<p>Just because they bruised your ego a little bit doesn't mean you should refuse to go there; in that case, it really is your loss. They expressed interest in you by offering you funding. I don't recall being invited to GT's recruiting weekend but they offered me a fellowship and assistantship as an MS so I viewed that as much more telling than being offered a chance to see some profs I would see in a few months anyway.</p>
<p>Again don’t let foolish pride get in the way! haha. Look I was told I was a favorite for a fellowship at one campus and they ended up offering me a minimal package. I received a call AFTER the deadline and was offered a FULL 5 YR fellowship. I already had one from a higher choice 
but if I would not have had that other offer I would have JUMPED at it, so just chill and see where you end up.</p>
<p>I’m still kind of fuming over this… I want to let them know of the mistake they made, but I don’t want to sound too bitter.</p>
<p>My stats are far above their averages. There is no reason that I shouldn’t have been invited, or at least accomodated once they learned I would be in town on the same date.</p>
<p>This is UT mechanical engineering, if anyone was wondering. What a joke of a program…</p>
<p>just reject them.</p>
<p>or get over yourself. whichever comes first.</p>
<p>tx2000…wow…when I was a masters student some years ago, I paid for a semester and then had funding for the rest of the time. Nobody paid to fly me into the program, and I was actually happy to get in and pay and thrilled to get a TA once I had been there for a semester.</p>
<p>It could be that there is not a single masters student invited out to the recruitment weekend. It could be that this was dictated from a dean somewhere because they don’t have the money. In my opinion, it is absurd to take this personally.</p>
<p>My next story is meant to be kind and not to flame you…
I’m an engineer who is going back to get a PhD…I was let go from my last job…my entire dept was let go when our unit lost all of its contracts. The managers knew this was coming, and they were particularly unfriendly to the employees in the hope that they would quit. If the employee quits, the company pays no severance, unemployment, or health benifits. It is worth thousands of dollars to a company to have an employee quit when they would otherwise be let go. My point is that the company would mess with the employees fragile egos so that they would quit in this terrible economy where most have trouble finding jobs. Just don’t let anybody turn your ego against you. I guarentee you that life will throw some much harder punches than the one you described.</p>
<p>I think that the OP has a right to be angry. While it is obvious that admissions committees may have a perception of different tiers of students, it would be nice to not be reminded of it. I got two acceptances without funding, and though it was obvious that I was not one of their top prospects, nothing in their communications with me outwardly suggested that I was a second class applicant (though I almost certainly was!).</p>