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KAUST application deferred


JessicaAsh

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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. 

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  • 3 months later...

Hello,
I had the same response from them. I don't understand what it means, but I am optimistic. Now I am waiting for their response, and they told me that there would be one final interview. If you get an answer from them, please notify me, and I'll do the same. 
Best of luck!

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  • 1 year later...
On 7/20/2021 at 5:37 PM, JessicaAsh said:

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. 

Hello, hope you got an admit to the university and are doing fine with everything. I too have applied for environmental engineering at KAUST and am still waiting for a response. However, I'd like to prepare for interviews and therefore could you please help me with the questions or what to prepare on for interviews? How did your interviews go, which technical area should I focus on, and what are the main things they focus on while interviewing? Thank you so much. I hope you reply!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/10/2023 at 9:46 AM, henryyy said:

I

I recently received unexpected news that my application for the master's program at KAUST has been deferred until next year, despite completing all the interview stages. This has thrown my plans into disarray, as I was expecting an offer or rejection by now. I've reached out to the admissions department to express my concerns. While waiting for their response, I'm curious to know if anyone else has experienced a similar situation. It's a puzzling move by KAUST, given the positive feedback I received during the interviews. I'm hopeful for a resolution as I navigate this uncertainty and plan for the future.

Hey, since this was the same as I felt I will update you on that post. I have recently graduated from Kaust now. But when I contacted my PI (the professor whose lab I was joining) updating him about the situation, since he was unaware I was deferred, I was very lucky that he had the power and motivation to get me accepted. Admittedly this was too late for me to join the fall semester as a masters student but I was allowed to go when I had my visa (arrived mid Oc) then I waited until the Spring semester which starts in January and I officially commenced my studies classified as a Ms/PhD student. From Oct-Jan I got aquainted with my research project, still getting the stipend. Pure ms or ms/PhD doesn't make much difference to your studies, it just gives you the option to do a PhD without having to apply to change from the masters track. I would recommend telling the individual you had your academic interview with and it will be up to them to decide if they want to follow this up with the admissions department. In my experience they aren't very good at replying to applicants. Hope this helps, as I understand how for me at least, the year defferal was worse than a clear rejection because of the uncertainty. 

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