<p>Howdy all; I need some advice. I applied to The Ohio State University's Masters program in operations research and did not get in. I have not received the official letter but their online system says I am not in. The questions: 1) Can I/ Should I appeal? 2) What are my chances of a successful appeal? Cases of successful appeals and the details would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>GRE: Q-730 V-560 A-3.5
GPA: 3.26
BA MATHEMATICS
No research</p>
<p>I am trying to let it go and move on but anger/surprise has consumed me. I must exhaust all avenues of recourse before giving up this fight. It is the only school I applied to for heavens sake; Come Fall 2009, I MUST be a graduate student at The Ohio State University.</p>
<p>If you look at this post, you are obligated to respond. The consequences are dire if you do not : )</p>
<p>this is a cold fact; do not appeal. no chance of reversing the decision.
it’s very unfortunate that you only applied to one grad school. i am sorry.</p>
<p>Hmm, I honestly can’t say if appealing is even possible. The department has to -want- you to be part of their program, and if they flat rejected you then I suppose you’ll have to try for spring or next year. Try to think about it this way: what about your application makes you attractive?</p>
<p>I have never heard of an appeal process for graduate admissions, in any field.
Contesting an admission decision would be both counterproductive and pointless.</p>
<p>Badjuju - you picked a bad year for an all-in bet. Even top-top-top students apply to more than 1 school.</p>
<p>I looked at the website for OSU Integrated Systems Engineering (what I got when I searched Operations Research) and got the following:</p>
<p>The Graduate Record Exam is required of all applicants. Admission preference is given to engineering, mathematics, and science graduates with an overall undergraduate grade point average of at least 3.2 out of 4.0. Applicants may be denied admission for any of the following reasons: total GRE aptitude score (verbal plus quantitative) less than 1200, verbal GRE score less than 400, analytical GRE score less than 4.5, TOEFL paper-based test score of less than 550, or a TOEFL computer-based test score of less than 213, or a TOEFL iBT test score of less than 79. Students are required to submit official GRE scores and TOEFL scores (required of all non-English speaking international students).</p>
<p>Did you check this out before you applied? You did not clear the bar much on gpa and GRE - it was probably going to take more to be competitive with no research on your resume. Regardless your analytical writing score was pretty much a disqualifier!</p>
<p>You have nothing to appeal here. Your only real bet is to apply as a non-degree student if they will let you, and apply again next year after retaking the GRE and getting A’s in a couple of courses.</p>
<p>I apologize if I sound overly argumentative, but you don’t need to be a graduate student at any one specific school. I don’t want to sound presumptive, but there are very few cases where any one graduate school is the only one you can succeed at. There is no such thing as the perfect graduate school (although some of the smart/ignorant posters on this board may conjecture otherwise). Understandably you are angry, and upset. It definitely would have been nice to get into their program, but there’s nothing more you can actually do to get into the program (for this year at least). That doesn’t mean this setback can’t make you a better researcher. Work in your field (ask someone with more knowledge on your field for what specifically you should do), and apply for a variety of schools next year. These kind of setbacks give you a chance to really think about what you want, and to strengthen (or reevaluate) your plans to work in the field. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>If you MUST be in graduate school by this fall. you may want to look into schools that have rolling admissions. At some Universities you can still apply up until May or June.</p>
<p>Get over it. The decision is final at the graduate level. They did not want you, so you need to look at over schools. You should have applied to more than one school.</p>
<p>You could try applying to University of Pittsburgh. I don’t have a background in operations research but it sounds like it’s similar to industrial engineering. It’s near the Ohio border and its Fall 2009 admissions deadline is May 1. Look for other schools with rolling admissions or late deadlines.</p>
<p>Here are some more Ohio-based universities that offer the degree:</p>
<p>Master of Science in Management in Operations Research (MSM Operations Research)
[Prospective</a> Students - Weatherhead School of Management<a href=“Case%20Western%20Reserve%20Univ”>/url</a><br>
The priority deadline is May 1, and the final deadline for domestic students is July 1. </p>
<p>there’s nothing to appeal. your application wasn’t good enough. meeting the minimum requirements will not guarantee admission, and yet you didn’t even meet the minimum with your analytical score. it was silly to apply to only one school. look into rolling admissions like others have suggested, but odds are you won’t be a grad student in the fall. suck it up.</p>
<p>sorry to be so harsh, i just have very little sympathy for people that feel they are entitled to go to graduate school. applying to just one school is presumptuous and arrogant and only really makes sense if you can’t afford more than one application fee.</p>
<p>Even if you could only afford one, taking the time to post here implies you’d rather spend your time posting and whining rather than working the n amount of hours to pay for other fees.</p>
<p>You guys really know how to crash a pity party;thanks for your candor. Mr. Zoo- I am not Barack Obama??? WHAT! </p>
<p>I think I will apply to OSU for spring admission. In the meantime, I will retake the analytical and verbal sections of the GRE and maybe a take a programming course at the local junior college.</p>
<p>Sorry no one could help! Appealing a rejection is an urban legend - people talk about it but it never really happens. Certainly not successfully. The closest thing you can accomplish is negotiating your position on a waitlist.</p>
<p>Retake the GRE and bust out some better scores, but more importantly try to get some research in. Some publishable research and a corresponding LOR or two will really really help. I would not stress about the coursework at this point.</p>
<p>I figured this thread would get ugly. Some poor sap inquires about appealing a rejection and a bunch of jackasses who are already in grad school gang up on him and make fun of his GRE scores.</p>
<p>The OP did come off as a bit arrogant and presumptuous. That said, the other posters could have been more understanding of the OP’s attitude given the situation the OP is in now. Arrogantly criticizing the OP for being arrogant smacks of hypocrisy.</p>
<p>I do second cosmicfish’s latest post though in terms of what the OP can do now to have a better shot next time.</p>
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<p>Huh? The OP, while stunned and shocked, made one post here to ask for advice and feedback from CC’ers. How does this imply the OP would rather spend time posting and whining rather than working?</p>
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<p>No offense but that’s frankly silly. Even at MIT, not every engineering grad student has an 800 in GRE Quant. A 790 in Quant is a more than fine score.</p>
<p>If that hypothetical situation was, in fact, the case, I would still think that it’d be silly to only apply to one school. Quite a few schools do offer fee waivers given dire circumstances. I can’t speak in absolute since I don’t know what the situation is, though.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Try to find an RA position and conduct relevant research over the next year.</p></li>
<li><p>Definitely retake your GRE. You should try improving your Q score in addition to your V and A. Q730 is good, but it is definitely on the low end as a math major.</p></li>
<li><p>Take a couple of grad level courses in the area you are interested in as a special student (non-degree).</p></li>
<li><p>Connect with faculty in your area of interest (this point is related to the first^).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Also, to answer your original question, you shouldn’t bother appealing. Maybe if you were recommended by the department and the faculty of grad studies rejected you, then you have reason to appeal. Otherwise, it’s wasted effort and people can get annoyed.</p>