<p>Has anyone ever gotten a specific reason for being rejected from a graduate program? Do the departments have or feel any obligation to let people know why they were rejected? Has anyone contacted the department to request a reason, successfully or not?</p>
<p>I am wondering because this is likely the last time I will be swinging for Ph.D. and I am wondering whether contacting departments and asking them for a reason would be a waste of my time. I would really like to know whether I was just beaten for the spots or if there was something in my application that got me rejected out of hand.</p>
<p>As I just posted on another thread, schools are absolutely not obligated to provide applicants with reasons for denial of admission. As a matter of fact, at many universities, university counsel (the lawyers) strongly discourage (and often prohibit) graduate programs from disclosing such information.</p>
<p>Disclosure of such information could lead to many misunderstandings in addition to the fact these schools receive so many applications for few openings.</p>
<p>I do think its worth a try, if even just for a few schools you thought you were going to get into.</p>
<p>There was one school who let me know why I was not accepted. The department head (without my asking) let me know that they really wanted to accept me, but a transcript from a community college I had attended part-time came in too late. The department was fine with that, and I scrambled to get them to hurry with releasing the transcript while we kept contact for two weeks. But the graduate admissions would not allow them to nominate me for a fellowship unless it came through before I certain date–and all accepted students needed to have a fellowship. They attempted to petition for an extension, but were stifled. Long story short: Bureaucracy. Even worse, the transcript came just one day after the deadline. The department head contacted me personally to explain this to me. </p>
<p>Its a huge bummer, but I think when there are certain unfortunate circumstances such as late transcripts, no advisor “fit”, etc., then they will probably tell you because it actually makes you feel better as it is to no fault of your own (although I was just as ****ed that I missed out on a chance at a great school over a small technicality). But if you were just inadequate in some way or someone else was just slightly more appealing than you (even if you were a 4.0 student) based on grades or scores, they will not tell you this.</p>