Got my first rejection

[katiegud]

Boo. Even though I have been accepted elsewhere, I'm bummed. Had to vent to someone, and figured there would be people on here that understand the feeling!

[VioletAyame]

Boo. I'm so sorry to hear that. How high is Edinburgh on your list? Was the letter nice at least?

[katiegud]

It was my top choice, of course. (Leeds was second though, so that's good!) The letter was nice. It just said my research interests were outside their area of expertise, which is about as nice as you can get in a rejection letter. 

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Sucks that it was your top choice. If it was your last choice I'd tell you to quit whining.

[MsDarjeeling]

As much as it sucks to get rejected at least they didn't make you keep waiting and wondering.  Sounds like the letter was fairly straightforward.  Are you still waiting to hear from other schools?

[katiegud]

Yep, I have an interview with one and haven't heard from the other two. Won't find out funding info until March though, which makes it harder to commit to anyone. This waiting thing is not fun!

[Adenine_Monarch]

I'm sorry about your rejection, too. It's got to sting a bit especially as it was your first choice. But think of it this way: if it's really true that your research interests differ a lot from what they specialize in, you probably wouldn't have been as happy once you got there anyway. Good luck with the rest of your schools!

[shelbyelisha]

Sorry to hear that, OP. Any reason you're only applying to schools in the UK? I just found out they don't have application fees, which is pretty nice, so I'm sending my application to Edinburgh and Kent because...what's the worst that could happen?

[katiegud]

Part of it was the lack of application fees, part was that they don't require the GRE (took it for my masters, but my scores have expired because it was more than 5 years ago), part was that a PhD there is 3-4 years, and part was just that I wanted to move there! I spent a few months in Scotland after undergrad and loved it, so I've been hoping to go back at some point.