Sarah Bee

Got a rejection from one of the two programs I applied to. Now dreading the next rejection. Although I was initially highly confident when applying but now it seems the world has come to an end! So I am just stressing out and though I tried a lot of things to keep myself engaged, it is just not helping!

I called the university I applied to and they informed that they are done with the scholarship interviews. Only 10 selected out of a total of 600 applicants. The rest of the applicants would be informed late Feb whether they have made it to the reserve list or not with an option to self-fund (which I obviously can't). Since I applied to only two programmes, I have completely lost hope for the other one too. I think it's all over...and it hurts so bad I tried crying, but no tears came out.

reading

...you call the university for some information regarding the potential date of results and they tell you that they have received 600 applications, out of which only 10 damn ones will be selected for scholarships. All optimism is gone!!

In order of priority Fully funded Excellent faculty The courses being offered are not available in my country Exactly complements my desired career path Mobility programme (3 semesters in 3 different European countries)

Want to kill my boss. Insecure, judgmental biatch!

I sent a scanned copy of my IELTS results to the universities I applied to. That's what they asked for.

Just found out that there was an unforgivable grammatical error in the very first sentence of my SoP. So much for being a Sub-editor at a leading English Language Daily! Dreading the consequences now! Though it wouldn't be considered a sound enough reason to trash my application, but I am pretty sure that it's going to give a bad first impression about me.

Best of luck to you too!

Read this and didn't find it very helpful, nonetheless thought of sharing. Might help heal someone's bruised ego. Being denied is never easy. It can feel like a real slap in the face after all the time and work you have put into your graduate school applications. If you are extremely upset, do not react by phone or in writing right away; give it a few days. As you reflect, consider the following advice. 1. Don't take it personally: Remember, under most circumstances the admissions committee is faced with a very difficult task: choosing a limited enrollment number from among a very large applicant pool. These individuals are doing their best in a very difficult situation. 2. Write a thank-you note: Remember to write and thank the person who signed your notification letter for taking the time to review your application. 3. Make sure nothing was missed: If you believe something was overlooked, call and ask about it—kindly. Ask if your most recent test score was received or if a recent transcript is in your file. You may want to verify that all of your recommendation letters were received. If you sent a cover letter and it contained some very important information, check to be sure it was included when your application was read. On occasion, something may have been overlooked and if so, most admissions committees will provide another complete evaluation. If they are unwilling to do so, or worse yet, are unwilling to take another look at that part of your application, perhaps you are getting additional information about whether this is really the right institution and program for you. 4. Ask if additional information could help: It never hurts to ask if more information from you could result in a second look. 5. Keep in mind that admissions committees make mistakes: On rare occasions, a decision to admit is accidentally entered as a denial. All admissions offices have several checks in place to ensure that the proper decision is communicated to the applicant. However, in my time as a dean of admissions, letters of denial were mistakenly sent to a few applicants. It would not hurt to check this out—kindly, not in an accusatory way. 6. Request feedback and honor what you are told: Some admissions personnel will offer feedback for denied applications in person, over the phone, or in writing. If they do, ask for this feedback. Do not argue when you receive the feedback. Make sure you understand what was communicated, and be sure to thank the person. 7. Consider reapplying: Ask about the process by which you could apply again. If you've asked for feedback, think about how you could use that insight in your next application. 8. Practice patience and professionalism: If you want to send a positive message to the admissions committee, the opportunity is now. A mature, thoughtful attitude makes a huge and positive impression. 9. Remember the disappointment is temporary: This is a setback, not a final blow. You will succeed, even though the path right now is not as you planned. I completely empathize with those who are denied admission. My first application to the doctoral program on the top of my list was denied. I was extremely disappointed and somewhat angry. I waited a few days, and then called the admissions office. I learned my most recent standardized test score was not in my file, and I was told that an assessment of my academic skills did not come across in my letters of recommendation. The admissions office granted my request to send the updated test score and provide another recommendation letter—and one month later, I was accepted. I was even awarded one full year of coursework toward the completion of my residency requirement. I realize this may not be the outcome every time—but you never know. Source: http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/graduate-school-road-map/2013/02/15/how-to-handle-graduate-school-denials

I just applied to two programmes. Imagine what I am going through. If one of them rejects me, it would be unimaginably tormenting for me to wait for the other one And the decision from one of them is due in the second week of February

Not finding a good balance. That sounds like me!

My CV was originally 3-page long but the programme I applied to stated that the CV must not be more than 2 pages -so I just excluded some of the work experiences I had that were not relevant to my chosen vocation. I used Europass format which was pretty comprehensive.

I had gotten two LoRs from my professors but then someone suggested that I should get one letter from my departmental head too. He taught me for one semester in 2008 and since there were around 85 students in my class, he couldn't recall me individually. And, like you, I too found it hard to initiate a conversation with him (particularly because I was about to ask for a personal favour and though profs are habitual to writing letters, it was an awkward moment for me). Nonetheless, I went to him twice to ask for an LoR but the professor was very busy and didn't pay heed. So one day, I wrote a draft myself and used pointers and humbly asked him to write me an LoR along those lines and to my surprise actually wrote me a great one. I wouldn't recommend you or anyone doing the same but point is that you have to muster up the courage to talk to professors and establish a good rapport with them because in this particular context, end justifies the means.

Less than nothing: Hegel and the shadow of dialectical materialism by Slovak Zizek

I would have helped you but unfortunately I have applied to European programmes and am not much familiar with North American schools

The 'minimum' requirement for my programme was to submitted two letters. I submitted one academic (one from Chairperson and the other from a visiting faculty who taught me for 5 semesters) and one from my Editor (three in total). So I agree with besharpe269 that 2 from professors and one from volunteer coordinator would suffice.

Pretty common and a lot of people work through different websites. There is usually a middleman who mediates between the students and the writers and keeps a commission. Most people relying on these services are ESL students (particularly from the Middle East). And though the practice is unethical, I think most academicians know that these writing services exist and a lot of students "seek help" (read: get the entire paper written) from writers coming from low economic countries. A colleague of mine once tried writing a report on the issue for the newspaper we work for but since most of the activities take place online, there could be no substantiation or attribution to the story, hence it got rejected by the editors. As for what you said, I can't agree more!

I have applied to Swansea University (Wales) through Erasmus Mundus scholarship for master level programmes. They asked for a letter of motivation which should be succinct and concise. Should clearly state your personal motivation for applying to the programme (a passionate hook, as they call it), followed by your academic/ professional background, relevant research (if any), how would this particular programme be beneficial to you in future and why are you applying to a certain university. As for an MPhil programme, I guess you have to elaborate more on your research interests. But generally, I have seen samples letters of successful candidates and they were very straightforward.

And someone signs in, randomly joins the chat room, asks you to review and edit their SoP, you spend 45 minutes editing and perfecting their letter and ask for their email address, and they never bother to reply to your message

Seconded

Criminology and Forensic Sciences

dragging

Just thought of sharing this. College acceptances have started to roll in for high-school seniors, and for the next several months, much of the focus of the national media will be on those students vying to get into the three dozen or so most selective colleges and universities in the country. By May, we’ll hear campuses, such as Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton, bragging about how they accepted on 1 out of every 10 applicants this year, and set another record for applications and the number of students they rejected, including hundreds of high-school valedictorians. Although these elite institutions enroll fewer than 6 percent of American college students, you might conclude from these stories that very few students are accepted into college in the United States. Not so. There are some 5,300 colleges and universities in the U.S., and the vast majority of them accept far more applicants than they reject. But for some parents and students today, college admissions has turned into a game, where getting to Go seems to be ultimate goal rather than the education or degree itself. Consider the reactions of a few students and their parents who found out last week that they didn’t get accepted into the University of Virginia, one of the nation’s most elite universities, which accepts fewer than 30% of students who apply. Here’s what one parent wrote on a blog maintained by a senior assistant dean of admissions at the university, which gives outsiders a rare window into the admissions process: As a parent I find myself stunned my daughter was denied...over 1360 on the SATs, almost a perfect 800 on the writing, ranked 6in her class and straight As and A+ all 4 years. Add to that on the varsity track team for 4 years, active in her community and carrying a full AP COURSE load this year where she's carrying a 4.8 out of a possible 5.0. Scratching my head wondering how she wasn't acceptable. Or from some students: Pretty confused as to how I didn't get in. With a 4.3 GPA, a 34 on the ACT, and being a National Merit Semifinalist, I'm wondering what could've been missing from my application for UVA to have denied me. I have had my heart set on UVA since last year, and it kind of sucked to find out I wasn't accepted. It was the only school I cared about, and even though it was too expensive for me and my mom...I don't know what I did wrong. Lots of factors influence the crafting of class at these top colleges, and in recent years that task has become even more difficult as applications have flooded these institutions (sometimes encouraged, of course, by the colleges themselves). At the very top of American higher education, there are few differences in quality between schools. In other words, they are all good. But trying to tell parents their Johnny or Suzie is not the brightest student in the class or thebest athlete despite the fact that they received an A in every class since middle school and a trophy for just showing up all these years is sometimes impossible. It’s highly unlikely that any of these students will skip college or end up at a school of much lower quality because they weren’t accepted to UVA. Jeannine Lalonde, the senior assistant dean who writes the UVA blog, told me that most of the comments that I saw were written in the heat of the moment, minutes or hours after the university released the decisions for those students who applied early (another set of decisions go out later this spring). “It’s a tough night, but I think most will move on quickly. In a few weeks, they’ll be excited about some other wonderful school,” she said. But whether intentional or not, we’ve created a sense of entitlement among high-school students these days who have excelled within their own little world for much of their adolescence. College admissions is perhaps the first time where they are competing with a much wider world of talent, much like the one that they are about to enter for the rest of their lives. A lesson in rejection is a good one to have at a young age as it makes you appreciate what follows even more and allows you to take No as an answer in stride in the future. While I congratulate those students accepted to UVA last week, they will have to wait a bit longer for that life lesson. Source: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140122172026-17000124-why-a-rejection-letter-from-harvard-or-other-top-colleges-can-be-surprisingly-helpful?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0