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I have been accepted at a good school in the U.S. with full-funding. However, I am still waiting on the status of three very good U.S. schools as well.

Can the school that already sent me an offer of acceptance change their mind before April 15th?

I want to wait until I receive all the schools letters and make a decision around the 1st week of April, but I'm worried that just in case nobody else accepts me; what if the first school that accepted me changes their mind? Is that a possible scenario?

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    To clarify: April 15 is the date they've told you in your offer letter as the last date on which you can accept their offer, right?
    – Gaurav
    Mar 7, 2017 at 3:26
  • Yes, they do say to accept by April 15th. I was just wondering a worst-case scenario which for some reason it would be possible for them to change their mind before.
    – missiontomars
    Mar 7, 2017 at 3:52
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    @missiontomars Schools, at least in the US, already take into account the fact that you might have multiple offers. They may get antsy and start making calls, as they may have others on a wait-list, but they wouldn't rescind.
    – user36504
    Mar 7, 2017 at 4:43
  • Maybe they could change their decision on the 1st of April. Just joking...
    – user21820
    Mar 7, 2017 at 7:56
  • What to do if you do get an offer from another school after April 15th?
    – Hima Varsha
    Mar 7, 2017 at 10:51

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I am very experienced with admissions in the U.S., in particular in math programs at my R1 university: unless you grossly falsified something in your application, it would be very unusual, and substantial professional misconduct, and would not be even contemplated as a dignified option, for a grad program to recant on an offer of admission and funding.

The only to-me-conceivable scenario would involve catastrophic budget problems at the university ... since, after all, grad student funding is a tiny bit of the whole.

So, at least approximately, I'd recommend thinking of the offer of grad admission and funding as a far more reliable contract than most others you'll encounter in life. (Car repair estimates? Real estate appraisal? Promises of eternal friendship :)

So, quite seriously, you should not worry about it (if the offer is from a reputable, long-established university (e.g.) in the U.S. that is not filing for bankruptcy etc.

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    +1 This. We might improve your offer by upping your fellowship (especially if you have a competing offer) but we'd never downgrade or rescind it unless the university was going into receivership.
    – RoboKaren
    Mar 7, 2017 at 0:49
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    It's worth adding that, in these kinds of situations, whether you have accepted the offer or not is unlikely to affect the likelihood of it being rescinded.
    – Alexander Woo
    Mar 7, 2017 at 4:19
  • I think there were also some cases in the past when Universities sent by mistake acceptance to the wrong students....
    – Nick S
    Mar 7, 2017 at 15:22

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