Rejected... Need advice

[raulr29]

Hello,

I'm an international student with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from a reputed Indian University. I am my batch topper with a GPA of 9.43/10. Subsequent upon on completion of my studies, I worked as Production Engineer in India's Oil and Gas E&P company for 4 years. I have a decent GRE score of 167/153/4.0 and TOEFL score of 105. I applied for UT Austin, TAMU and Penn State. But, all universities rejected my applications. The reason is unknown to me. Kindly guide me to apply in more effective way for Spring 2017.

[AP]

Rejections can be due a large number of things, many of which have nothing to with you, and many of which do. For example, it depends on the program you applied for, the professors available, your funding situation, your SoP... Also, it depends on the pool of applicants, on the competition of that year, and on the faculty priorities. It is hard to say why you got rejected because you provided information for what you should have been admitted. 

I don't know how you field handles this, but if you had any contact with any professor, I would ask them in which way you can improve the application for next year. They won't tell you much, but may be they drop a line or two. Also, do you know anyone that is attending grad school now? It helped me a lot have someone read my materials before I sent them. Finally, have you considered other programs? For example, and this comes from someone outside your field so forgive me if I am wrong, do you think TAMU committee would wonder why you didn't apply for their Qatar campus? 

The bright side is that you have experience for next time!

[Sigaba]

13 hours ago, raulr29 said:

Hello,

I'm an international student with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from a reputed Indian University. I am my batch topper with a GPA of 9.43/10. Subsequent upon on completion of my studies, I worked as Production Engineer in India's Oil and Gas E&P company for 4 years. I have a decent GRE score of 167/153/4.0 and TOEFL score of 105. I applied for UT Austin, TAMU and Penn State. But, all universities rejected my applications. The reason is unknown to me. Kindly guide me to apply in more effective way for Spring 2017.

I  recommend that you communicate with the departments at the respective school and try to get a sense of what they're looking for in successful applicants. I would also specifically ask about their process for evaluating GPAs that aren't on a 4.0 scale and from academic institutions out of the United States. Do what you can to avoid questions/comments that sound like Why didn't I get in? / I should have gotten in. Instead, keep the conversation focused on identifying what you can do to make yourself a better applicant.

You might also try reaching out to the following organizations for insights, tips, and pointers.

http://texasisa.org/

https://stuactonline.tamu.edu/app/organization/profile/public/id/530

http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/igsa/