mr_anxious Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 We very rarely get this - an honest, point by point analysis of why they don't want us. But, do we reallyyyy want the honest (obnoxious) truth? May be this fictional piece will change your mind: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-honest-college-rejection-letter If you have received blatantly honest rejections, post them here. ERR_Alpha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathCat Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Not a rejection letter, but somebody posted this rejection on the results search: University Of Victoria Linguistics, PhD (F14) Rejected via E-mail on 28 Mar 2014 I 29 Mar 2014 "We regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you admission for the following reason: The Department of Linguistics has reviewed your file and judged your application to be not competitive with other applicants to the program." How nice! MidwesternAloha and dr. t 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMercySeat Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Ha! I got an honest response of "not being as familiar with faculty work" and "not having enough experimental work." Naturally, I was competing against current UGs at this program, so there's no way I can know professors better than their students who see them daily. I had to get a job after graduating (the perils of not being independently wealthy), and most paid research jobs (at least the ones I've seen in my field) are applied gigs. Applied gigs with real-world consequences present little opportunity for pure experimental work because of those pesky ethics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brown_eyed_girl Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Hahaha, love the McSweeny's piece. I laughed out loud at "we combat past discrimination by discriminating in the present." My own rejection letters were pretty standard, sadly. I didn't give them much thought since I thankfully got into a great program, but in those cases where people get across the board rejections a little constructive feedback seems welcome... Sword_Saint 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandarin.orange Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 You'll find some good stuff The person who received coded reasons as to why (s)he wasn't offered the position -- and they enclosed a key -- was my favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crucial BBQ Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 My rejection letters were all run-of-mill however in contacting adcomms, POIs, and program directors, I did get honest feedback on why I was not accepted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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