Rejection 2009.... Share your pain!

PhysicsPdx · Post by **PhysicsPdx** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:12 pm

Stony Brook Rejection via email. I visited the campus, while they have an excellent program the town and university are ugly as all hell. It would be a shitty place to live for 5 years, I guess I'm not that disappointed but would have liked to have options. This sucks.

coreycwgriffin · Post by **coreycwgriffin** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:18 pm

Got the Stony Brook rejection as well. Guess I'm stuck going to a school nobody's heard of. I'm really pissed about this, because I really do like the school, and they apparently have had this decision made for over a month, according to their retarded online system.

slugger · Post by **slugger** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:20 pm

ditto on the stony brook rejection.

kobayashi_maru · Post by **kobayashi_maru** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:34 pm

Also rejected from Stony Brook. At least now I can stop incessantly checking my App Status.

mhazelm · Post by **mhazelm** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:12 pm

It seems that there are lots of us with only one offer, and no options. I'm pretty excited about the program that accepted me, but it would be nice to at least have one other option just in case I don't like the city or something else when I visit. Darn it!

coreycwgriffin · Post by **coreycwgriffin** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:27 pm

mhazelm wrote:It seems that there are lots of us with only one offer, and no options. I'm pretty excited about the program that accepted me, but it would be nice to at least have one other option just in case I don't like the city or something else when I visit. Darn it!

I kinda wish my one offer was a little bit better of a school, but whatever. I guess it's what you make of it.

xudis149 · Post by **xudis149** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:23 pm

My stony brooks status is still "Your file is complete and it is under review by the Admissions Committee."

While they have now gone ahead and rejected me. Hate the way they work... I am sure they just looked at my application and threw it into the bin..

Also rejected from University of Southern California..

pd · Post by pd » Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:40 pm

coreycwgriffin wrote:
mhazelm wrote:It seems that there are lots of us with only one offer, and no options. I'm pretty excited about the program that accepted me, but it would be nice to at least have one other option just in case I don't like the city or something else when I visit. Darn it!
I kinda wish my one offer was a little bit better of a school, but whatever. I guess it's what you make of it.

If you aren't going to be happy where you're going, I suggest you try to defer your admission a year, improve your weak spots, and reapply next year.

slugger · Post by **slugger** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:12 pm

I rather gathered from other threads that a deferment is essentially a promise to attend the next year. I seem to remember others on the board discouraging people from deferring and reapplying elsewhere as word tends to get around between departments and its highly frowned upon. I wish I could remember where I read this but its on the site someplace.

sterculus · Post by **sterculus** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:16 pm

Yep, deferring admission for a year is still a commitment to attend that school. What many people do, though, is decline all offers and take a year to improve their application. Secander2 is a great example of someone doing very well after this.

evilclaw2321 · Post by **evilclaw2321** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:35 pm

mhazelm wrote:It seems that there are lots of us with only one offer, and no options. I'm pretty excited about the program that accepted me, but it would be nice to at least have one other option just in case I don't like the city or something else when I visit. Darn it!

I also only have one offer so far and while im real excited about the city and program it would still be nice to have options.

Ren · Post by **Ren** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:08 am

rejected from UCSB. Finally! I don't know why it took them so long to give me notice.

rohit · Post by **rohit** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 6:35 am

Stony Brook rejection. Damn!

Helio · Post by **Helio** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:02 am

UIUC....rejected!!!! took them way too long

a13ean · Post by **a13ean** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:35 pm

Same here, guess we were on the waitlist. Too bad my girlfriend got an absurdly large fellowship to go there...

coreycwgriffin · Post by **coreycwgriffin** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:13 pm

pd wrote:
coreycwgriffin wrote:
mhazelm wrote:It seems that there are lots of us with only one offer, and no options. I'm pretty excited about the program that accepted me, but it would be nice to at least have one other option just in case I don't like the city or something else when I visit. Darn it!
I kinda wish my one offer was a little bit better of a school, but whatever. I guess it's what you make of it.
If you aren't going to be happy where you're going, I suggest you try to defer your admission a year, improve your weak spots, and reapply next year.

Can't happen.

Agent Sunshine · Post by **Agent Sunshine** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:46 pm

Hey all, I'm pretty new here and mostly just lurk, but I figured I'd share my misery with all of you as I've received my 8th rejection notice (still on the unofficial waiting list for two more) and no acceptances so far. It's looking more and more like I'll be job hunting in this lovely economy. At least there are a lot of government jobs around here...

Helio · Post by **Helio** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:20 pm

JHU after inquiry via phone told me that my chances are slim... wahtever that means

valloein · Post by **valloein** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 12:31 am

Helio wrote:UIUC....rejected!!!! took them way too long

Me too

Some day I will show up at UIUC with my army of undead cybernetic ninja werewolves and unleash putrid *** hell on them

For now I shall proceed wallow in a pool of shite and self pity

Maxwells_Demon · Post by **Maxwells_Demon** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:28 pm

rejected from UPenn...

-Maxwell's Demon

mhazelm · Post by **mhazelm** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:21 pm

Rejected via email from Penn State

it was my first choice, but oh well. I guess I will be going to the one and only place that accepted me - I sure hope I like it.

pqortic · Post by **pqortic** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:43 am

rejected from penn state. I knew that already.

xudis149 · Post by **xudis149** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:56 pm

rejection from Rutgers ..

PoincareSection · Post by **PoincareSection** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:12 am

sidharthsp wrote:rejection from Rutgers ..

That sucks. How did you hear? My status still says no decision.

xudis149 · Post by **xudis149** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:14 am

status changed few hours back ..
a friend of mine got rejection yesterday ad email today.. so i was kind of expecting it ...

xudis149 · Post by **xudis149** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:25 pm

boston

isobelojalvo · Post by **isobelojalvo** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:29 pm

sidharthsp wrote:boston

Sorry.
How'd you hear?

xudis149 · Post by **xudis149** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:34 pm

email from mirtha

G01 · Post by **G01** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:24 pm

Rejected from Penn today. And that's the last one. Hard to believe the admission season is already over for me.

clytze_pp · Post by **clytze_pp** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:51 am

You are luck,man! I still got 5 school to wait.. painful!

murs · Post by **murs** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:06 pm

I assume rejection from washington, since they sent me an email saying that their last acceptances would be out by March 30

smd09 · Post by **smd09** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:22 pm

Yea rejected from Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Brown, Cornell, all by email today. ahh isnt life interesting......

Maxwells_Demon · Post by **Maxwells_Demon** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:20 pm

Caltech Applied Physics today via email............................................................

-Maxwell's Demon

evilclaw2321 · Post by **evilclaw2321** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:33 pm

So today i was rejected from michigan state for the third time, they emailed me twice and now got something in the mail today. Its like enough already i get the point you dont want me no need to rub it in.

rohit · Post by **rohit** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 8:31 am

Is it OK to ask schools why they rejected us?

admissionprof · Post by **admissionprof** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:51 am

rohit wrote:Is it OK to ask schools why they rejected us?

Yes, I occasionally get asked, and don't mind responding. It can be difficult, though, to be completely open about it. If there's a bad letter, I can't say anything since letters are confidential (I can't even say "one of the letters was weak"). But if it's due to a mismatch in interests, low TOEFL or GRE, then I can say that.

Maxwells_Demon · Post by **Maxwells_Demon** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:01 am

deleted

Maxwells_Demon · Post by **Maxwells_Demon** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:56 am

add boston (BU) to the list.

-Maxwell's Demon

ck85 · Post by **ck85** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:11 pm

Carnegie Mellon after being wait listed.

Peter · Post by **Peter** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:12 pm

Maxwells_Demon wrote:My 13th rejection this morning from NYU. What a waste of time my whole life has been for the last 4 years? This is crazy.... mind blowing. What do people think about the Engineering Physics M.Eng @ Cornell as a transition for phd physics programs?

-Maxwell's Demon

You did not apply to any safety schools. Next time be a bit more realistic.

activegalaxybuff · Post by **activegalaxybuff** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:29 pm

Peter wrote:
Maxwells_Demon wrote:My 13th rejection this morning from NYU. What a waste of time my whole life has been for the last 4 years? This is crazy.... mind blowing. What do people think about the Engineering Physics M.Eng @ Cornell as a transition for phd physics programs?

-Maxwell's Demon
You did not apply to any safety schools. Next time be a bit more realistic.

That seems a bit harsh. You can't judge how the admissions committee is going to make its decisions and you could apply to several "safety" schools and still not get an acceptance. Plus, this seemed to be an unusually competitive year where many qualified applicants were not accepted.

Besides, this thread is for irrational complaints about the unrealistic standards of admissions committees!

Peter · Post by **Peter** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:36 pm

activegalaxybuff wrote:
Peter wrote:
Maxwells_Demon wrote:My 13th rejection this morning from NYU. What a waste of time my whole life has been for the last 4 years? This is crazy.... mind blowing. What do people think about the Engineering Physics M.Eng @ Cornell as a transition for phd physics programs?

-Maxwell's Demon
You did not apply to any safety schools. Next time be a bit more realistic.
That seems a bit harsh. You can't judge how the admissions committee is going to make its decisions and you could apply to several "safety" schools and still not get an acceptance. Plus, this seemed to be an unusually competitive year where many qualified applicants were not accepted.

Besides, this thread is for irrational complaints about the unrealistic standards of admissions committees!

He applied almost excusively to top 15 schools. It is a competitive year, but it would have been extremely hard for him to
get admission to a top 10 school even under 'normal' conditions. His scores are not competitive.

Helio · Post by **Helio** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:42 pm

just to exemplify.... Stanford supposedly increased their average GRE score for admission by 100 points everybody under 800 seems to have been automatically rejected.

NYU... today as well

activegalaxybuff · Post by **activegalaxybuff** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:22 pm

Peter wrote:He applied almost excusively to top 15 schools. It is a competitive year, but it would have been extremely hard for him to get admission to a top 10 school even under 'normal' conditions. His scores are not competitive.

Well, maybe he could have applied to some less competitive schools, yes, but it's not really your place to judge his decisions or his test scores and, quite frankly, I feel sorry for any students in the future who might have to suffer through you making decisions about their academic careers.

Peter · Post by **Peter** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:29 pm

activegalaxybuff wrote:
Peter wrote:He applied almost excusively to top 15 schools. It is a competitive year, but it would have been extremely hard for him to get admission to a top 10 school even under 'normal' conditions. His scores are not competitive.
Well, maybe he could have applied to some less competitive schools, yes, but it's not really your place to judge his decisions or his test scores and, quite frankly, I feel sorry for any students in the future who might have to suffer through you making decisions about their academic careers.

When I applied to grad school I set my hopes high and applied to places where I should not have. I made the same mistake, I wish I had done differently. It is better to have a reality check sooner, than suffer the consequences when there is little left to do. I did not mean to discourage him. It is very unfortunate how things have turned out, I really hope that sooner or later he will get into the school of his dreams.

PoincareSection · Post by **PoincareSection** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 2:00 pm

Helio wrote:just to exemplify.... Stanford supposedly increased their average GRE score for admission by 100 points everybody under 800 seems to have been automatically rejected.

NYU... today as well

Sorry to hear it, Helio. I still haven't heard anything from them, but I'm not optimistic.

mhazelm · Post by **mhazelm** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:12 pm

oh, I forgot, Penn State rejected me a week ago.

So I have one choice. I guess I will take it.

I guess I am not very happy at all about the way that my admissions year went. I think I'll do fine at the school I'm in at, but this whole process has destroyed any sense of self-esteem that I did have. My confidence is now as low as humanly possible. Especially being that at the one school I'm in at, everyone is still really crazy about the GREs and it's like a scarlet letter I have to wear for the rest of my life (people just keep on bringing it up! ugh! I have already suffered enough!!!).

coreycwgriffin · Post by **coreycwgriffin** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 6:36 pm

mhazelm wrote:oh, I forgot, Penn State rejected me a week ago.

So I have one choice. I guess I will take it.

I guess I am not very happy at all about the way that my admissions year went. I think I'll do fine at the school I'm in at, but this whole process has destroyed any sense of self-esteem that I did have. My confidence is now as low as humanly possible. Especially being that at the one school I'm in at, everyone is still really crazy about the GREs and it's like a scarlet letter I have to wear for the rest of my life (people just keep on bringing it up! ugh! I have already suffered enough!!!).

I'm in the same situation. It's hard to imagine how important the PGRE is until you go through this with a bad score.

evilclaw2321 · Post by **evilclaw2321** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:32 pm

coreycwgriffin wrote:I'm in the same situation. It's hard to imagine how important the PGRE is until you go through this with a bad score.

I agree I'm in a similar situation. I'm in at only one place but thankfully it was one of my top choices and im excited about it. And even though all my others have been rejections it hasn't hurt my self esteem because I believed it was a very real possibility i wouldn't get in anywhere so to at least have one right now with my PGRE and my GPA i'm quite happy and thankful.

clytze_pp · Post by **clytze_pp** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:02 pm

Smart rejection, TAMU
"
Dear Richard,

We have completed our first round of offers and we do not know IF we will have a second round of offers. If we do have a second round of offers it will be after April 15th. At this time you have not been given an offer.

Scharlotte Jones
Secretary, Graduate Admissions Committee "