Can I ask why?

[cschwartz]

So I am starting to get my rejection letters and I am wondering why I am getting rejected. Is it considered rude to ask a school why they decided to pass on my application? I just don't know what I am suppose to improve for next year and I really have no plan B to fall back on, so it is important that I get in this year or next.

[polytropos]

So I am starting to get my rejection letters and I am wondering why I am getting rejected. Is it considered rude to ask a school why they decided to pass on my application? I just don't know what I am suppose to improve for next year and I really have no plan B to fall back on, so it is important that I get in this year or next.

I have wondered the same thing. Then again I would have to get the rejection letter actually sent to me before I could ask, but in the end I would like to ask why. I have been told I would make a "very strong applicant" and that with my credentials I shouldn't be shy to apply anywhere I was interested. And yet I have one acceptance with no word on the funding situation, 1 rejection, and 6 time bombs just sitting out there driving me to the edge of insanity and waiting to ruin future days one by one. And then there is knowing that no explanation will be given, just a rejection.

"You are the weakest link. Goodbye!"

[newms]

I don't think it's rude to ask, but you should do so in the framework of asking how to improve your application. If you had some contact with a POI before application then it's perfectly ok to ask what you can do to improve your app for next year. If you didn't have any contact before application, then you could still ask - probably the department admissions people.