ARJS

Congrats seismoguy... All the best in future...

Hichem, try posting your question here: This topic is rather old while the above one quite hot. Please make sure that you mentioned correct date of application (I mean is it really 02/2014). If yes then which season you applied for? your profile says Fall 2014, which all of us know is slightly misplaced in time. Hope this helps...

annona, yes this is my second rejection. Thank you for your comments and best wishes. I am not a big shot actually there must have been many great students. I am not sure what exactly they were looking for in a candidate but I considered my application quite competitive. If you see the result search page what I noticed is that all the EE candidates were rejected. I did not see any acceptance from EE. Does anyone know anyone who got accepted in EE? Besides, remember the "sanity" of preferring diversity over meritocracy... Wish you guys all the best...

You are welcome...

POI speaking about such matters really reflects that he is very interested in you and wants you to work with him. Good sign. They will be interested in your educational background, your relevant experience and how your acquired skills may help you in your graduate studies. You should remember that your discourse should be understandable to non specialists as many of the interviewers would be from that group. Questions like why you chose KAUST? And why should KAUST choose you? Why this particular program? Your hobbies? How you see the world? etc can be expected. You should prepare at least 3-5 questions to be asked when you'd be asked to ask any questions (too many asks, nevermind I made my point ). This is a must that you ask some relevant questions about the program or anything you are not clear about. By 3-5 questions I don't mean that you ask all of them. Just one and maximum two would suffice. This reflects your motivation and preparation for the program. You should have some questions pool on the back of your mind in case few of them are already responded to. Hope this helps. Good luck...

And yes, don't forget to write a thank you email to the professor who interviewed you today. Sooner is better!

Well, not to discourage you, this is exactly what my professor told me. What I believe is there is a lot of difference between recommending and advocating an applicant? The later is more active and the candidate gets more chances of getting a second interview call. My POI even said that he was really impressed by my CV specially the kind of work I have been doing. But here we go, KAUST decided not to send me an invitation. What do you mean by: "what terms will the second interview be based on?" Could you be more explicit?

Both... Actually, if the professor refuses a candidate after interview, the university will not invite him/her for its second interview at all. On the other hand, if a professor pushes for some candidate and he/she is invited on a university level interview where the candidate does not make an appealing case ... a rejection may be served... Its obvious but hope this helps.

You are welcome Hazzy, The quote you shared is really good...

Yes and guess what'd that be... a big REJECTION...

That's the spirit friends . KAUST and for that matter no university defines who we are and what we are capable of.

Wish you guys all the best...

Told you guys that merit has little to do with KAUST admissions. They crave for diversity beyond perceivable sanity.

No dear no chance of knowing about marine bio... Have got no "source" there...