First Rejection

[solairne]

I got my first response today, and it was a rejection. UMASS Amherst was not my first choice, it was 3 of 4 on my list, but it's sort of unnerving to get a rejection as your first response.

It's hard to not take it personally (as it is a personal rejection) but for all I know it could be because of fit. I know I was not a good fit at the program, but I applied anyway. I also found out about 10 days before the first responses were posted in the data bank for 2009, 2008, etc. That means first round of rejections. Boo.

[_alyssaryan_]

Anyone else been waitlisted? It's neither an acceptance nor a rejection... interesting middle ground.

[HOUBMA]

No responses either way for me but one of my schools *DID* notify me that my app was going to "be reviewed at the next scheduled admissions committee meeting." Showtime baby...

I wish I had that kind of "heads up." Although, I have not been rejected from any schools yet, I am still afraid of the lingering thought of rejection.

[Piwi]

During the last month, I've received three invitations for interviews (I've gone on 2, and will go on the next one in a week or two). I received very positive feedback from one of these schools (thankfully the one that I'm VERY excited about!!) However, I haven't received any actual acceptances.

Last night I received my first official rejection/acceptance from any school: a rejection from my top choice program. I hadn't been expecting to be admitted, but it still hurts. If I had already gotten an acceptance I could've said "Yah, so what Top Choice?!?! I'm going to Great School anyway!!"

I think I was able to accept it (and not freak out that I'll be rejected everywhere) because I have had positive feedback from other places. I can't even imagine my disappointment if the rejection had been my first response...

[repatriate]

here is a question for all you fellow applicants: after u get rejected, is it okay/appropriate to call the school you got rejected from to see why and what ways to improve your applications for next year??. I am tempted to call loyola to see what went wrong with my apps but don't know if they will tell me ??

I got rejected a bunch last year and wrote to one POI, asking pretty much just this and also stating some of the things I was already working on. Here is what I heard back:

Repatriate, These sound like good things for a person to do. I know it's hard to not take a rejection personally, and to scrutinize one's own record for flaws, but also keep in mind that our department receives around 150 applicants for panda raising slots in a year, and there are a lot of hard decisions for us to make. It often comes down to whose interests best fit people in the department.

Good luck with your grad school applications!

Overall, a kind message but not particularly helpful.

This year, I read this thread from the Chronicle forums (not sure if it was posted here or if I found it elsewise):

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php?topic=60689.0

The general gist is that faculty find these inquiries irritating.

[pawqara]

I just discover the gradcafe and what a place to vent the frustrations!

I got my first rejection today, from an Ivy university, of course. They did offer me half finantial aid for their MSc program though. But I am not rich and won't accept it.

I think I am dealing with it better than expected, since it was my first choice. Also, because I am in the middle of field work I can't get depressed in front of my team. In town... I supposed I would be crying and in need of SO, nice food and alcohol!

Besides that, I got also an invitation for a skype interview (I am in Peru), I wasn't nervous about that, but NOW I am, since I have less choices.

[kobe36]

I got rejected a bunch last year and wrote to one POI, asking pretty much just this and also stating some of the things I was already working on. Here is what I heard back:

Repatriate, These sound like good things for a person to do. I know it's hard to not take a rejection personally, and to scrutinize one's own record for flaws, but also keep in mind that our department receives around 150 applicants for panda raising slots in a year, and there are a lot of hard decisions for us to make. It often comes down to whose interests best fit people in the department.

Good luck with your grad school applications!

Overall, a kind message but not particularly helpful.

This year, I read this thread from the Chronicle forums (not sure if it was posted here or if I found it elsewise):

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php?topic=60689.0

The general gist is that faculty find these inquiries irritating.

thanks ... i think i am going to hold off on calling the school then. it seems like the general opinions of the board is that most of the time they will give u a generic answer so it seems like it wont even be worth the trouble calling.

[kobe36]

sorry double post

Edited February 7, 2010 by kobe36

[TMP]

*shrugs* It could be that I am in a very small sub-field where there are fewer applications for one or two spots. But when I e-mailed two schools two years ago to find out why I didn't get in. Nobody complained about my GRE/GPA but directed their criticism towards my writing sample and SOP (and languages) and I've been working on those in the last year and half so we'll see.

Just be very polite in your e-mail and ask for criticism. One prof was impressed that I even e-mailed her and said that she would be candid in her feedback. It stung a bit but I appreciated her honesty. It was quite...detailed.

I think it also depends what kind of rapport you had with the professor during the application process. If you've been talking beforehand, they might be more willing to give you more personal answers.

[jaxzwolf]

Received my first rejection today in the post. I'm not sure what hurts more... the rejection itself or the paper cut I got ripping open the envelope.

(Probably the rejection.)

I haven't heard anything from any other school up to this point- no requests for interviews or notifications that my application is going to committee. I suppose that's what makes me really nervous. Good, on the one hand, because I probably wasn't rejected outright at the other places. But certainly not comforting at all for it to be this late in February already without having heard anything, then getting a rejection as the first response.

Don't seem to be too many other ecology folks around here, so I'm not too sure what the norm is for notifications for my field. Guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed and try to keep my hopes up, at least a little. I just need one acceptance, right? Just one would be good enough for me!

[kismetcapitan]

I'm sitting on my first rejection from Jan 15. It stinks having only negative feedback but I am optimistic after the initial shockwave of doubt.

could be worse - I was undergrad at NEC and got rejected for M.M....and THEN, the professor who rejected me, I was taking a class (of six students) with him, and had to show up and deal personally face to face with that rejection. In class. And I still had to bust my ass to pass the class for the rest of the painfully long semester. Talk about a sudden loss of motivation!

[coyabean]

here is a question for all you fellow applicants: after u get rejected, is it okay/appropriate to call the school you got rejected from to see why and what ways to improve your applications for next year??. I am tempted to call loyola to see what went wrong with my apps but don't know if they will tell me ??

Actually I have heard of many people, including in this post, who did just that and got a response. My rejj (I like it, too!) from USC included an invitation from him to contact him AFTER April 1st if I'd like to talk about my app. I won't be but that seemed like a good rule of thumb.

And I'm sorry but that Chronicle link, like a lot of them on the Chronicle, is full of the type of people in academia that chafe my nerves. I am sure there are a lot of annoying, ill-prepared, selfish people to deal with but this idea that a respectful request of their time is a sign of the end of all times is ridiculous. OMG, this person wants to actually TALK to me. Like some of them weren't applying themselves just five years ago. If you don't have time or inclination to respond to a request, don't. Fortunately there are people in academia who are willing to help and I think sending a message is the only way to find those people.

God, the arrogance on there is beyond beyond.

Edited February 14, 2010 by coyabean

[adam_cs]

I got my first response today from School X and it was a rejection ( in batch with many others ).

I have found many of my schools giving acceptances to a handful number of qualified people.

Let me count. c, m, p, c, u, u, b, u. So 8 out of 10 schools have given their acceptance decisions.

It makes me think that I have already been rejected. And adcom is putting rejected applicants in a bin to send an automated rejection letter to all of them at the end. It's like no extra work for the looser. I still have little hope with two other schools. One of them is my top choice and another is the one where I didn't want to go in the first place. It's funny Now I think that no one can be more happy than me if I get admission from my least preferable school.

It was crazy in last few weeks. Now I think I am getting a bit serene. The first rejection made me happy as at least I am not in ignorance anymore. One of them finished reviewing my application I am not still under review.

[hydrangea]

No responses either way for me but one of my schools *DID* notify me that my app was going to "be reviewed at the next scheduled admissions committee meeting." Showtime baby...

I wish I had that kind of "heads up." Although, I have not been rejected from any schools yet, I am still afraid of the lingering thought of rejection.

Shit man, I would be so pissed if they told me that! I would feel compelled to take some sort of action. I would be emotionally writhing. I think I would have a heart attack. They would accept me, but I would already be dead. Maybe that's the point, a sort of encouraged natural selection. Take all the qualified applicants and try to thin them down to a number that you can fund without the guilt of rejecting any.

[EniS]

I got my first rejection a couple of days ago -- not the best valentines day present i've ever got. It didn't really set in till today when I realised that if Yale has rejected me so swiftly (didn't they only just finish processing the applications for review two weeks ago?) then I am pretty sure that all my other choices - Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, NYU - are also going to reject me as their standards are pretty much the same. I am now just so deflated i dont know what to with myself cant even bring myself to cry. Its ridiculous -- its not like someone's died or anything but I cant remeber the last time I was so down on myself. Really sucks is a huge understatement.

[bikefarm]

I got my first rejection letter a couple of weeks ago -- from the same school/department I got my Master's. It's the only school I've heard from too so it's hard to stay hopeful. I keep thinking "hope for the best and expect the worst". I still can't decide if no news is good news for all the other schools I have yet to hear from.

[Tiglath-Pileser III]

I got my first rejection of Feb 8th. While it is not a school that I was interested in, it still had a demoralizing effect.

I wished that I never sent my application there.

[martizzle]

Got my first rejection today: IT SUCKS....I FEEL LIKE CRYING, BUT I HAVE NO TEARS

I actually sold my xbox360 because I wanted to make the deadline...I miss all my fighting games now. If I still had my game, this would be the time I would be killing A LOT of PEOPLE (ad comms in my mind

Edited February 17, 2010 by martizzle

[pikachu]

Got my first rejection yesterday too it's strange but pikachu cried under the shower after reading it. I was hoping to get admitted too much, I think.

Maybe it's better to expect the worst while waiting.

Hugging everybody who got rejected too...

[anxiousapplicant]

I was such a jerk, I yelled at my significant other. It was so stupid, because I didn't care about being rejected by Yale, but he didn't have the appropriate reaction to my being rejected so I was more mad at him than the rejection. Sucks for everyone! I'll behave better next rejection, I hope. I'll probably cry, like I always cry about everything. Anyway, what's wrong with crying? At least you get it out of your system.

[microman]

Last app season, the first rejection didn't sting too much. I thought to myself, oh well, there are still other chances. The final rejection notice was what stung the most, the realization that I would have to wait another year to try again. I drove up to the mountains near where I work and just blew up in my car. I told my family that I did not want to discuss it at all, since the only "consolation reasons" they had just turned the knife. This year, the first rejection stung a lot more, since I did not have any acceptances at that point, it just raised the fear of failure; this season could have ended up very much like the last one. My most recent rejection happened while on the way to a dinner at an interview, my only reaction to this day (and this was a personal top choice) was "damn". Just keep your hopes up, there's always a bright side. Maybe you're not supposed to go there.

[adam_cs]

I got my 3rd rejection today. Didn't expect to get in there. But it hurts when you get a rejection when you have nothing in your basket.

Not many school left. Some of them already gave out their first round of acceptance. So I guess I wasn't their top choice. I suffer premonition and confirm suspicion of getting rejected from rest of the schools. There might be some other in the same situation like me. God help us all.

[danicalifornia]

The only notification I got so far was a rejection from Columbia. I knew it was going to be *almost impossible* to get in, I hated. I woke up saturday morning, with the sensation there was something in my inbox. there it was. they offered me to consider me for a masters, but no funding.

I cried two hours after, and spend the whole day staring at nothing. my bf was there with me, but I've been driving him nuts since toefl and gre (started with the madness on july 2009).

I just want to get into my favourite program, and stop refreshing my inbox for some good news.

Good luck for everyone, and we are going to be ok!

[bikefarm]

The only notification I got so far was a rejection from Columbia. I knew it was going to be *almost impossible* to get in, I hated. I woke up saturday morning, with the sensation there was something in my inbox. there it was. they offered me to consider me for a masters, but no funding.

I cried two hours after, and spend the whole day staring at nothing. my bf was there with me, but I've been driving him nuts since toefl and gre (started with the madness on july 2009).

I just want to get into my favourite program, and stop refreshing my inbox for some good news.

Good luck for everyone, and we are going to be ok!

You're right -- we are going to be okay! Thanks for the reminder. It's easy to be hard on yourself and feel low during this time. But I keep trying to be optimistic and I needed to hear something positive right now and luckily I saw your post!

Good luck

[alizarin]

I got 2 rejections so far out of 7 schools I applied to.

The first one WAS my top choice (Yale). I was very disappointed but I didn't cry. It took me a couple of days to get over it. I emailed the program director to ask for advice from the faculty reviewers on how to improve my portfolio if I apply again next year. Unfortunately, they won't even give any feedback. All she said was, "you should go to the the open house and meet with instructors and grad students." Actually, I went to that last year. I traveled from California to New Haven to go their once-a-year-only open house for their MFA program. I couldn't help wonder if she meant I should "make connections" and "suck-up" to the instructors and current grad students as a way in? That's just not my style..Is this how it works with Yale?

Anyway, today I got my 2nd rejection from my 2nd choice. Kind of cried a little. Just a couple of tears though, when I was able to stop myself and realize it wasn't worth it. I thought, maybe I should mix myself a cocktail. But I'm already broke from college applications and all it took to prepare for all this. Plus, I don't want to gain any weight from this experience.

Then I thought, maybe I should paint something. But my studio's a mess since I turned in my grad apps and portfolio. And I can't bring myself to paint for now after these rejections. That's all.