Rejection 2009.... Share your pain!

robertson · Post by **robertson** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:38 pm

Helio wrote:you still have caltech you know
robertson wrote:Add another one, and this one hurts! Guess I might say goodbye to the sun! Nice day
you still have caltech you know

Hey! Just bought a flight to LA and a flight to Boston. You know what's funny? The boston one is more expensive, because it is in the middle of eastern holidays. I'd love to go to Caltech but so far only Mark Wise is doing something related to what I want to do, and he doesn't seem to be interested in me

Stanford had plenty of oportunities for me, as many as MIT, and that makes me think I'm almost living in Boston right now. Well see, good luck with your decision!

isobelojalvo · Post by **isobelojalvo** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:44 pm

This is supposed to be a REJECTION board....

spershog · Post by **spershog** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:48 pm

I've the same Princeton rejection stuff:

"
The number of places available at Princeton for entering graduate students is extremely limited and we cannot offer admission to all who are well-qualified. Indeed, many departments consistently have applicants who would be admitted without hesitation if the resources were available. Our decisions take into account not only the applicants’ merits, but also the suitability of the department’s programs to the candidates’ expressed interests. Our goal is to achieve a sound match between the strengths of our programs and the interests of the relatively small number of outstanding students that can be accommodated.
"

Imperate · Post by **Imperate** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:12 pm

Well to add to the masses already....Stanford rejection (via email)...no big surprise

t!m · Post by **t!m** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:27 pm

Another Princeton rejection here ... on my birthday. Hmph.

aristotle · Post by **aristotle** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:04 pm

t!m wrote:Another Princeton rejection here ... on my birthday. Hmph.

Ouch, I'm sorry. I didn't get in either, but it wasn't my birthday...not the best present

Hypatia · Post by **Hypatia** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:26 am

two rejections in a day. One from university of Michigan (email) and the other from Chicago (snail mail)

a bucket · Post by **a bucket** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:57 pm

Stanford and Caltech rejections, both today.

thefourth · Post by **thefourth** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:24 pm

rejected by Princeton and Caltech today

astromandi · Post by **astromandi** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:31 pm

Rejection from Caltech....

It`s first reply for me from any Grad school so far. I have been checking for mails every 5 mins for last one month. Apparently I am from a place halfway across the globe from US. So I have not slept peacefully for a single night in last month.

Anyways didn`t have too many expectations as I did quite badly in verbal (380). But when I got by P-GRE score around 20th Dec (990) I decided to give it a shot to atleast couple of top 5 Grad Schools. And Caltech was the only one which had late deadline (1st Jan). So applied there. There was nothing to loose.

Now that I have started getting replies I sincerely hope that I would get few positive replies next week.

bryanwitha_y · Post by **bryanwitha_y** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:35 pm

Caltech via e-mail. What do they know anyway. They can take their beautiful california weather and their highly ranked graduate program and their 31 Nobel laureates and...and...aww, I made myself sad.

Now I'm afraid to check my mail for U Chicago's letter.

Another move to the left on my aspirations bar:

Evil Genius |-----|O----l-----| Ethical Scientist

isobelojalvo · Post by **isobelojalvo** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:45 pm

bryanwitha_y wrote:Caltech via e-mail. What do they know anyway. They can take their beautiful california weather and their highly ranked graduate program and their 31 Nobel laureates and...and...aww, I made myself sad.

Now I'm afraid to check my mail for U Chicago's letter.

Another move to the left on my aspirations bar:

Evil Genius |-----|O----l-----| Ethical Scientist

LA (or rather Pasadena) isn't that great... I can't wait to get outta here.

isobelojalvo · Post by **isobelojalvo** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:48 pm

Has anyone been rejected via websites yet? I'm waiting to hear from UCI, UCSB, UCLA, UMN, BU and Stony Brook... Even a website rejection would be okay with me at this point, I just hate not knowing.

dmahler · Post by **dmahler** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:02 pm

Rejected by Caltech by email this morning....

babazula · Post by **babazula** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:04 pm

i have not emailed\called Harvard to ask my status, because i don't want to know that i got another rejection

dmahler · Post by **dmahler** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:06 pm

haha same deal with me.... I'm pretty sure I got rejected from both Harvard and MIT, I just don't want to know at this point. The recent rejection from Caltech has certainly put a damper on my spirits...

spershog · Post by **spershog** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:59 pm

Caltech rejection here.....
what a fruitful month....

G01 · Post by **G01** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:42 pm

MIT has sent out a gem of a rejection letter! It is literally only 5 sentences!

Cornell at least gave me a decent sized paragraph when rejecting me! I'm disappointed MIT, disappointed indeed.

Helio · Post by **Helio** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:55 pm

G01 wrote:MIT has sent out a gem of a rejection letter! It is literally only 5 sentences!

Cornell at least gave me a decent sized paragraph when rejecting me! I'm disappointed MIT, disappointed indeed.

That is one less than the stanford rejection letter

Helio · Post by **Helio** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:37 pm

Boulder APS rejection... i guess solar physics does not need any people even with a new satellite going up some time this year... 3 years research down the drain

a bucket · Post by **a bucket** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:13 pm

I wonder if anybody here would be willing to post their rejection letters here... For some reason I'm a sadistic asshole and enjoy picking out the harshest of them all. Just to practice what I preach, here are my rejections from Stanford and Caltech:

Caltech:
"Thank you very much for your application to the graduate program in Physics at the California Institute of Technology. After carefully reviewing your application, the admissions committee has decided to decline your application. As you no doubt know, we are able to act favorably upon only a small percentage of the thousands of applications we receive each year. In many cases we are unable to offer admission to highly qualified candidates because of limited space and facilities, or because their interests do not coincide sufficiently well with the needs and interests of our faculty.

Best of luck on your future endeavors. I sincerely hope that you will be able to pursue your graduate work at another university."

Stanford:
"The Admissions Committee in the Physics Department has reviewed your application for admission to graduate study at Stanford University. I regret to inform you that the department cannot admit you to its graduate program.

As you may know, our department receives many more applications from qualified candidates than we can accept, given our faculty size, financial resources, and space restrictions. Consequently, each year many strong candidates must be turned down. I can assure you that the admissions decisions were made with care.

We consider it an honor that so many fine students apply for admission to our department, and we thank you for your application. On behalf of the Admissions Committee, I wish you every success in your career."

I say if we're gonna get offers declined, might as well have fun with the rejections

On an unrelated note:
@G01: Did MIT inform you through email or snail mail? I'm still waiting for my rejection.

valloein · Post by **valloein** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:17 pm

All the rejection letters are like

We think you're a pathetic dumbf*** and you dont deserve a place in our awesome university so you can go wallow in your own shite.
But you shouldnt feel bad about it because there are like a gazillion people out there smarter than you, and the sun is shining ever so brightly and rabbits are running across resplendent evergreen meadows.

Go figure ~_~

G01 · Post by **G01** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:20 pm

a bucket wrote:@G01: Did MIT inform you through email or snail mail? I'm still waiting for my rejection.

Snail mail.

That was the weirdest thing about the shortness of it. It almost seemed pointless for them to waste the department letterhead to send out the rejection!

nonick · Post by **nonick** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:26 pm

Rejected from MIT as well...

As for the shortness, I think it's better this way. I don't like all the other formalities they usually have in the admission decision letters. I don't really need much more than: "Yes, you are in!" or "No, you are not!"

cato88 · Post by **cato88** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:36 pm

I think the rejection thing is funny because it differentiates what type of a person you are
a) nothing but the truth
b) need fluff to rationalize

as far as I know rejections letters are not personalized so after a 2-3 sentences anything else is fluff/bs.

G01 · Post by **G01** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:12 pm

cato88 wrote:I think the rejection thing is funny because it differentiates what type of a person you are
a) nothing but the truth
b) need fluff to rationalize

as far as I know rejections letters are not personalized so after a 2-3 sentences anything else is fluff/bs.

Shouldn't I be able to get some fluff for the $70 I paid for that application?

Argonic · Post by **Argonic** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:58 pm

Got rejected by Harvard yesterday, after email inquiry. Still nothing from MIT or UT.

astrofan · Post by **astrofan** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 11:47 pm

G01 wrote: Shouldn't I be able to get some fluff for the $70 I paid for that application?

You should feel honored that the school was kind enough to inform you of their decision.

Helio · Post by **Helio** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:17 am

astrofan wrote:
G01 wrote: Shouldn't I be able to get some fluff for the $70 I paid for that application?
You should feel honored that the school was kind enough to inform you of their decision.

that is how i feel about my $90 UCLA app atm

Julius_Sumner_Miller · Post by **Julius_Sumner_Miller** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 11:24 am

G01 is right, you should feel lucky that you are receiving any response at all. When I first applied to graduate school a few years ago only 2/8 schools actually bothered to send me a response (one acceptance, one rejection). One southern school (which I will not name) I applied to responded to my status inquiry with a very rude email which basically said if my GPA were .5 better I would still have been rejected because of my statement of purpose and letters. This was right after Katrina so I responded to the guy by writing "enjoy next year's hurricane season, pal"

"Physics is my business"

G01 · Post by **G01** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 11:32 am

Julius_Sumner_Miller wrote:G01 is right, you should feel lucky that you are receiving any response at all. When I first applied to graduate school a few years ago only 2/8 schools actually bothered to send me a response (one acceptance, one rejection). One southern school (which I will not name) I applied to responded to my status inquiry with a very rude email which basically said if my GPA were .5 better I would still have been rejected because of my statement of purpose and letters. This was right after Katrina so I responded to the guy by writing "enjoy next year's hurricane season, pal"

"Physics is my business"

Actually, you mean astrofan is right. I was taking the opposite point of view!

Julius_Sumner_Miller · Post by **Julius_Sumner_Miller** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 11:40 am

G01 wrote:
Actually, you mean astrofan is right. I was taking the opposite point of view!

Sorry to misquote you, I don't think astrofan was being exactly serious either. The point remains that at the cost of $100 per application (if you include transcripts and GRE scores) one would think that we applicants are at least entitled to some feedback, but sadly this is not the case.

bryanwitha_y · Post by **bryanwitha_y** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 3:45 pm

Finally got the U Chicago reply by snail mail, and what do you know -- they've kindly informed this Chicagoan to stay the f out of Chicago

Aaaaand that raps up the application season for me. Time to decide now.

evilclaw2321 · Post by **evilclaw2321** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:08 pm

So i think im rejected from florida astronomy today. I emailed asking about my status and the reply i got back was very impersonal and not too clear

"We have sent out our first round of admitts and waitlist notifications.

Good luck with your other applications"

So I guess thats a no since i didnt get either of those notifications.

cato88 · Post by **cato88** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:46 pm

What is with the awful rejection replies from lower tier schools. How do they know your not going to raise your GPA or get a huge jump in the PGRE at which point they would be slobbering all over you. Talk about burning bridges.

kobayashi_maru · Post by **kobayashi_maru** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:54 pm

Rejected from UMich on 2/26.

Rejected from Boston via snail mail on 2/27. I had withdrawn my application on 2/22, the letter was dated 2/21. My first thought: "You can't break up with me, I'm breaking up with you!" I guess Boston and I weren't meant to be.

aristotle · Post by **aristotle** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:31 pm

Got a rejection by snail mail from MIT today, postmarked 2/25. At least it was softened by an acceptance to UCLA

elzoido238 · Post by **elzoido238** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:05 am

bryanwitha_y wrote:Caltech via e-mail. What do they know anyway. They can take their beautiful california weather and their highly ranked graduate program and their 31 Nobel laureates and...and...aww, I made myself sad.

Now I'm afraid to check my mail for U Chicago's letter.

Another move to the left on my aspirations bar:

Evil Genius |-----|O----l-----| Ethical Scientist

Don't worry bryanwitha_y, you still have Zoidberg...YOU ALL STILL HAVE ZOIDBERG!!!!!!!!

a bucket · Post by **a bucket** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 3:01 am

Third rejection here.

MIT
Looks like I applied a little too high. Hopefully Boulder, Berkeley and Maryland will accept me.

Argonic · Post by **Argonic** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:04 am

Got my MIT rejection yesterday in the mail as well.

nonick · Post by **nonick** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:08 am

Rejected from Columbia after an email inquiry...

Julius_Sumner_Miller · Post by **Julius_Sumner_Miller** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:57 pm

Got a rejection from Rensselaer Poly this morning, their rejection should serve as a model for other schools:

"I regret that we cannot admit you to graduate study at Rensselaer. Each year we receive many more applications than we have openings, so the competition for these positions is very intense. I wish you the best blah blah blah"

Short, succinct, wham-bam-thank you ma'am. Couldn't ask for better.

"Physics is my business"

mhazelm · Post by **mhazelm** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:08 pm

Well, great. UC Santa Barbara rejected me today, but didn't even mail it to me - they just posted the letter as a pdf on the website.

1 rejection and 3 I haven't heard from.

Well, it was the highest ranked school I applied to. I am praying that UMD will take me, as I'm pretty sure Penn has also rejected me by now.

isobelojalvo · Post by **isobelojalvo** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:25 pm

mhazelm wrote:Well, great. UC Santa Barbara rejected me today, but didn't even mail it to me - they just posted the letter as a pdf on the website.

1 rejection and 3 I haven't heard from.

Well, it was the highest ranked school I applied to. I am praying that UMD will take me, as I'm pretty sure Penn has also rejected me by now.

Hey, where exactly did they post the letter??? Do you have to log on through the graduate division online application website or is it on the main physics website?

Bah, I just know I'm going to be rejected also but I am having a very difficult time giving up hope.

mhazelm · Post by **mhazelm** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:30 pm

yeah, you log into the EAPP thing and there's a link that says "Decision Available". Then it takes you to the page where they list the stuff they received from you and there's a link to your *personalized* rejection. I mean personalized in that my name was in it. I'm assuming it just got snail mailed as well, you'll probably get it in the mail in a few days.

fastones3 · Post by **fastones3** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 3:01 pm

mhazelm wrote:yeah, you log into the EAPP thing and there's a link that says "Decision Available". Then it takes you to the page where they list the stuff they received from you and there's a link to your *personalized* rejection. I mean personalized in that my name was in it. I'm assuming it just got snail mailed as well, you'll probably get it in the mail in a few days.

Sorry to hear the bad news... did they send you a notification email to check the site or were you checking it randomly yourself?

coreycwgriffin · Post by **coreycwgriffin** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 3:04 pm

Just rejected from Georgia Tech by e-mail. The whole "too many applicants, not enough positions" routine.

isobelojalvo · Post by **isobelojalvo** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 3:07 pm

thanks for the info mhazelm!

thefourth · Post by **thefourth** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 3:40 pm

rejected by MIT few minutes ago

bosem · Post by **bosem** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 5:01 pm

mhazelm wrote:Well, great. UC Santa Barbara rejected me today, but didn't even mail it to me - they just posted the letter as a pdf on the website.

Same here!