Bobby- best wishes in your job search! I hope you find a match !

My company did not give me any time to think the decision over. You work in a world where they have those standards, but a lot of other industries and companies don't stick to such nice rules. I happened to deal with a hiring manager with an attitude and no HR experience-- thus when I asked for a week to decide, she gave me a hard time about it (suggesting that they might pick another candidate) and then settled for 3 days.

My company as well didn't give me time to think things over. I was living in Washington DC and they called on a Friday with my offer. They wanted me to start the following Monday in SOUTH CAROLINA. Had I any notion of the presidence this would have set, I would have held out for better. Don't get rushed into making a decision. The company may look good from the outside (I work for a company with billions of dollars in sales in a good position) but the way they treat you as a potential hire, is ten times better than how they treat you as an employee and the rest of the employees, and that treatment can make all the difference. (Can you tell I am a bit bitter at the moment?)

Oh I get it. So basically you had a rare situation and offered general advice based on your rare situation.

Edited to add: Even in your bizarre, rare situation they gave you time to consider so thanks for wasting our time.

-Rudey

Every job interview I've had, the company has given me time to think over offers. They didn't want me accepting an offer I wasn't ready to accept. I'd think that this is the prevailing practice among companies.

It is not at all rude to ask for time to think things over at least a few days, up to a couple of weeks. You need time to talk it over with your spouse if you are married, weigh the benefits/salary packaged they offered you and to finish up any open interviews you may have.

I agree that it makes the school look bad if you just take it then quit. I worked in Career Services for my business school and this would have caused our director to have a heart attack. I think that its fine to take time to think things over, but not cool to accept then decline a few days later.