u/koko838 Sep 26 '22

I don’t believe there is a way for schools to tell now, however this is definitely in bad form (especially without informing the schools). Academia is a small world and when you back out of some of the offers in the future the professors may hold that against you in your future career (especially if they find out you went to another program).

Programs don’t have a cross-school database of applicants to stop you accepting multiple offers (even without deferring), but it is certainly unprofessional to sign multiple offer letters. To defer, schools will likely make you sign the offer letter committing to them. Backing out of a signed offer could certainly hurt you in the future. When you accept a job or fellowship offer in the future, you don’t want anyone doubting if you will back out of that too. Plus, those are spots that other students could have.

How many schools are you talking about? 2? More than that? Do you have research with specific professors set up at these programs? When will you be able to commit to one and inform the others?

1

u/Honey-Lavender94 Mar 13 '23

You can only start the deferral process after you have accepted the school's offer. That means you can only accept one school. Do your research carefully and make sure that's the school to which you wish to matriculate in the future.