How to Compare Grad School Offers: A Step-by-Step Guide

To compare grad school offers, put every offer into one table and score it on five things: the real financial package after living costs, your advisor or program fit, the people and support around you, what graduates go on to do, and your life outside the lab or classroom. Then ask each program the questions its offer letter does not answer, and decide before your response deadline. Prestige alone is rarely the deciding factor; funding and fit usually are.

You have probably worked hard to get here, and having more than one offer is a good problem that still feels stressful. This guide gives you a method, a list of questions to ask, red flags to watch for, and a polite way to say yes and no.

Table of Contents

Step 1: Know your deadline before anything else

Read each offer for the response date and the exact terms, and put those dates at the top of your tracker.

For funded offers at US institutions, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) April 15 Resolution says applicants are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support before April 15. It covers offers of full tuition support, fellowships, traineeships or assistantships for fall admission, and not every institution or program is a signatory. An updated version applies to Fall 2027 offers, so read the terms attached to your offer rather than assuming.

If a program asks you to decide earlier than April 15 and you believe it is a signatory, you can politely ask whether the deadline can be extended. If an offer is unfunded or from a non-signatory, the deadline may be firm.

For where this fits in the cycle, see our Fall 2027 grad school deadlines tracker. If you are still waiting on a decision from another program, read what to do when you are waitlisted before you reply to anyone.

Step 2: Build one comparison table

Open a spreadsheet and make one column per offer. Fill in the same rows for every program:

Row	What to record
Degree and length	PhD or master’s, expected years, thesis or coursework
Tuition and fees	Waived, partly covered, or paid by you
Stipend or salary	Amount, per month or per year, and how many months it covers
Funding length	Guaranteed years, and what happens after
Health insurance	Covered or not, and any extra cost to you
Mandatory fees	Student fees or other charges not covered by the waiver
Work duties	Teaching or research hours per week
Advisor or area fit	Named faculty, their current students, and whether they are taking you
Location and cost of living	Rent, transport, and visa costs
Outcomes	Where recent graduates work
Response deadline	Date and time zone
Gut feeling	A 1 to 5 score you give after a visit or call

Comparing numbers is the easiest part. The real work is filling in every cell with accurate information, which means asking for what is missing (see Step 4).

Step 3: Compare the money properly

Funding is where offers that look similar turn out to be very different. Work through this in order:

Net stipend after local costs. A bigger stipend in an expensive city can leave you with less money than a smaller one in a cheaper place. Estimate rent, utilities, food and transport for each city from current listings, not from rankings.
What the stipend does and does not cover. Check whether it is paid for 9, 10, or 12 months, and whether summer support is guaranteed.
Health insurance and fees. Some offers include insurance; others require you to pay premiums or large student fees out of the stipend.
How long funding lasts. Many PhD offers promise a number of years. Ask what happens if you need a sixth year, or if your advisor’s grant ends.
Taxes and visa costs. International students may face different tax rules and visa fees. Ask the international office for current figures.
One-time costs. Moving, deposits, flights and visa applications add up in the first month.

For master’s offers, which are often unfunded, add the full cost: tuition, fees, living costs and lost income if you will leave a job. Our guides on how much grad school costs and how to pay for grad school help you build that figure, and what a fully funded PhD includes is a good benchmark for what a complete PhD package should look like.

Step 4: Ask questions the offer letter does not answer

Admitted-student days, calls and emails are your chance to fill the gaps. Ask programs directly, and ask current students too, because they will often be more candid.

Questions for the program or graduate coordinator

Is the funding package guaranteed for the full program, and for how many years?
Does the stipend cover the summer? If not, how do students usually get paid?
Is health insurance included? What are the student fees I pay myself?
What are the teaching duties, and how many hours per week do they usually take?
How are advisors matched? When do I have to choose one?
What happens if my advisor leaves or loses funding?
Where do recent graduates go, and what share are in academia vs industry?

Questions for current students

How long does it actually take students to finish?
How is the relationship between students and advisors in practice?
Do students here usually get enough support, or do many have to find extra funding?
What do you wish you had known before you came?

If you cannot reach students through the program, the GradCafe forum and the notes in the results database sometimes show what other applicants asked and learned.

Step 5: Weigh advisor and program fit

For a PhD, the advisor relationship shapes your next five or more years more than the school’s name does. Before you decide:

Talk to the faculty member you want to work with, and to at least one of their current students.
Look at their recent papers and who co-authored them. A group that publishes with its students is a good sign.
Check how many students they currently supervise. Too few can mean a young lab with little support; too many can mean little attention.
Ask how often the group meets and how much independence students have.

If you have not contacted the faculty at a program you are admitted to, do so now. Our guide on how to email a professor about a PhD position covers tone and structure, and you can adapt it for an admitted-student message.

For master’s offers, fit means the curriculum, practical experience (projects, placements, internships), and what the program’s graduates actually do after.

Step 6: Think about where you will live

You will spend years in this place, so it counts. Consider:

Cost and quality of housing, and whether the stipend can cover it comfortably.
Distance from family and support, and how you will get home.
Community: whether you have people, places and food you need, particularly if you are moving to a new country.
Climate and transport, especially if you will not have a car.
Visa and work rules for you and any partner.

A strong offer in a place where you would be miserable is rarely a good choice.

Step 7: Look at outcomes and, carefully, rankings

Ask each program where its recent graduates work and how long they took to finish. Official program pages, department newsletters and LinkedIn profiles are good starting points. Rankings can be a rough signal, but they are blunt, and the differences between nearby ranks are small. A well-matched advisor at a lower-ranked school often beats a poor fit at a famous one.

You can also browse what past applicants report for your programs. Open the school pages for Cornell, Northwestern or Toronto, or search any school or program in the results database, to see reported decisions and timelines. These reports are self-reported and self-selected, so they tell you about timing and patterns, not about quality or outcomes.

Step 8: Score it, then check your gut

Give each category a weight that reflects your priorities, for example funding 30%, advisor or program fit 30%, outcomes 15%, location and life 15%, other 10%. Score each offer from 1 to 5 in each category and multiply. The total is a tool, not an answer.

Then check your gut. If the spreadsheet says A but you feel relief when you imagine saying yes to B, take that seriously and find out why. Often it is a missing piece of information you can still ask about.

Can you negotiate a grad school offer?

Sometimes, within limits. You usually cannot negotiate the standard stipend scale, but programs can sometimes adjust other things, such as a one-time relocation grant, a start date, a summer position, or a funding top-up. Some programs will respond to a competing offer; others will not, and a few consider asking inappropriate.

If you do ask:

Be polite and specific. For example: “I have an offer from another program that includes [X]. Is there any flexibility on [Y]?”
Only mention an offer you really hold, and never invent one.
Ask once, in writing, to the person who sent your offer.
Be ready to accept the answer. A “no” should not change your tone.

How to say yes and no politely

Accepting an offer. Reply by the deadline in writing, thank the person who sent it, confirm the details you are accepting, and ask about next steps (housing, onboarding, visa documents). Then submit any required acceptance form or deposit through the official portal.

Declining an offer. Decline as soon as you are sure, ideally well before the deadline, so the program can offer your place to someone else. Keep it short:

Dear [Name], thank you very much for offering me a place in [program]. After careful thought, I have decided to accept another offer, and I am respectfully declining. I appreciate the time you and the committee spent on my application and wish the program every success.

Withdrawing from everything else. Once you have accepted, withdraw from the remaining programs and waitlists promptly. This releases seats and funding to other applicants, and some of them may be reading the same waitlist advice you did.

Common mistakes to avoid

Choosing on prestige alone. A famous name does not fix an unsupportive advisor.
Ignoring the stipend-to-rent ratio. A good number on paper can be a hard year in practice.
Accepting before reading the terms. Funding conditions, work duties and visa support all matter.
Waiting until the last day. You may need answers to follow-up questions.
Burning bridges. Be polite when you decline. The academic world is small.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose between two grad school offers?

Compare the full funding package after local living costs, how well each program and advisor fit your goals, where graduates go, and where you will be happy living. Ask each program the questions its offer letter leaves out, score each category, then check your gut.

What should I compare when looking at PhD offers?

Stipend, funding length, health insurance and fees, teaching or research duties, advisor fit and student experience, cost of living, and where recent graduates work. Funding guarantees and advisor fit matter more than rankings for most applicants.

Can I negotiate a grad school offer?

Sometimes. Programs rarely change the standard stipend, but may adjust one-time grants, start dates or summer support. Ask once, politely, only if you have a real competing offer, and accept the answer.

When do I have to respond to a grad school offer?

Each offer states its own deadline. For many funded offers at US institutions, April 15 is the standard response date under the CGS April 15 Resolution, though not every program signs it. Read the terms attached to your offer.

How do I decline a grad school offer?

Reply in writing as soon as you know, thank the program, and say you are declining. A short, courteous message is enough, and it frees your place for another applicant.

Is it okay to accept an offer and then change my mind?

Avoid it if you can. If something changes, tell the program immediately and apologize. Withdrawing late can affect your relationship with the program and others in the field.