I was recently offered a term position (VAP) from a good school, and was given one week to respond. I am still waiting to hear about a tenure-track position from another school – I already emailed them about the offer I received, and told them my timeline to accept it was the end of the week. I haven’t heard back from them, although I sent the chair a thank you after my campus visit and he responded quickly. I assume they received my notice and are still deliberating and will hopefully get back to me in time, but I’m not sure if I should call soon.
I also was told I am a frontrunner for a pretty good postdoc, but I won’t hear back until early next week. In potentially the former and definitely the latter case, I won’t know until after I’m supposed to tell the first school about my decision. Would it be classless to ask for a small extension on the offer? Or will it put my chances for the position in jeopardy? I honestly went to the campus very recently and didn’t expect to hear back for a few weeks, so I don’t know what that means for their search either. I don’t want to jeopardize the offer but the two I’m waiting on are my other top contenders.