Does it ever happen?

[nurye27]

Hi guys,

I was just wondering if it ever happens that you get good feedback on your application from your target faculty, he/she is really enthusiastic about you and tells you that he/she will do everything to get you in, but you still get rejected?

Just curious if it ever happened to anyone.

[ma7eb4i]

Apologies for being a downer, but this happened to me. Contacted a prof, he said my application was strong and that he'd be interested in taking me as a grad student. Rejection e-mail came New Year's Eve.

[rogue]

It hasn't happened to me personally, but I've read posts (probably even here) about it before. Not to be discouraging, but it's certainly possible. Sometimes professors want you but don't have the pull to get you in. On the upside, at least you know someone thinks you're great, and that your research proposal has merit.

[katalytik]

Hi guys,

I was just wondering if it ever happens that you get good feedback on your application from your target faculty, he/she is really enthusiastic about you and tells you that he/she will do everything to get you in, but you still get rejected?

Just curious if it ever happened to anyone.

I applied only to 3 schools and I expect this at at least one. The problem is that the entire committee needs to agree who to let in. So if there is another student that a powerful professor wants, then the rest of applicants pushed aside. I went to visit professors, talked to some on the phone, and one of them told me that I was "pretty much in". How this is because he is the Director of Graduate Studies at this program. These profs I spoke with were in general excited about the topic, and wanted students to pursue this approach to this topic. BUT, I am sure there is someone better than me in their eyes. I just want to be good enough to be admitted.......that's all. I can worry about being the "star" student after getting in. Just getting in is the biggest hurdle for me -- not what research I want to do, not what faculty I need to work with, etc.

[Caligula]

Or, to flip the question: Has anyone ever not heard a peep from a potential advisor during the review process and then recieve an offer? One can only hope

[repatriate]

Hi guys,

I was just wondering if it ever happens that you get good feedback on your application from your target faculty, he/she is really enthusiastic about you and tells you that he/she will do everything to get you in, but you still get rejected?

Just curious if it ever happened to anyone.

Not quite like this, but I did have an animated, fascinating, and enjoyable phone interview with a prof last year, who praised my application. A few days later, I got a very kind email, again praising my application, stating that our research interests just didn't align as well as with other candidates, so I wouldn't be invited to on-site interviews to follow. He assured me that I would get in somewhere, just not there.

Perhaps other faculty don't have as much tact as this prof did, but his candor and praise really helped me not be hurt by the rejection. In the end, I was grateful to have that fantastic conversation with a fantastic mind.

As one mentor told me, consider this stage of the process your opportunity to interview faculty as much as it is theirs to interview you. Better for you and/or the prof to find out now that you don't quite mesh (in interests, work habits, professional needs, etc.) than to find that out when you get to school.

Edited January 11, 2010 by repatriate

[fuzzylogician]

Or, to flip the question: Has anyone ever not heard a peep from a potential advisor during the review process and then recieve an offer? One can only hope

Yes.

[johndiligent]

It's certainly happened. There are people who get warmly accepted by the department only to be rejected by the graduate school.

[joro]

Your admission isn't always in the Professors hands. Last year, I contacted a few Professors and they said that they would definitely take a look at my application after I get through the first round of admissions and that they don't choose students till they're accepted.

[socialpsych]

Both things happened to me last year: positive communication with a professor followed by rejection, and no communication whatsoever followed by enthusiastic acceptance.

[jacib]

Or, to flip the question: Has anyone ever not heard a peep from a potential advisor during the review process and then recieve an offer? One can only hope

One sociology professor told me that at his rather small department, about half the applications come from (and half the acceptances go to) students who the faculty has had no contact with prior to getting the actual application.

[Deleted]

Well, while it does happen that you get a positive feedback to later be rejected, it remains very good news to be contacted. So congrats on that! It shows that your application is strong and even if you do not get into that particular school, it is encouraging for the rest of your apps.

[socialpsych]

One sociology professor told me that at his rather small department, about half the applications come from (and half the acceptances go to) students who the faculty has had no contact with prior to getting the actual application.

Half?! That means that half of the applicants DO contact the profs beforehand...how the heck does this not take up absurd amounts of the profs' time?

[coyabean]

gee thanks, guys.

[LiteratureMajor]

See, I knew it was smart not to grin from ear to ear when the graduate director at one program I'm pursuing told me, "This program is perfect for you." Oh yes, it's perfect for me... Now the trick is to show the powers-that-be why I'm perfect for it.

[digits2006]

See, I knew it was smart not to grin from ear to ear when the graduate director at one program I'm pursuing told me, "This program is perfect for you." Oh yes, it's perfect for me... Now the trick is to show the powers-that-be why I'm perfect for it.

A graduate director told me also. I want to research exactly what she does. She told me that she wants more of those people and im a perfect fit. She even told " we want you!" So I am hoping that they take me. It's one of my masters programs, but they want you to stay there and get your PhD. So I hope she wants me enough to accept me.

[LiteratureMajor]

A graduate director told me also. I want to research exactly what she does. She told me that she wants more of those people and im a perfect fit. She even told " we want you!" So I am hoping that they take me. It's one of my masters programs, but they want you to stay there and get your PhD. So I hope she wants me enough to accept me.

Good luck to you! Did you send a thank-you e-mail or anything just to refresh her memory? I'm doing that, and I hope it helps.

[chimerical]

I think the economy is also making the funding situation very difficult at most schools. It's possible that a prof may truly want you as a student, but the department as a whole just doesn't have the money to admit all the students it wants.

But hey, even if it's not a guarantee, positive feedback is still only a good thing.

[jacib]

Half?! That means that half of the applicants DO contact the profs beforehand...how the heck does this not take up absurd amounts of the profs' time?

It's a department that accepts only like four students a year, so they don't get tons of applicants. Let's say 100... so 50 contact... spread that over 6 or faculty that take grad students... . that's 8.3 per professor.... over a space of let's say the four weeks before applications are due?

Even let's look at Columbia's sociology department. They get more applications than most per admitted student because they're in New York and have a good undergraduate reputation basically. 24 professors, let's say no one who got a PhD after 2005 can take grad students, and no one who got a PhD before 1980 can either. That leaves 14. They get 280 apps a year, ish. If half write, that's 140. That's still only 10 per prof! I mean obviously it's not equally distributed. But it's not a huge drain on time... unlike this board, on which I have recently wasted an hour coming up with imaginary math equations.

Hmmm, this metric also ignores the many people who write and are told "Sorry you're not right for our program. Best of luck elsewhere!" But those emails generally don't take very long to write...

[intextrovert]

See, I knew it was smart not to grin from ear to ear when the graduate director at one program I'm pursuing told me, "This program is perfect for you." Oh yes, it's perfect for me... Now the trick is to show the powers-that-be why I'm perfect for it.

Ah, tell me about it! A DGS at a program I really like told me the same, and man, I agree with her. I've really been trying not to get my hopes up on account of that, because there are just so many variables. I did write follow-up thank you emails after meeting with a few profs there, and one wrote me back, "Please come to [school]." I'm thinking, um, please accept me to [school]!

This thread is definitely keeping my feet on the ground. With all these accounts of rejection after positive contact, though, it's also kind of making me doubt whether people actually do get in after that sort of contact! Yikes.

[socialpsych]

Ah, tell me about it! A DGS at a program I really like told me the same, and man, I agree with her. I've really been trying not to get my hopes up on account of that, because there are just so many variables. I did write follow-up thank you emails after meeting with a few profs there, and one wrote me back, "Please come to [school]." I'm thinking, um, please accept me to [school]!

This thread is definitely keeping my feet on the ground. With all these accounts of rejection after positive contact, though, it's also kind of making me doubt whether people actually do get in after that sort of contact! Yikes.

Of course people do! I had positive contacts beforehand with several faculty at my dream program, which is where I ended up. They said I would be a good fit, and then they DID make me an offer!

Your probability of getting in after this kind of contact is certainly higher than your overall probability. That doesn't mean it's 100% (or even 50%), but it is way higher than average (which for most programs is, what, 5%?). At least, I'm guessing. How could it possibly be otherwise?

[intextrovert]

Your probability of getting in after this kind of contact is certainly higher than your overall probability. That doesn't mean it's 100% (or even 50%), but it is way higher than average (which for most programs is, what, 5%?). At least, I'm guessing. How could it possibly be otherwise?

Well, that's good to hear. I'm grateful for any edge at all. I mean, of course it makes sense - but when you get the impression that so many people are getting that kind of feedback, you have to wonder if it's just what they say. But I suppose this board is not a representative sample.

Edited January 16, 2010 by intextrovert