Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Round Two: 3 down, 6 to go

Dear Robert,

Our Admissions Committee has given careful consideration to your application, but I am sorry to report that we are unable to offer you admission into the Graduate English program at the University of Texas at Austin. We do not give out our statistical information or the reasons for our decisions. This year we had many well-qualified applicants for only a few places. Making decisions in such a hyper-competitive environment is both challenging and chastening, and we are indeed aware that exemplary as well as worthy applicants have been denied admission.

Nevertheless, we wish you the best with your plans for future study.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Round Two: 2 down, 7 to go

Dear Mr. Heaton:

Thank you for the opportunity to consider your application to the [University of Michigan] Ph.D. program in English Language and Literature. Unfortunately, after giving your application very careful attention, we regret to say we will not be able to make you an offer of admission.

It may be useful for you to know that we received a high volume of applications for admission to the Ph.D. program. Our entering class next year will be approximately 12 students, which should give you some idea of the odds. What these figures do not convey is the exceptionally high quality of our applicants. In the vast majority of our decisions, we felt that we were choosing among degrees of excellence. We very much regret that we are able to take such a small number of applicants out of this tremendously well-qualified pool.

Please accept our best wishes for your success in future endeavors.

(Blogger’s note: Compare to the post “Grad school response No. 3,” from March 2, 2009.)