Hanyuye

Pompous thread.

@glf212 It is on you to prove that you did not start this thread so that you can thump your chest while many of your peers are in misery. It is up to you to make things right.

I think getting a debriefing from BU and posting the useful information from that conversation will be a wise move for you at this point and time.

I concur with others, in that you probably got rejected due to lack of program/supervisory fit (since your grades and GRE were obviously good enough for Harvard!).

Also, I know others have commented that your post seems kind of pompous, but I think you've raised an interesting point. This kind of "reverse" rejection happens all the time in grad school. e.g., Why did my paper get accepted for this conference and not for that one? Or for this journal and not for that one? Or - the most confusing - why did I win this funding, but not that funding?!?!?! It can drive a person nuts. What I'd suggest is that unless you get rejected from a "top" choice (e.g., your number 1 journal, conference, school, award, etc.), don't worry about it. There's merit in knowing why a top choice anything would reject you, since there will likely be a learning opportunity in knowing the answers. Otherwise, chillax and count your blessings!

For the record, it wouldn't have crossed my mind to think there was anything pompous about this post and I'm kind of surprised that people jumped down your throat about it. If anything, I think the whole "OP, it is up to YOU to make this right!" thing is a little overblown...

Chillax guys. I know feelings can be a little delicate this time of year, but don't be so quick to assume the worst of other people.

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I think both of you completely missed the point of this thread. I really doubt that the OP wanted to brag annonymously to people he never met, and probably never will meet.

It raises a very legitimate issue, and looking at the replies, one that several other people were wondering about. Just because someone gets into a top ranking grad school doesnt mean that they should attend that school by default. For example, the OP indicates that there is another school which he would rather join and he is anxious to hear back from (Columbia).

Since his resume must have been good enough for getting admitted to several top ranking schools this shouldnt be the reason for his rejection from BU. So then the question of this thread is, what was the reason for rejection? And how to adress that in case you really want to go to a specific school (again regardless of school rank)? Apparantly just working on your GPA/GRE/etc. is not enough.

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Its all about how you "fit" in the prospective graduate class that they have for the next year. How your research experience relates to what their faculty does etc.

That said, I have a pretty similar situation as you do. I applied to 3 schools, I got accepted in the 2 schools with the higher ranking in my field but I havent heard anything yet from the school that I initially thought would be most likely to accept me.

Finally, since its your safety, could it be that your SOP for that school was less strong? For me it was much easier to write a strong SOP for my top choice for example.

And sometimes, admissions committees just make dumb decisions! Faculty members are human, too.

Another possibility is that BU sensed that you're a big fish who'd get offers from bigger ponds. So the program made an offer to a student who was more interested in attending than you conveyed in your application materials.

In any case, if you really want to know, call/write the Powers That Be at BU for a debriefing.

Most of all, enjoy what you have accomplished. Harvard and Penn! Congratulations!

Haha dont question it and just go! I had a similar experience in which I was rejected from my alma mater and safety school (Stony Brook) which is a great school but its not a top 20 but accepted at Cornell and waitlisted at a ton of other big names in the field. Go figure.