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[nevertenured]

Despite my screen name, I have been offered a TT job at an excellent university.  I am pretty excited with the one main issue being that the school is about 800 miles from my family (parents, brothers, etc). My wife and I know nobody in the area.

The day I got the call, I had just finished an interview at a school within my preferred geographic region. The interview went unbelievably well.  I was told by both the dean and chair that I was their #1 choice and that my on campus interview had cemented my status.  They told me they would be calling sometime in the 2nd week of February.  Though the school is smaller (and thus has less resources) than the first, it has an excellent reputation and would be a great fit for me.

My conundrum is that school #1 wants an answer by Friday of next week.  There is no way I could know with 100% certainty that school #2 will give me the offer by then. My current situation is that I am on a term contract and make about 60% of the salary I would on a TT line.   It is simply not enough to support my family so I must get a TT job.

So.... any suggestions? Do I take the risk and deny school #1? Do I take school #1 since the risk is too high that I might lose both jobs?

[larryc]

On Monday morning you call the SC chair at school #2 and tell them what you told us. They are your number 1 choice, you loved the interview, however you have an offer and need to reply this week. This is perfectly reasonable and happens all the time.

[nevertenured]

I will likely do that but they have interviewee #2 planned for the following week.  I'm sure there are some HR rules or the like that force them into going through the interview.

[lurkingfear]

Has school #1 given you a written offer, or is it verbal at this point? If the latter, accept and back out if you get a written offer from school #2 before the deadline for returning the written offer from school #1. If you only have a verbal offer from #1, in all likelihood it will take them a week or two to get a written offer to you (maybe longer if you negotiate a bit, which you of course should), to which you will have a week or so to respond. The timing would be tight, but will probably work.

[doctorcat]

Congrats on the offer!

I was told by both the dean and chair that I was their #1 choice and that my on campus interview had cemented my status.

They said this before they had finished interviewing the other candidates? This seems very odd to me.

I'm kind of new to this, but certainly the decision is made by more people than the dean and char, no?

I think lurkingfear's suggestion is a good one. Try to stall. I don't like the idea of saying yes and then backing out though, even if it is verbal.

[nevertenured]

It's just a verbal offer currently but "a letter from the dean is in the mail." I'm not sure why that's any more significant unless it asks for a signature and return.  I'm VERY reticent to verbally accept and back out.  I think that doing that will very quickly spread a reputation.

I was actually very surprised as well as normally deans/etc are very careful with their wording.  School #1 never made such comments.  They were careful to mention there were 2 other candidates and we were all very strong.  Regarding school #2, all I can say is that we clicked at not only a professional level but a personal level as well. 

In terms of the other people involved at school #2 (primarily the SC), the chair told me they were "raving over me" in private talks during the day.  So I guess everyone is on board.

Thanks for the congrats :)

[tortugaphd]

Congratulations!  This is wonderful news!

I concur on the stalling.  Chairs and deans are used to candidates juggling multiple interview schedules.  This is simply a matter of course for them.

[seniorscholar]

Despite my screen name, I have been offered a TT job at an excellent university.  I am pretty excited with the one main issue being that the school is about 800 miles from my family (parents, brothers, etc). My wife and I know nobody in the area.

Probably because I grew up in a military family (went to 8 different schools before finishing high school), I'm always surprised when adults with a spouse who doesn't object to moving make a comment of this sort. I happily taught school in one decade and did my doctorate in another on the other side of an ocean; I've taken positions (more than one of them) 2,000 miles from family -- and have seen a lot of the country driving to visit in the summer. 800 miles is nothing these days; and though the first six months may feel odd and strange, my experience is that by the time spring comes you'll know many people: neighbors, department members, others in the community.

Well, that's only one opinion.

[hegemony]

Did you negotiate with no. 1?  If not, start now -- ask about the possibility of research support (a chunk of money for an assistant, an extra chunk of travel money), extra research leave, and of course a higher salary.  Ideally ask for something that will require some time-consuming consultation on their part.  The worst that could happen is that you may end up taking no. 1 with more perks.  That might be a nice counterbalance to the distance.

However, all you mention is that school no. 1 is bigger and farther away, and school no. 2 is closer and smaller.  What about the other variables?  What is the teaching load at each place?  Do you get grad students at each place?  What are the relative salaries, and the cost of living?  How much research leave is available?  Do you get to teach in your specialty?  How many general service courses are required?  How big are the classes?  What resources are they offering?  These should all factor into your decision too.  You know nobody at school no. 1 now, but in five years you'll know many people and it will feel like home.  Are your brothers going to stay put where they are?  For that matter, are your parents?  Do you/will you have kids?  Grandparents are good to have nearby, no question.  But if not, they can still be visited frequently, especially at 800 miles.  (My son's grandparents are 3000 miles away.)  So I encourage you to enlarge the factors by which you weigh the two schools.

[nevertenured]

@seniorscholar: I actually was a military brat as well and now that I think about it, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. We literally lived all over the US and it was pretty awesome.  My wife and I just feel a yearning to have a home and a hometown... a place our kids can grow up and call home.  You've given me something to think about though.

@hegemony (Orson Scott Card fan?): Good plan with the heavy negotiation.  The base salary is exceptionally good and we talked about it several times during the interview process (meaning they wouldn't budge on that since we implicitly agreed on it) but there are a lot of other things to talk about.

Teaching load at school #1 is 2/2 (year 1) then 3/3. At school #2 it is 4/4 then 3/3 in about 3-4 years (long story).  Grad students at #1 but not #2.  Salaries are probably similar (no formal offer from #2 yet) and cost of living is also similar.  Limited research leave at both. Yes, get to teach in my specialty in both.  Yes parents are retired and love where they live.  My brothers are very unlikely to ever leave the state.  We have 2 very young kids and they love their grandparents to death. We currently live close to them but as I said, I'm not in a good place career-wise.

[msparticularity]

I'm with doctorcat on the oddity of the chair and Dean suggesting that you will be their choice, regardless of what happens with the third candidate. This is putting it a bit crudely, but the fact that it happened kind of screams "Amateur Hour" to me, and implies that they may not be approaching all of this in a very professional--let alone experienced--manner. The thing is, that may make them a real risk, from your perspective, in terms of adhering to what most of us would consider to be basic procedures and principles.

I think, in fact, that you should consider they may be quite informal and spontaneous--and perhaps changeable--not only for this hiring process, but also in other procedural matters, including tenure and promotion considerations. You've mentioned also that they hope to move from a 4/4 load to a 3/3 in a few years, and this, too, seems pretty speculative. It's not that they shouldn't be thinking in those terms, and sharing that information with you, but I also believe that you really shouldn't count on that, but rather should be considering this position on the basis of the 4/4 load.

The bigger issue here, though, is that you're talking about trying to draw out negotiations with #1 for another three weeks. That really is a very long time, and you seriously risk having them withdraw the offer if you try to delay for that long. This is not to say you shouldn't call #2 first thing tomorrow, of course, but from what you say, you're not in a position to risk #1 if #2 is not able to move more quickly. Also, it sounds as if #1 may be the better position, aside from its location.

[litdawg]

I think MsParticularity has this one nailed. The folks at #2 are dreamers. You need reality. Go with #1. Listen carefully when you call #2 to tell them about your pleasant problem. If they make more unprofessional or spontaneous remarks, I think you are better off out of their search.

As regards proximity to family: you'll have time to evaluate this next year as you are making plans to spend a few weeks in current town with them. Get on the tenure track, then maneuver for your ideal world. However, don't be surprised if you become the family's center of gravity some time in the future. My MIL lives with us now, and my siblings and parents joked this Christmas about all of them moving to the city I'm interviewing in now.

[ruralguy]

Yeah, the one school at which I was "number one guy" (their words), never called me again. It was the chair who told me this, and the chair neglected to tell me that the dept. was being put into recievership, so that this chair was out, as were some members of the dept. who were being fired for some sort of malfeasance (but still allowed to be part of the search!).  So, I was that chairs number one guy, which probably made me public enemy number 1 of the new chair, who was the true leader of the search.

Also, may I say that this is one of the most posted about dilemmas in all of Chronicle Fora history, as far as I can tell. Most of the answers are probably very very similar.

Aside from that, all I can say is that if you really really want the job at place # 2 that hasn't contaced you yet, then stall.

However, there's really no shame in just accepting whats in front of you (after proper negotation).

[nevertenured]

Hey you guys aren't telling me what I want to hear ;)

Well, I'll update the thread after calls are made, etc.

[totoro]

Yeah, I've also been told stuff like that until they interviewed all the candidates... 800 miles isn't much if you are already married. Going off to live in small towns in the middle of nowhere is a problem for single people looking to get married... Grandparents nearby is nice of course... Well, I've moved all over the world for a job or now for my wife's job. The latter one has worked out well for me eventually. Both our families are on another continent - at opposite ends of the continent (the World's biggest continent).