Weird Decision at the University of South Carolina

[YoungR3b3l]

Hello everyone

 

So I have applied to the university of South Carolina the Graduate college specifically in Political science/International studies program in addition I have fulfilled the requested requirement.

 

I have experienced a weird situation regarding my Decision which was a Rejection, my concerns were not with the rejection as much as I have experienced the following things:

 

I almost daily log into my Check application status account, and there are usually two notifying things:1- The application status 2- Decision. both parts were followed by "Pending". which is okay.

 

Here goes the weird thing, Before two days I have logged into the Application status account,  and the Application Status part contained a sentence with the following meaning '' The Program has reviewed and recommended admission to your application, your application is now back to the Graduate school for a decision '' However, the 'Decision' below was still ''Pending'' .. So I had mixed feelings, fear and excitement. I wasn't quite sure why the Decision was pending Since the program has requested a recommendation of admission, hence I was kind of suspecious of the decision. In case of misunderstanding, I have a friend who studies MA at North Carolina, Chapel Hill to look at my Application Status Previous statement, he can tell me what it was meant to be, and yes, we both concluded to the same idea: The program recommended me an admission, and I am waiting for the Graduate school decision.

 

I was quite optimistic but also afraid, guess what then? At the same day I receive a decision from the graduate college to Regretting of informing me of a decline !!

 

I'm quite shocked. What was going on guys ?

How can a program recommends someone and the graduate school rejects?

Did I misunderstand something or have something missed?

Is it possible to recommend an applicant from the program then the graduate school declines it?

 

Please let me know if you have any information regarding such cases, and what procedures shall I do further ?

 

Thanks and sorry for the prolonged topic.

[TakeruK]

There are a few different possibilities for you to get an initial recommendation but then ultimately rejected:

 

1. The department/program recommended you but it turns out that you don't meet the graduate school's requirement and they rejected you. Usually this would mean the program would appeal for them to make an exception for you. Perhaps they did and it failed, or perhaps they did overlooked something on your application and the grad school pointed out that you don't meet it and they decided to not appeal on your behalf. 

 

2. The department/program might have recommended you to the graduate school so that they can see if you would qualify for some fellowships that might offset their additional cost since you're international. Perhaps it turned out that you did not get the fellowships so the department opted not to admit you since they don't have the funds to support an international student.

 

3. There was a mistake and the department didn't actually recommend you at all.

 

Did you get any notification from the department about the recommendation? Usually the department will tell you as soon as they recommend you if they are prepared to accept you as soon as the grad school says yes. If you didn't get a notification, it might mean that option 2 or 3 is more likely than option 1.

 

 

There isn't really much you can do--the decision has been made. Usually applicants do not have the privilege of knowing every detail/reasoning behind their decision. If you really want to see what information you can get, perhaps you can send a brief email asking if they are able to give you any tips about improving your application in the future. But only do this if you didn't get in anywhere else and plan on applying again next year. 

[Lifesaver]

Not sure what happened with your decision, but don't worry, you don't want to live in Columbia anyway.

[YoungR3b3l]

TakeruK

Thanks for your clarifications. I tend to believe that no. 1 is more accurate, which is I have been recommended from the dept committee however I didnt meet the graduate college GRE minimum. I came with this conclusion after Ive found out personally and randomly on their website that there is a minimum GRE score, however for the past couple of days ive been searching for that page that Ive found i couldnt find it!! Did they change their requirements? Am I not searching well? Am I wrong initially when I saw the minimum GRE scores? I dont know.

Lifesaver:

Well, im almost forced to apply to specific universities for scholarship matters..