UC Davis rejections...

[frankdux]

in all honesty, i think they have a good system. they use the Embark system. perhaps other schools use it, i dont know. but it actually has a grid full of reasons for denial, and then certain boxes are checked indicating your specific reasons for denial. out of 10 schools this is the only school that has given me reasons for my rejection. its pretty informative actually. it'd be nice if every school did this.

[socialpsych]

in all honesty, i think they have a good system. they use the Embark system. perhaps other schools use it, i dont know. but it actually has a grid full of reasons for denial, and then certain boxes are checked indicating your specific reasons for denial. out of 10 schools this is the only school that has given me reasons for my rejection. its pretty informative actually. it'd be nice if every school did this.

Sometimes the reasons are BS though. Like I think the one about "no professor compatible with academic interest" is the default one. I was invited to interview and withdrew my application, and that was the reason listed on my rejection page.

[Sonic]

Mine was something completely unhelpful: "Application not appropriate for department/program". As synthla put it, how is a history application not appropriate for the history program? Considering that I spoke with professors there who encouraged me to apply because our interests fit, I just don't buy that my application was inappropriate...

I'm glad it was helpful for some, though.

[liszt85]

Sometimes the reasons are BS though. Like I think the one about "no professor compatible with academic interest" is the default one. I was invited to interview and withdrew my application, and that was the reason listed on my rejection page.

Same reason listed on mine as well and I'd been in touch with a professor who did exactly the kind of work that I wanted to do and its his name that I mentioned in the SOP. After reading my CV and research interests, he himself once contacted me and said that I might be a good fit for his lab. So yes, that deny reason is not helpful and probably is some sort of default thing.