I would love to find out what the cut-off was!! one of my reviews was simply a sentence suggesting that I read an article (which I am now trying to find, in case this is a cryptic code for something). the others were useful comments, although they ask for a lot from a proposal written prior to getting to the field. I suppose this is what happens when you have to winnow down from 1600 applications... in any case, something about the whole process is patently absurd—if they prefer resubmits, is the expectation that you have a fully conceived and fleshed out proposal a whole year before beginning fieldwork?
ps: fingers crossed for you orangewaterbottle!