Help an American out with info?

Hello all,

I am a prospective American postgraduate student, going for an MA in Philosophy. I am a bit confused about the UK’s conditional/unconditional offer rules.

Today I opened my email to find I’ve been unconditionally accepted to UCL’s program. Last week, I was conditionally offered a spot at the University of Kent. I accepted the conditional offer. On Monday, after fulfilling the conditions, I was sent an unconditional offer. It appears I now have the option to accept or decline the unconditional offer.

My question is whether I am now obligated to accept Kent’s unconditional offer. Is this my opportunity to back out?

I won’t be heartbroken if I’m obligated to Kent, as the program is at its Paris campus (how could I be upset about that?), but I also understand that UCL is a university I shouldn’t give up on lightly. Advice is welcome.

Reply 1

Skyy9432

Apologies if I understand your question wrong, and hopefully if I say anything wrong I'll be quickly slapped into the right answer :smile:

Conditional Offer - Offered the place on the course on the condition you meet certain requirements. E.g. "You can join our course AS LONG AS you achieve 280 credits through your grades."
Unconditional Offer - You're accepted. End of story.

In regards to an obligation, no. I Don't believe you are obligated to attend Kent if you don't want to. However, I'm not basing this on a confirmed source, only my personal experience. I transferred courses from Journalism to literature and got unconditionally accepted into literature. however, come the time of the course I could no longer attend it given a job contract I had signed. I simply rang them ahead of time and explained my situation and that I could no longer attend the course despite being given a place on it. They simply said "Ok".

Hope it helps!

University College London

London

Reply 2

MilaR

Original post by Skyy9432

Apologies if I understand your question wrong, and hopefully if I say anything wrong I'll be quickly slapped into the right answer :smile:

Thanks! I'm also an American, and while that's what I assumed the terms meant, it's helpful seeing them spelled out. :smile:

Reply 3

kieslowski

Hey, I'm in nearly the exact same situation as you. I am an American, I applied for the Kent Paris program (in Film Studies), and accepted a conditional offer. I also applied to UCL, but have not yet heard back. I am much more inclined to go to Kent because of the Film faculty (and I am interested in French Film), but I have also heard the UCL is not a school to be given up on lightly.

I was wondering if you've found any good advice on doing postgrad in the UK. I figured we could perhaps compare notes. Are you considering a PhD in the UK as well?

Reply 4

dear_tristesse

If you are more drawn to the program in Kent, then you should do that. I ended up at UCL, but I deferred attending Kent. So, I didn't give them a hard "no," but I did give Kent a hard "if I can afford it next year."

I'm probably going to do an American PhD program. I'll get experience teaching there and FUNDING which is a huge, huge deal, especially as I have taken out loans to attend UCL.

Do you have the opportunity to visit either campus? That might help you get a feel for it. Have you checked out the profs in both programs? There might be someone specific you want to study under or work with.

Reply 5

kieslowski

Is it hard for Americans to get funding for UK PhD programs? Or is it just infinitely easier to get funding back in the States? The teaching is a huge deal too -- Kent offers teaching assistantships, but I don't think this is the same as what American universities offer.

Reply 6

dear_tristesse

Original post by kieslowski

Yeah... forget about funding. Funding for Americans is basically impossible. If you can TA at Kent to lower costs, then that is a huge thing to consider. As far as the humanities go, if you're not getting paid to go to grad school, you're doing it wrong. US grad schools should waive tuition and give you a stipend.

Reply 7

Yellow 03

Original post by dear_tristesse

There is no obligation at all for postgraduate courses. You can accept as many offers as you want and withdraw your offers at any point before you enrol. Out of courtesy to the university whose offer you are rejecting, it would be good to let them know as soon as you can make a decision, but even this is up to you.

Reply 8

Josb

Original post by kieslowski

Not sure your teaching assistantship covers your international fees (£15K).

Original post by dear_tristesse

Funding for overseas students is possible, but it depends on the university. Oxbridge have several programs (Gates and Rhodes), but you need to be insanely good for these. Otherwise, unis generally have something like 2-3 international scholarships in their faculties of Humanities.
Like this one: https://www.dur.ac.uk/arts.humanities/funding_opportunities/facultydoctoralfunding/

Deadline are all passed for PhDs though.

Reply 9

kieslowski

So now I'm in the exact same position you were, haha. I've been accepted to both UCL and the Kent Paris program. I am actually going to try and visit both schools in a few weeks. Perhaps you have some tips about visiting UCL? I would like to at some point speak to someone about the PhD program even though, as you say, it is nearly impossible to get funding as an American. You are studying there currently correct? Do you think Monday February 29th and March 1st are good days to be on campus?

Reply 10

dear_tristesse

Original post by Josb

Not sure your teaching assistantship covers your international fees (£15K).

Funding for overseas students is possible, but it depends on the university. Oxbridge have several programs (Gates and Rhodes), but you need to be insanely good for these. Otherwise, unis generally have something like 2-3 international scholarships in their faculties of Humanities.
Like this one: https://www.dur.ac.uk/arts.humanities/funding_opportunities/facultydoctoralfunding/

Deadline are all passed for PhDs though.

Considering there are so few for the several thousand international students in various different departments, I would stand by my statement about not counting on funding.

Original post by kieslowski

Yes, I'm at UCL now. I don't really have much advice on a good time to visit. I know my professors will be pretty busy with classes and grading, but I'm not sure what the Film Department is up to. If you send a few emails to people, maybe they could set aside time to see you.