Hi all,

Received a formal offer from a Uni to study a PhD starting October 2018.

They have given me ONE MONTH to accept or decline the offer. If I do nothing the offer will "lapse".

What committment am I making if I accept now? I have read the terms and conditions which seem to say that the offer is "pre-enrollment" and will guarantee me a place.

There is no mention of any financial committment attached to accepting the offer - but might there be a catch?

I am happy to accept the offer within the one month time scale - but I don't want to committ financially at this stage as I have other offers in the pipeline - so may want to change my mind if I receive a formal offer from elsewhere - and in any event there are 10 months to go before I will start studying anywhere...

N

Hi Nige,

I'm writing from Australia, so things may be slightly different here, but I would think that you could accept this offer and then if something better came along, withdraw if needed without academic or financial penalties applying. These would only apply perhaps (if at all) if you withdrew after actually commencing and making progress in the course next year (even then I'm not sure that they would).

My perspective would be to consider it and if you have no other offers before the month is up, accept it. You can always decline or withdraw your application/acceptance later down the track if other offers are made or if you have made other plans.

Hi Piju

I have asked if they can extend the one month as I am considering other offers.

I was also concerned that the offer letter mentioned only a "Director of Studies" and when I looked at that person's profile saw that he was not a Dr himself - is that usual?

No mention of who my supervisor(s) would be...and should I be expecting a Dr as my supervisor - ie: someone who has undertaken a PhD themself?

And also,no mention of the fees - it simply said something along the lines that the fees were yet to be announced.

So, IMHO I have been made an offer without really knowing what I am being offered!!

N

The Director of Studies sounds like an administrative staff member whose role is to process and make decisions about students, etc. The decision may have been made by a panel or group including academics, or it may have been made by this person who has been given the authority to make these decisions on behalf of the research dean (or head). This person would not be your supervisor. That person/s will be appointed presumably once you have accepted your offer and would be an academic who has some research interests or form of experience that might match up with your application.

It sounds like a good idea to be cautious and you ultimately need to do what is right for you in your circumstances. However, I don't think that the university would be doing anything untoward (either financially or with regard to study, supervision and starting time) and would imagine that this is a genuine offer.

Universities who have large numbers of PhD and Masters students applying to study every year have to have these sorts of processes to manage their student enrolments. They do not really process each enrolment on a personal level (in my experience). The personal element comes later once you have a supervisor and begin to develop a formal relationship with this person.

Hi, bignige,

I think the offer by the uni is genuine. However, you may wish to clarify with them who your supervisor will be. Where I did my Phd, we already have a PhD supervisor when we apply for admission. We normally check if the supervisor had supervised before (plenty of horror stories of first time supervisors on the web) and if the students publish good papers. In fact, your supervisor is key to your PhD success. Therefore, it is important you get this info before deciding.

Additionally, ask them about scholarship or allowance. Having a scholarship will increase your competitiveness when you finish your PhD. Self-funding is not ideal as there is no guarantee that you will get a good job after you finish your PhD (again, plenty of stories on the web). So try to minimalise your risk and debts.

Get all the right info before making your decision. If you truly run out of time, acccept first, and you can withdraw later. This is not ideal as you are denying someone their spot and you can leave a bad aftertaste with your supervisor and uni, making it difficult to collaborate in future. So only do this when you run out of options.

Thanks tru.

I have asked for an extension of time. I have an interview today with another Uni.

N