<p>I received an assistantship offer from state u before Apr 15. It was competitive and close to Apr 15 so I committed.
A month later I received assistantship from my 1st choice school and want to know how serious the cgs deadline is?
Will asking for release from state u ruin my reputation if I decide to apply for PhD within 2 yrs (to other schools in same field, not necessarily state u)?</p>
<p>If you received the offer of an assistantship a month later, that would be before May 15. It is now nearly June 30!</p>
<p>Because it is this late, you will likely be putting the department at State U in a bad position, and you will not be acting very professionally if you simply contact State U and rescind your acceptance of their offer. </p>
<p>However, if it is a very large program that does not fund all of its applicants, the DGS of the department at State U might be able to pass on your assistantship to someone else.</p>
<p>Your mistake was in failing to contact the DGS at State U as soon as you received your offer from First Choice U.</p>
<p>It may be too late to do anything, but at this point, I would contact the DGS at State U and ask frankly if your assistantship is transferable to another student, or whether rescinding your acceptance would put the department in a terrible position (like losing the assistantship line altogether).</p>
<p>Frank and honest conversation should ALWAYS be your immediate option. Timeliness is critical. Now, the time factor works very much against you.</p>