Qualifying year for a Master's program

[telianathegreat]

This admissions season, I applied to 5 PhD programs in Ling and one MA program. So far, I've been rejected from 3 PhD programs and haven't heard from the other 2 (although, I haven't received an interview, so I'm thinking my chances are pretty much zero). The MA people just e-mailed me today and offered me a qualifying year because I don't have the right background. I'm feeling pretty frustrated at this point since I do have an undergraduate degree in linguistics, pretty good grades (A- average), and great GRE scores.

 

At any rate, it's a qualifying year that would allow me to re-apply to this program with no guarantee of admission even if I passed all the courses. Does this seem worthwhile? Does anyone know anything about qualifying years? I'm thinking I might just try to cut my losses and do research for a year or two.