<p>I recently applied as a junior transfer. I shot pretty high and as of now, I have got 5 rejections. Obviously, I am not pleased but every time I received the letter whether it was an email or regular mail, I was amazed by the tone. I received rejections from Stanford, Michigan, Cornell, HMC and Columbia for the moment to make that clear.
Almost all of them were very kind, emphasized how much I was a great individual, how they were sure I was going to be successful and how much they were sad to be "forced" to reject me due to the very high number of excellent candidates. At some point, I wonder if I have to feel bad for them for not accepting me.</p>
<p>Just as anyone else, I am always thrilled when someone says I have done something good but in the same time, it doesn't really bring any additional information. Moreover, you usually have to read quite a few lines to find out and after waiting for months, I think it's pretty harsh.</p>
<p>I don’t know if transfer application rejection letters are different, but in my experience you usually know from the first line… “We regret to inform you” or “We are sorry to tell you that,” etc. etc.</p>
<p>“At some point, I wonder if I have to feel bad for them for not accepting me.”</p>
<p>You’re reading too much into this. It’s just polite, professional communication. Same thing happens with job search rejections, lay offs, any sort of bad news. Standard business communication. Does any single individual at the school actually feel bad? Who knows? It’s just the reality and people operate under that paradigm.</p>
<p>Well a lot of what is said in rejection letters is true. Many applicants to highly selective schools are rejected because there simply isn’t enough space, even though those that are accepted are not necessarily better students and have greater success than those denied.</p>
<p>I think colleges really do feel bad when they have to reject people. It’s not much different than a girl who has several guys wanting to date her. They’re all really nice guys in their own way, and she might genuinely wish that she could date them all. But she can only pick one, and she has to let the others down as gently as she can. That’s never an easy or pleasant thing to do. Because no matter how sweetly she does it, no matter how much she stresses “It’s not you, it’s me”, bottom line is it’s a rejection, and rejections hurt no matter how sugar coated they are.</p>