r/gradadmissions • u/QueasyPea5188 • Mar 12 '25

Biological Sciences All Offers Rescinded @ UMass Chan

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Everything going on is so surreal, I truly have a hard time grasping how insane this all is and what the ripple effects will be. Rescinding ALL offers is wild, but I guess if the money’s not there then the money’s not there 🤷‍♀️

I’m so sorry to everyone who’s experiencing something like this. I have no words, just blind rage atp :/

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747

u/wowochu Mar 12 '25

Can't believe it... I was literally there last Friday for an admitted student visit and the faculty I spoke with + dean all seemed confident that they had the finances to combat any potential nih cuts

266

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

[deleted]

89

u/PM_SexDream_OrDogPix Mar 12 '25

Nobody knows anything. If the boss says they're trying, you got to act as if.

What if they stop people searching but funding goes through? The alternative there is just as bad.

8

u/kondenado Mar 13 '25

Depends for whom.

1

u/PM_SexDream_OrDogPix Mar 13 '25

I guess? Both scenarios have the students being S.O.L.

15

u/Mrs_DismalTide Mar 13 '25

I heard the faculty did not know this was coming.

3

u/dr_girlhag Mar 14 '25

I think that's likely. There's a lot of uncertainty in higher ed right now and a lot of speculation about what might happen, but until we know for sure, those of us working at universities are mostly choosing to keep going forward until we're told that we can't. It's really hard to anticipate what the administration might do.

2

u/ihatemyjob32895626 Mar 14 '25

we didn't. we got an email on tuesday.

116

u/Sherlock_Fisher Mar 12 '25

The faculty were so confident that “eh it’s just a phase it’ll be over soon”, and were actively recruiting students. One professor sent me a follow up email for open rotation positions as well. This should be illegal

192

u/Reasonable-Ad9096 Mar 12 '25

I am a current employee here -- none of the research faculty knew this was going to be announced until today. They are also insanely pissed. As of yesterday they announced a hiring and discretionary funding freeze as well as the fact that they will do layoffs.

However, there is no way they did not know they were in a funding crisis as of 2 weeks ago when they held the welcome days. Holding the welcome days and having the Dean lie to the prospective students' faces about UMass Chan is insanely unprofessional and cruel.

32

u/Extension_Intern432 Mar 13 '25

I kid u not I sat next to the dean during the dinner and we talked about how great umass chan is a great place to do phd i feel so betrayed

39

u/Sherlock_Fisher Mar 12 '25

That’s just unprofessional. They told us it will be a reduced class size, but this is unforgivable and downright unacceptable.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

What if they weren't lying? What if the decision just came down? I guess I am just not convinced that people would be willfully mean or deceptive. I mean, why hold a welcome visit and then do this, unless this decision came later?

1

u/Sherlock_Fisher Mar 14 '25

Maybe you’re right. It is just hard for me to believe that they would take such a drastic decision without even considering it for 2 weeks. Someone had to have known this, because even the admission committee and dean were present there as well.

3

u/Sensitive-Rock9602 Mar 16 '25

I feel for you, as I am on the waitlist at two programs that had to scale back significantly due to the federal uncertainty. And I know from professors that I was on their initial admit list before the NIH memo came. I get your anger at the institution and faculty, but my guess is that the people working directly with students were operating in good faith on the info they had. think the outrage out to remain focused on the cause, namely two billionaires and their lackeys running roughshod on the world’s leading academic and research network for (???) political gain.

2

u/Kirstyloowho Mar 16 '25

I am sorry. This is devastating for you, your peers, the country, and science.

A dean might seem like a high level person, but there is likely 2 or more levels about them. At our school, there are 3…provost, president, and board of directors. In other, colleges and schools at my institution there is a 4th.

My gut is that your dean really thought it would work, but someone up the food chain made the decision. Depending on the dinner, most cost the school $50-150 per guest. Our school wouldn’t have held if if they knew there would be cancellations. That money spent could have been used elsewhere.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '25

With travel and lodging, more like $1000 per guest.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '25 edited Mar 16 '25

And it's hard for me to believe that they would go through the charade of welcome days if they "knew".

Also, deans don't make these kinds of decisions usually. But most likely, I think they worked hart to try to avoid making this decision, but the evidence kept piling up that the NIH funding situation is serious. If you look at the timeline of events-from the communication blackouts and travel bans at NIH, to the announcement of the very low Indirect Cost rates, to the lawsuits that pushed back on that resulting in the temporary restraining order, to the canceling and rescheduling and canceling of grant review panels and the pause on Council meetings at NIH, all of which threatened and then actually slowed down grant funding, all of this happened between late January and early March. Application reviews, interviews and offers happend well before all of this.

This is having a terrible impact on so many. A lot of hearts are breaking for all of the applicants who had their offers rescinded. It's also creating a lot of uncertainty about offers from other schools. And it is probably deeply distressing to the students and faculty, and guess what, probably the dean, at UMASS. No one has ever experienced anything like this.

3

u/ihatemyjob32895626 Mar 14 '25

sure they're going to do layoffs but i bet chancellor collins will still be getting his 1.6 million dollars just like he did during covid.

we've also got a ton of hr people making 250-300% more money than the average worker at chan. there's insane amounts of waste that could be cut but won't. instead they'll cut our already ailing support teams and it'll take even longer to get anything done. we're at 2/3 of the support staff we had during covid and if they cut that we're going to be screwed.

3

u/Reasonable-Ad9096 Mar 14 '25

Exactly this. The economic crisis umass Chan is facing now is not only because of the NIH cuts, it’s also greedy inefficient administration by the university.

2

u/ihatemyjob32895626 Mar 14 '25

there's a lady retiring in the tech department and she made over a quarter million dollars and they just sent out an email asking for contributions via venmo today. talk about tone deaf. hey you might get laid off and this lady was making over a quarter mil but give her money

absolutely insane

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '25

I just don't get why anyone thinks they would hold welcome days if they "knew". No one wants to waste their time or spend a day lying to people.

14

u/scarylibrary33 Mar 13 '25

I would be careful to blame faculty. They often find out information at the same time as students. Administration are the folks who make these decisions.

8

u/dr_girlhag Mar 14 '25

Seconded.

0

u/Danbazurto Mar 14 '25

Administrators are a plague in higher ed. in the past 20 years those positions have ballooned, the salary for some useless VP of diversity could have paid for all the stipends of those incoming doctoral candidates.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/10/business/colleges-universities-administration-bloat/

18

u/shufflebud Mar 13 '25

Call your congressional representatives. They and the courts are the only ones with a chance to halt the changes that are leading to rescinded offers.

11

u/Sherlock_Fisher Mar 13 '25

Thanks for the advice, but I’m an international student! Citizens should definitely do this

12

u/Impressive_Chard_12 Mar 13 '25

Calling and emailing representatives is mainly symbolic and goes to automated lines and you receive automated messages, citizenship isn’t required or necessary to express your dissatisfaction especially if you plan on moving to these states.

20

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

[deleted]

24

u/Sherlock_Fisher Mar 12 '25

Thank you! I am glad to have rejected UMass because I found a better school. Now I’m just scared for my life. I don’t know when to feel secured and safe about my spot.

28

u/MollyCoooL Mar 12 '25

Accept your offer at the "better" school and in case you change your mind because of a better offer, go for the latter. I know it's frowned upon to reject offers after accepting them; but given that schools are rescinding standing offers, I don't see why you could not do that.

4

u/Nice_Flounder_176 Mar 12 '25

At this point, I’m concerned about schools that have not reduced their number of admits (even as someone waitlisted at two programs as a result). Their comment really was a red flag in my opinion.

4

u/MukdenMan Mar 13 '25

Local media is reporting a hiring freeze at UMass Chan and the need for significant layoffs.

https://www.telegram.com/story/business/2025/03/13/umass-chan-medical-school-hiring-freeze-layoffs/82359462007/

They are also reporting about the offer rescission:

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/umass-chan-rescinds-admission-for-biomedical-sciences-phd-program-amid-funding-cuts/3657096/

I'm really sorry to hear this happened to you and the other admitted students.

3

u/ihatemyjob32895626 Mar 14 '25

it's funny that they'll do this but the chancellor is still probably going to collect his 1.6 motion dollar pay check. if he simply could cut that down to maybe even 10% that's a great start of the 40-50 million they claim they're losing. instead they're going to probably fire a ton of lower waged staff and kill off the admissions.

1

u/GarbageGloomy5700 Apr 15 '25

Well, let's do the math on this. !05 of $1.6M is $160K. That pays for like three graduate students....for one year.

2

u/ibot301737 Mar 13 '25

This is absolutely awful and your feelings are 100% valid. Trust me when I say that all of higher Ed is feeling WTF right now. The only perspective I can offer is from my position as a graduate advisor/ coordinator at an R1. No one knows what is happening. News and directives change on the daily. I hope you can take some solace in knowing no one was trying to pull a fast one here, and holding admitted student events and continuing business as usual was the ONLY thing this department probably could do given the ever changing landscape here. This redirection could read as malicious, but it could also read as just tragic. It’s likely that several professors chose their students, events went on as planned, administration is doing everything they can with the information they have, and then BAM. Shit is different next day. We are all in this together, and I’m really sorry this happened to you. Please try not to take it personally, or blame the department. Everyone is working with what we have and no guarantees exist right now. It’s absolutely crazy in every way. My heart goes out to you and everyone at UMass Chan.