Unreasonable decisions and lack of transparency

[juilletmercredi]

If you're having school problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a rejection ain't one

 

HAHAHA

 

...it's amusing that there are so many people who took the OP's post (semi-)seriously.

 

My thought is - if that's real talk and your research is SO good that you're synthesizing new materials and have been appointed as a research fellow at a top research institution - with the same salary and benefits as PhD-level scientists - and are supervising your own lab of doctoral students with a recent BA, what the heck do you need a PhD from Berkeley for?  Write a grant and buy your own equipment.  Or apply for a research fellow position at Berkeley.  Since you already have one, transitioning shouldn't be difficult, especially with more first-authored publications than most graduate students have at graduation.

[nesw4314]

Well, it's not like this is Salisbury Steak University or something, it's Berkeley -- people from around the world apply here and choose it over places like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc. depending on the field of study. They didn't say you weren't qualified, but it doesn't mean others weren't qualified either. 

 

I'm a PhD student at Berkeley and honestly the systems are different in admission for different programs. In my program, only certain professors can accept certain students in their lab on certain years to give others a chance to have students. If this is not the system in the program to which you applied then it could be that the professor didn't go to bat for you. If he's a well-respected professor, and I assume he is given that you don't seem the type to work with anything less than that given your egotistical ways, then he could have gotten you accepted if he wanted to, even without him being on the admissions committee. He probably just didn't think you were a good fit or didn't want to fund an international student knowing that you can't apply for the NSF GRF or other fellowships only available to U.S. citizens. 

 

I never get why people want to ask what their weaknesses were in their applications. For God sake, someone has to get rejected. If there are only 10 spots and 80 people apply, and 60 are very qualified, do you really think they have a good reason? 

Edited March 3, 2014 by nesw4314

[Quantum Buckyball]

generation of entitlement