Acceptance Letters Requirements and Help
Departmental Offer Letters
After your department makes an admissions recommendation in Slate, you then have the option to add your own departmental offer letter. This offer letter must be forwarded in PDF format via email to the Graduate School (Grad_Admin_Letters@baylor.edu) - not sent directly to the student.
After a final review of the letter by Graduate Admissions, the applicant is notified (via email) that there has been a status change on their application. When the applicant logs into GoGrad, they will find the Graduate School's admission letter, your departmental offer letter, and any additional information sheets regarding health insurance, I-20 issuance, Bear IDs, etc.
If you are creating a departmental offer letter, please use Baylor's Electronic Letterhead and include the following information:
- Admission Decision: State whether the applicant is accepted, or accepted on probation.
*Special note about declined applicants: Notification is sent out from the Graduate School Admissions Office via email. Please advise your applicants to periodically check their application status online at GoGrad. - Degree Program and Term: (e.g., Master of Science in Education in Educational Administration for the Fall 2019 term).
- Financial Offer: The exact amount of stipend and tuition being offered should be stated. It is sufficient to say "full tuition" rather than using a monetary value for tuition, but the stipend amount must be exact. Students approved on probationary status are not eligible to receive stipend support or tuition remission from the University.
- Terms of the Financial Offer: Is the stipend a scholarship or an assistantship? That is, will the student be required to do any form of work to get the money? If so, exactly what will he or she be asked to do and for how many hours per week for the assistantship? These terms should be clear.
- Response Option and Deadline: Require that the applicant respond by a specific date. Make it clear that no response by the due date will be interpreted as rejection of the offer. Although the CGS resolution may not apply in all cases, the deadline for response should be April 15, if the application is for the fall term and the letter is sent before the 15th of March. For a copy of the CGS resolution, visit https://cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution.
Please keep in mind that departmental offer letters should not contradict the official Graduate School letter, as together they serve as an official and legally binding contract with the student. Therefore, it is imperative that the key elements stated above are present and clear in each letter.
Below are links to two sample letters. Please use these as a guide as you create or polish your own departmental offer letters.
If you have any questions, please contact the Graduate School Admissions Office at 710-3588.
Useful Links
Baylor Graduate School Recruitment Resources Box folder - sample letters, templates, Viewbook inserts, flyers, etc.