Rejection - advice

[yehk]

Just got rejected from my top choice - gutted as you can imagine but i'd like to find out more but not sure how to go about it. Basically, I went to visit the school in Easter and I spoke to the then Director of Graduate Studies at my department (Richard), who sounded enthusiastic about receiving an MA application (the school does have an MA course, but rarely receives applications for it, they normally do PhDs), and came across like he was impressed with my background/studies when i went to speak to him. Unfortunately this Richard guy isn't director of grad studies this year and is also on sabbatical, which meant that he probably couldnt have had any input when the Adcom were reviewing my application.

As far as i can see, I am a good candidate for this degree (which is what Richard said as well), and especially since they don't receive that many applications for it, it seems as if it can't be mega competitive. I just want to find out what exactly it was that wasn't up to par and express my confusion - should I email Richard and cc the current director? Does anyone have any advice on how to word it, because I don't want to come across like a nagging applicant who can't get over the fact that i've just been rejected. It just seemed as if Richard was so enthusiastic about my application... i just don't understand.

[BongRips69]

As a general rule of thumb, I try not to initiate emails with professors... it will often contribute to the nag factor. Doubly so if you've been rejected. I would definitely shoot and email to the graduate coordinator and ask. Just don't expect a helpful response.

This process is capricious, there's no way around it. If your background was deficient in some way, you probably would've been told sooner.

[LadyL]

It could be a simple logistical issues, like there was no one who could be your adviser, the program didn't take any students because of funding, etc. If you have a rapport with a prof. in the dept. I don't think it hurts to ask if there's anything you could do to strengthen your application. I did this last round and found out that one prof. I applied to work with didn't get to take any students due to funding so it had nothing to do with me as a candidate.