Do universities do this often?

[metamorph]

Hi everyone,

Just had a question... is it common for universities to refer applicants based on their profile to another program?

In my case, I am applying for an MS in CS.

So far during the application and waiting for decision process, two universities that I applied to referred me to another program. 

The first university responded within 2 and a half weeks (after submission of application) and said while they were not admitting me for their MS program, they thought I had much to offer and asked if they could forward my application without any fee to their MEng program. (to which I consented)

Another university responded, (much later after 2 and a half months) and did not approve my application but asked if they could forward my application to another department that was collaborating with their CS one. This was also without any fee, however because I wasn't too happy with the program, I did not respond back.

I would have thought this was usual fare in universities but after asking a few of my friends, none of them seemed to have such an experience.

Also googling online about this has not got me any result either. So why am I asking this? I am curious if anyone else is in a similar position  vis-à-vis this.

Do universities do this based on potential of a candidate or just...potential money....

[morpheus]

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe this is far more common in CS. Since other departments (especially engineering) always need more people with programming skills, they're basically trying to place you in another group in the hopes of getting your work for free via the collaboration (as the other group is funding you). Be careful not to become the engineers' code monkey!

[ChrisTOEFert]

I have heard of it as well, but it's not the norm.  I think what is more common is if you apply to a PhD and they reject you for that, they will sometimes offer you a position in their Master's program if they still think your research is interesting/important or they rejected you but just barely but you'd 100% make cut off no questions asked for a Master's program.  I know some people as well who are currently paid/funded by the biology department but actually study in the anthropology department doing evolutionary genetics on anthropological topics. 

Short answer: it appears yes, but it's not very common.

[metamorph]

Thanks guys, I'll keep this in mind. 

[johnnycomelately]

I'm in the humanities, so my experience maybe doesn't perfectly fit your situation.

 At one school I applied to my POI contacted me and asked if I would switch to a related department, also for PhD. Their reasoning was that there is never a guarantee that an applicant a POI is interested in admitting will be approved by the committee, or that even if they are, securing funding could be an issue. I told them that I would rather stay with the program I applied to, and was admitted without any issues (offered full funding for six years, plus dissertation writing fellowships). I think it shows they are interested, but for whatever reason think you might have an easier time being admitted to a different department. 

[thepinkdragon76]

I believe it is more common in CS. When I met with my POI he had me talk to the committee chair to see if I should switch to CoE for CS instead of the MSIT. I don't have a BS in CS or engineering so I knew the answer would be no anyhow. I'm still waiting for my decision for the MSIT.