Consequences?

9 17

Posted Apr 25, 2009 03:36

General question for all:

What are the consequences of having accepted for a LLM at one school, but then declining to attend another? Will the schools contact each other? Any repercussions? Anyone with bad experiences here?

quote

wolla

50 100

Posted Apr 25, 2009 13:01

General question for all:

What are the consequences of having accepted for a LLM at one school, but then declining to attend another? Will the schools contact each other? Any repercussions? Anyone with bad experiences here?

Are you talking about the schools' initial acceptance of your application, or when you have accepted their offer?

In the case of the former, it is really not a problem. I guess the vast majority of the members of this board have received more than one offer of admission and thus have been forced to decline at least one offer.

Even in the case of the latter, it is generally no problem at all. Typically, you will "just" lose your deposit.

However, certain schools, e.g. UChicago, has a rather strict policy and - pursuant to previous communication to accepted students - they will contact your current employer (if applicable) and everyone else they can think of, and inform them that you are a "bad" person (seriously, I thought it was a joke when I first read it).

Consequently, while it shouldn't be a problem, I would advise you to go through all materials received from the school in question and check its homepage.

<blockquote>General question for all:

What are the consequences of having accepted for a LLM at one school, but then declining to attend another? Will the schools contact each other? Any repercussions? Anyone with bad experiences here? </blockquote>

Are you talking about the schools' initial acceptance of your application, or when you have accepted their offer?

In the case of the former, it is really not a problem. I guess the vast majority of the members of this board have received more than one offer of admission and thus have been forced to decline at least one offer.

Even in the case of the latter, it is generally no problem at all. Typically, you will "just" lose your deposit.

However, certain schools, e.g. UChicago, has a rather strict policy and - pursuant to previous communication to accepted students - they will contact your current employer (if applicable) and everyone else they can think of, and inform them that you are a "bad" person (seriously, I thought it was a joke when I first read it).

Consequently, while it shouldn't be a problem, I would advise you to go through all materials received from the school in question and check its homepage.

quote

rhygin

3 5

Posted Apr 25, 2009 16:58

waitinggame you got accepted into the Legal Theory program at NYU?

Thanks for the info, Im still waiting a decision!!

Good luck

quote

Ruleoflaw

63 125

Posted Apr 25, 2009 17:41

@ waitinggame, this is something that even I wish to know! But frankly I don't think that it would have any serious repercussions. I had not applied to Chicago anyway :D

quote

thewaiting...

9 17

Posted Apr 25, 2009 19:49

waitinggame you got accepted into the Legal Theory program at NYU?

Thanks for the info, Im still waiting a decision!!

Good luck

Hi,

Haven't heard anything from NYU yet. However, I had to submit my acceptance for an offer from another school by their deadline a week or so ago. Just wondering what would happen if I revoked my "yes".

Do you know if anyone else has heard back about the Legal Theory LLM?

<blockquote>waitinggame you got accepted into the Legal Theory program at NYU?

Thanks for the info, Im still waiting a decision!!

Good luck</blockquote>

Hi,

Haven't heard anything from NYU yet. However, I had to submit my acceptance for an offer from another school by their deadline a week or so ago. Just wondering what would happen if I revoked my "yes".

Do you know if anyone else has heard back about the Legal Theory LLM?

quote

natassja

9 18

Posted Apr 25, 2009 20:07

However, certain schools, e.g. UChicago, has a rather strict policy and - pursuant to previous communication to accepted students - they will contact your current employer (if applicable) and everyone else they can think of, and inform them that you are a "bad" person (seriously, I thought it was a joke when I first read it).
.

Where is that stated? The only thing is that if you have accepted their offer, you have to give them a very good explanation of why you will not enrol the program.

However, I believe that in most law schools, if you reject their offer after having accepted it, you could have problems, especially if you have tell them that you will definitely enrol the program or if it is after May, because you will affect their plans: in such cases, you could expect problems (for example if you take the Bar)

Another scenario is if you have accepted an scholarship; then, you cant reject the offer, at least no because you want to enrol another program (a good motive could be a disease or that you have money problems and you will have to stay in your country)

<blockquote>However, certain schools, e.g. UChicago, has a rather strict policy and - pursuant to previous communication to accepted students - they will contact your current employer (if applicable) and everyone else they can think of, and inform them that you are a "bad" person (seriously, I thought it was a joke when I first read it).
.</blockquote>

Where is that stated? The only thing is that if you have accepted their offer, you have to give them a very good explanation of why you will not enrol the program.

However, I believe that in most law schools, if you reject their offer after having accepted it, you could have problems, especially if you have tell them that you will definitely enrol the program or if it is after May, because you will affect their plans: in such cases, you could expect problems (for example if you take the Bar)

Another scenario is if you have accepted an scholarship; then, you cant reject the offer, at least no because you want to enrol another program (a good motive could be a disease or that you have money problems and you will have to stay in your country)

quote

rbp

31 62

Posted Apr 25, 2009 20:37

Whether you will have a problem or not will depend on whether you followed the instructions associated with accepting the offer. If the offer simply says that you have to send in a deposit, then you only lose your deposit. If the offer, like the one from NYU, says that you have to withdraw your application from all other schools, then you must do so and will be in serious trouble if you don't. So, for example, I accepted NYU's offer of admission. I only applied to NYU so I didn't have to withdraw from any other school.

If something now came up where I couldn't attend, I could explain this to NYU without any repercussions because they didn't ask me to predict the future; they only asked me to withdraw all other applications and send in a deposit which is what I did.

It's not about whether you attend or not. It's whether you followed the directions, and the reason why you can't attend. If you sincerely meant to attend when you accepted their offer, and you followed all of their instructions, then you're fine. It's as simple as that.

rbp

quote

doyouresea...

15 29

Posted Apr 25, 2009 20:49

Even in the case of the latter, it is generally no problem at all. Typically, you will "just" lose your deposit. However, certain schools, e.g. UChicago, has a rather strict policy and - pursuant to previous communication to accepted students - they will contact your current employer (if applicable) and everyone else they can think of, and inform them that you are a "bad" person (seriously, I thought it was a joke when I first read it).

Whether you will have a problem or not will depend on whether you followed the instructions associated with accepting the offer. If the offer simply says that you have to send in a deposit, then you only lose your deposit. If the offer, like the one from NYU, says that you have to withdraw your application from all other schools, then you must do so and will be in serious trouble if you don't. So, for example, I accepted NYU's offer of admission. I only applied to NYU so I didn't have to withdraw from any other school.

I can't verify either account above, but if either is true, then I'm surprised that schools that engage in such a practice haven't themselves gotten a bad rep - if they, like all other LLM institutions expect wait-listed students to be at their beck and call and be admitted at the last minute when their first choice candidate rejects them for a place somewhere else, then it seems kind of hypocritical to turn around and refuse to understand if a student decides to withdraw an acceptance when he/she gets an offer from a better school. The only fair exception that I can think of is scholarships - if you take the school's funding, it's only fair that you attend if you accepted the offer. Otherwise, I think the method of accepting rejections thereafter without these unnecessary and quite unfrankly unbecoming threats and hints-of-reprecussions (that I believe is employed by a large majority of the schools which appreciates the difficulties that candidates may have in choosing institutions) seems like a much classier way to handle the matter than what the above posts suggests that some of these institutions do. Of course, since I've never been in this situation before (thank god!), I stand corrected if the contents of the posts above aren't true or if I've misunderstood them.

<blockquote> Even in the case of the latter, it is generally no problem at all. Typically, you will "just" lose your deposit. However, certain schools, e.g. UChicago, has a rather strict policy and - pursuant to previous communication to accepted students - they will contact your current employer (if applicable) and everyone else they can think of, and inform them that you are a "bad" person (seriously, I thought it was a joke when I first read it). </blockquote>

<blockquote>Whether you will have a problem or not will depend on whether you followed the instructions associated with accepting the offer. If the offer simply says that you have to send in a deposit, then you only lose your deposit. If the offer, like the one from NYU, says that you have to withdraw your application from all other schools, then you must do so and will be in serious trouble if you don't. So, for example, I accepted NYU's offer of admission. I only applied to NYU so I didn't have to withdraw from any other school. </blockquote>

I can't verify either account above, but if either is true, then I'm surprised that schools that engage in such a practice haven't themselves gotten a bad rep - if they, like all other LLM institutions expect wait-listed students to be at their beck and call and be admitted at the last minute when their first choice candidate rejects them for a place somewhere else, then it seems kind of hypocritical to turn around and refuse to understand if a student decides to withdraw an acceptance when he/she gets an offer from a better school. The only fair exception that I can think of is scholarships - if you take the school's funding, it's only fair that you attend if you accepted the offer. Otherwise, I think the method of accepting rejections thereafter without these unnecessary and quite unfrankly unbecoming threats and hints-of-reprecussions (that I believe is employed by a large majority of the schools which appreciates the difficulties that candidates may have in choosing institutions) seems like a much classier way to handle the matter than what the above posts suggests that some of these institutions do. Of course, since I've never been in this situation before (thank god!), I stand corrected if the contents of the posts above aren't true or if I've misunderstood them.

quote

doyouresea...

15 29

Posted Apr 25, 2009 22:21

Even in the case of the latter, it is generally no problem at all. Typically, you will "just" lose your deposit. However, certain schools, e.g. UChicago, has a rather strict policy and - pursuant to previous communication to accepted students - they will contact your current employer (if applicable) and everyone else they can think of, and inform them that you are a "bad" person (seriously, I thought it was a joke when I first read it).

Whether you will have a problem or not will depend on whether you followed the instructions associated with accepting the offer. If the offer simply says that you have to send in a deposit, then you only lose your deposit. If the offer, like the one from NYU, says that you have to withdraw your application from all other schools, then you must do so and will be in serious trouble if you don't. So, for example, I accepted NYU's offer of admission. I only applied to NYU so I didn't have to withdraw from any other school.

I can't verify either account above, but if either is true, then I'm surprised that schools that engage in such a practice haven't themselves gotten a bad rep - if they, like all other LLM institutions expect wait-listed students to be at their beck and call and be admitted at the last minute when their first choice candidate rejects them for a place somewhere else, then it seems kind of hypocritical to turn around and refuse to understand if a student decides to withdraw an acceptance when he/she gets an offer from a better school. The only fair exception that I can think of is scholarships - if you take the school's funding, it's only fair that you attend if you accepted the offer. Otherwise, I think the method of accepting rejections thereafter without these unnecessary and quite frankly unbecoming threats and hints-of-reprecussions (that thankfully is not employed by a large majority of the schools, schools that presumably appreciates the difficulties that candidates may have in choosing institutions) seems like a much classier way to handle the matter than what the above posts suggests that some of these institutions do. Of course, since I've never been in this situation before (thank god!), I stand corrected if the contents of the posts above aren't true or if I've misunderstood them.

<blockquote>Even in the case of the latter, it is generally no problem at all. Typically, you will "just" lose your deposit. However, certain schools, e.g. UChicago, has a rather strict policy and - pursuant to previous communication to accepted students - they will contact your current employer (if applicable) and everyone else they can think of, and inform them that you are a "bad" person (seriously, I thought it was a joke when I first read it). </blockquote>

<blockquote>Whether you will have a problem or not will depend on whether you followed the instructions associated with accepting the offer. If the offer simply says that you have to send in a deposit, then you only lose your deposit. If the offer, like the one from NYU, says that you have to withdraw your application from all other schools, then you must do so and will be in serious trouble if you don't. So, for example, I accepted NYU's offer of admission. I only applied to NYU so I didn't have to withdraw from any other school. </blockquote>

I can't verify either account above, but if either is true, then I'm surprised that schools that engage in such a practice haven't themselves gotten a bad rep - if they, like all other LLM institutions expect wait-listed students to be at their beck and call and be admitted at the last minute when their first choice candidate rejects them for a place somewhere else, then it seems kind of hypocritical to turn around and refuse to understand if a student decides to withdraw an acceptance when he/she gets an offer from a better school. The only fair exception that I can think of is scholarships - if you take the school's funding, it's only fair that you attend if you accepted the offer. Otherwise, I think the method of accepting rejections thereafter without these unnecessary and quite frankly unbecoming threats and hints-of-reprecussions (that thankfully is not employed by a large majority of the schools, schools that presumably appreciates the difficulties that candidates may have in choosing institutions) seems like a much classier way to handle the matter than what the above posts suggests that some of these institutions do. Of course, since I've never been in this situation before (thank god!), I stand corrected if the contents of the posts above aren't true or if I've misunderstood them.

quote

wolla

50 100

Posted Apr 25, 2009 23:43

However, certain schools, e.g. UChicago, has a rather strict policy and - pursuant to previous communication to accepted students - they will contact your current employer (if applicable) and everyone else they can think of, and inform them that you are a "bad" person (seriously, I thought it was a joke when I first read it).
.

Where is that stated? The only thing is that if you have accepted their offer, you have to give them a very good explanation of why you will not enrol the program.

However, I believe that in most law schools, if you reject their offer after having accepted it, you could have problems, especially if you have tell them that you will definitely enrol the program or if it is after May, because you will affect their plans: in such cases, you could expect problems (for example if you take the Bar)

Another scenario is if you have accepted an scholarship; then, you cant reject the offer, at least no because you want to enrol another program (a good motive could be a disease or that you have money problems and you will have to stay in your country)

If you were accepted at Uchicago, you will have received the email in question.

<blockquote><blockquote>However, certain schools, e.g. UChicago, has a rather strict policy and - pursuant to previous communication to accepted students - they will contact your current employer (if applicable) and everyone else they can think of, and inform them that you are a "bad" person (seriously, I thought it was a joke when I first read it).
.</blockquote>

Where is that stated? The only thing is that if you have accepted their offer, you have to give them a very good explanation of why you will not enrol the program.

However, I believe that in most law schools, if you reject their offer after having accepted it, you could have problems, especially if you have tell them that you will definitely enrol the program or if it is after May, because you will affect their plans: in such cases, you could expect problems (for example if you take the Bar)

Another scenario is if you have accepted an scholarship; then, you cant reject the offer, at least no because you want to enrol another program (a good motive could be a disease or that you have money problems and you will have to stay in your country)

</blockquote>

If you were accepted at Uchicago, you will have received the email in question.

quote

natassja

9 18

Posted Apr 26, 2009 01:43

quote

natassja

9 18

Posted Apr 26, 2009 01:45

If you were accepted at Uchicago, you will have received the email in question.

Wolla: the closest thing that I found was that: "... Each year several admitted applicants ask me how many people will be in the LL.M. Program from their country. Obviously we will not know that information until all the offers of admission have been made and all the admitted candidates have made their decisions about whether or not they will accept our offer. (It turns out that some of the candidates we admit are not as smart as we thought they were they decide to go to other schools!) Since we have a relatively small program compared with some of the other U.S. law schools, it is not unusual to see some variation from year to year in the number of students from individual countries..."

However, I remember that they said in one email (didn't found) that you have to be honest in you response due to April 15.

</blockquote> If you were accepted at Uchicago, you will have received the email in question.</blockquote>

Wolla: the closest thing that I found was that: "... Each year several admitted applicants ask me how many people will be in the LL.M. Program from their country. Obviously we will not know that information until all the offers of admission have been made and all the admitted candidates have made their decisions about whether or not they will accept our offer. (It turns out that some of the candidates we admit are not as smart as we thought they were they decide to go to other schools!) Since we have a relatively small program compared with some of the other U.S. law schools, it is not unusual to see some variation from year to year in the number of students from individual countries..."

However, I remember that they said in one email (didn't found) that you have to be honest in you response due to April 15.

quote

wolla

50 100

Posted Apr 26, 2009 09:40

Wolla: the closest thing that I found was that: "... Each year several admitted applicants ask me how many people will be in the LL.M. Program from their country. Obviously we will not know that information until all the offers of admission have been made and all the admitted candidates have made their decisions about whether or not they will accept our offer. (It turns out that some of the candidates we admit are not as smart as we thought they were they decide to go to other schools!) Since we have a relatively small program compared with some of the other U.S. law schools, it is not unusual to see some variation from year to year in the number of students from individual countries..."

However, I remember that they said in one email (didn't found) that you have to be honest in you response due to April 15.

Natasja, it was in the admission email (in the attachment):

"... In those very rare cases (about one every three years) when an applicant has not been honest in his or her responses to us, the Graduate Studies Committee has felt it appropriate to bring that information to the attention of the applicants references and other law schools..."

<blockquote>

Wolla: the closest thing that I found was that: "... Each year several admitted applicants ask me how many people will be in the LL.M. Program from their country. Obviously we will not know that information until all the offers of admission have been made and all the admitted candidates have made their decisions about whether or not they will accept our offer. (It turns out that some of the candidates we admit are not as smart as we thought they were they decide to go to other schools!) Since we have a relatively small program compared with some of the other U.S. law schools, it is not unusual to see some variation from year to year in the number of students from individual countries..."

However, I remember that they said in one email (didn't found) that you have to be honest in you response due to April 15.
</blockquote>

Natasja, it was in the admission email (in the attachment):

"... In those very rare cases (about one every three years) when an applicant has not been honest in his or her responses to us, the Graduate Studies Committee has felt it appropriate to bring that information to the attention of the applicants references and other law schools..."

quote

thewaiting...

9 17

Posted Apr 27, 2009 07:02

Whether you will have a problem or not will depend on whether you followed the instructions associated with accepting the offer. If the offer simply says that you have to send in a deposit, then you only lose your deposit. If the offer, like the one from NYU, says that you have to withdraw your application from all other schools, then you must do so and will be in serious trouble if you don't. So, for example, I accepted NYU's offer of admission. I only applied to NYU so I didn't have to withdraw from any other school.

If something now came up where I couldn't attend, I could explain this to NYU without any repercussions because they didn't ask me to predict the future; they only asked me to withdraw all other applications and send in a deposit which is what I did.

It's not about whether you attend or not. It's whether you followed the directions, and the reason why you can't attend. If you sincerely meant to attend when you accepted their offer, and you followed all of their instructions, then you're fine. It's as simple as that.

rbp

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

The acceptance sheet merely provided two options. The first stated "I will attend" (for which I provided my signature) The second option below stating "I will not attend", listing four options including "I shall be attending school______". There were no further specifications, qualifications, or fine print, to my best recollection. Since I couldn't state in advance that "I shall be attending X instead", the school obviously has no such knowledge of my alternative plans.

At any rate, what are you basing your assertion (that everything will be fine) upon? Anecdotes from other applicants/friends, questions you asked of NYU staff, professors)?

<blockquote>Whether you will have a problem or not will depend on whether you followed the instructions associated with accepting the offer. If the offer simply says that you have to send in a deposit, then you only lose your deposit. If the offer, like the one from NYU, says that you have to withdraw your application from all other schools, then you must do so and will be in serious trouble if you don't. So, for example, I accepted NYU's offer of admission. I only applied to NYU so I didn't have to withdraw from any other school.

If something now came up where I couldn't attend, I could explain this to NYU without any repercussions because they didn't ask me to predict the future; they only asked me to withdraw all other applications and send in a deposit which is what I did.

It's not about whether you attend or not. It's whether you followed the directions, and the reason why you can't attend. If you sincerely meant to attend when you accepted their offer, and you followed all of their instructions, then you're fine. It's as simple as that.

rbp</blockquote>

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

The acceptance sheet merely provided two options. The first stated "I will attend" (for which I provided my signature) The second option below stating "I will not attend", listing four options including "I shall be attending school______". There were no further specifications, qualifications, or fine print, to my best recollection. Since I couldn't state in advance that "I shall be attending X instead", the school obviously has no such knowledge of my alternative plans.

At any rate, what are you basing your assertion (that everything will be fine) upon? Anecdotes from other applicants/friends, questions you asked of NYU staff, professors)?

quote

rbp

31 62

Posted Apr 27, 2009 23:20

Whether you will have a problem or not will depend on whether you followed the instructions associated with accepting the offer. If the offer simply says that you have to send in a deposit, then you only lose your deposit. If the offer, like the one from NYU, says that you have to withdraw your application from all other schools, then you must do so and will be in serious trouble if you don't. So, for example, I accepted NYU's offer of admission. I only applied to NYU so I didn't have to withdraw from any other school.

If something now came up where I couldn't attend, I could explain this to NYU without any repercussions because they didn't ask me to predict the future; they only asked me to withdraw all other applications and send in a deposit which is what I did.

It's not about whether you attend or not. It's whether you followed the directions, and the reason why you can't attend. If you sincerely meant to attend when you accepted their offer, and you followed all of their instructions, then you're fine. It's as simple as that.

rbp

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

The acceptance sheet merely provided two options. The first stated "I will attend" (for which I provided my signature) The second option below stating "I will not attend", listing four options including "I shall be attending school______". There were no further specifications, qualifications, or fine print, to my best recollection. Since I couldn't state in advance that "I shall be attending X instead", the school obviously has no such knowledge of my alternative plans.

At any rate, what are you basing your assertion (that everything will be fine) upon? Anecdotes from other applicants/friends, questions you asked of NYU staff, professors)?

I didn't ask anybody. Just common sense. I know that students are on waiting lists both in college and JD programs and it isn't a problem to lose your deposit and go with another school if you get accepted off of a waiting list or something. That is why I was surprised to see the instructions for NYU that said that you had to withdraw your applications. I just can't imagine a problem if you follow the instructions, but I certainly didn't ask anyone.

<blockquote><blockquote>Whether you will have a problem or not will depend on whether you followed the instructions associated with accepting the offer. If the offer simply says that you have to send in a deposit, then you only lose your deposit. If the offer, like the one from NYU, says that you have to withdraw your application from all other schools, then you must do so and will be in serious trouble if you don't. So, for example, I accepted NYU's offer of admission. I only applied to NYU so I didn't have to withdraw from any other school.

If something now came up where I couldn't attend, I could explain this to NYU without any repercussions because they didn't ask me to predict the future; they only asked me to withdraw all other applications and send in a deposit which is what I did.

It's not about whether you attend or not. It's whether you followed the directions, and the reason why you can't attend. If you sincerely meant to attend when you accepted their offer, and you followed all of their instructions, then you're fine. It's as simple as that.

rbp</blockquote>

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

The acceptance sheet merely provided two options. The first stated "I will attend" (for which I provided my signature) The second option below stating "I will not attend", listing four options including "I shall be attending school______". There were no further specifications, qualifications, or fine print, to my best recollection. Since I couldn't state in advance that "I shall be attending X instead", the school obviously has no such knowledge of my alternative plans.

At any rate, what are you basing your assertion (that everything will be fine) upon? Anecdotes from other applicants/friends, questions you asked of NYU staff, professors)?

</blockquote>

I didn't ask anybody. Just common sense. I know that students are on waiting lists both in college and JD programs and it isn't a problem to lose your deposit and go with another school if you get accepted off of a waiting list or something. That is why I was surprised to see the instructions for NYU that said that you had to withdraw your applications. I just can't imagine a problem if you follow the instructions, but I certainly didn't ask anyone.

quote