Already posited this as a response in another topic but also positing here for a wider audience.
I applied for a masters in environmental engineering at KAUST in the Nov round (2020) and transferred departments to marine science. It was a really long time, 2/3 months between my academic and personal interview, and had my final personal interview over a month ago, also received my undergrad results a couple of weeks ago.
I have just been informed my application has been deferred for consideration until fall 2022, next year. This was a surprise since it is such short notice (the fall term onboarding starts 15th Aug) and my application has dragged on for so long - largely their fault. My main concern is that I have not even received an offer for next year, despite completing all the interview stages, so I still do not know. I have sent an email to the admissions department with my concerns, but just wondering if anyone else has had this?
At the very least I would have thought I would have got an offer/rejection even if its for next year since the only thing left to do on their part is to decide if I got in or not and they've had over a month to do that after I had my personal interview. I thought both interviews went well and all the people I spoke to basically made it sound like I was getting in, academic interviewer saying I should contact him to discuss thesis topic after the final stages, personal interviewers saying how they want more people from the UK to apply, etc. Seems a very strange move for KAUST and it has thrown all my potential plans into disarray since it is very hard to do anything meaningful career or experience-wise in a year and there's still the risk I get rejected next year.