<p>I thought I played the game right. 3 years of research, including both summer REUs/internships and research at my school. 2 great letters of recommendation and 1 pretty good one. I've been working in a lab at a grad school I applied to, and the POI even wrote me a letter of recommendation. Decent, but not stellar, GPA and GRE. Statement of purpose that went through lots of edits, got read by a bunch of people, and was liked across the board by peers and faculty alike. Even applied to some fellowships for funding, like NSF.</p>
<p>I've gotten rejected from 6 schools. Accepted nowhere.</p>
<p>Naturally, now I'm looking for a job. But I'd like to try again in the future. But, if they didn't like me now, why would anything be different next time around, when at best I'll be able to report on an extra semester of college and maybe a few months of some random job?</p>
<p>Figuring out “why” you were rejected is a start. Some things can be addressed. “Decent but not stellar,” for instance with a re-take and and/or additional coursework.</p>
<p>Fwiw, this seems to be a brutal application “market.” Don’t look at the profiles of those who are accepted to gauge it, look at the profiles of those denied.</p>
<p>Are you applying directly from undergrad? And in what field?</p>
<p>Six schools is on the “light” side, imho, from everything I’ve seen. As with undergrad, having a Safety that you would attend is important.</p>
<p>Sorry to say I don’t think 6 is enough either. My daughter was rejected at lower and much lower ranked than some acceptances (including the safety she would have attended), and some of those were a good fit, so it seems somewhat chancey, but I can say the acceptances were good fits. She applied to twice as many as you. Some profs said they were wringing their hands at the people they had to turn down, so that is just the current environment.</p>
<p>Could you speak to the POI who wrote you a letter and ask him to help you look for areas of improvement for the next round?</p>
<p>mediocre GRE and GPA numbers could have taken you out of the running early. While your overall profile sounds really good, initial screening could of hurt you in the GPA and GRE areas.</p>
<p>When I say decent but not stellar, that is exactly what I mean. Not low or mediocre. I got a perfect score on the math section of the GRE and a good score on the verbal section (which matters for absolutely nothing in my field). My GPA is not perfect, but it is 3.7+ (depending on when exactly my transcripts were sent). </p>
<p>Additionally, I only said I was rejected from 6 schools already. I applied to more. Although I haven’t heard back, I am fairly certain that only more rejections are coming.</p>
<p>The grad school at which I am currently conducting research is not exactly the best school in the field, so I had considered it a safety, especially given my connections. At first I was hesitant to do so, but my faculty adviser agreed.</p>
<p>Well, if you’re eliminating possible reasons for being rejected, what reasons are left? My D is applying in a similar “perfect Quant, verbal doesn’t matter much” field and her results are…interesting, including one real head scratcher.</p>
<p>Frankly, if I knew I wouldn’t be asking. The only thing I can think of is the standard “too many applicants for too few spots,” but it’s hard to believe that happened at every single school I applied to.</p>
<p>There does not necessarily need to be a “reason” for a rejection. It could simply be a numbers game. My younger d. got accepted for a prestigious internship, where there were more than 200 applicants for 3 places. Of the other 197, I’m sure that more than 100 could have done the job well (and they spent two days of interviews on 60 of them.) At some point, it is not a matter of why one got rejected, but what was that special something that got a few accepted. In my older d’s graduate school admission (where they took four out of several hundred), she knows precisely what it was, but only found out after she showed up.</p>
<p>Your chances don’t necessarily get better simply by applying to more schools, if they share the same applicant pool.</p>
<p>I’m sorry for your rejections. I’m very surprised that with your GPA and research experience you were rejected. Good luck with next year if you will apply again.</p>
<p>Just to throw this out there - perhaps it really is <em>you</em>, not the current super competitive application environment. You profile seems strong enough that it seems odd to me (current biosci-related grad student, school top of my field, just gone through this year’s recruitment process on the other side) that you would be rejected from what appears thus far to be everywhere. The big question is did you get rejected pre- or post- interviews? If it was post interviews: Are you sure you didn’t do something that would make the students dislike you (at my school, we are given the opportunity to tell the admissions committee if a student seemed particularly offensive - such as v. rude, racist, sexist/harassment, belligerent drunk etc). Perhaps you did something at a school that then got told to other schools? Very very low probability that this is the case (I assume you are generally upstanding citizen), but who knows? Or maybe you were very awkward/quiet/weird? I usually wouldn’t bring up paranoia type worries like these, but if these rejections were post-interview, a 0 for 6 thus far makes me wonder that something you said or did on interviews might have hurt you. If you did do interviews at multiple schools, then it probably wasn’t your app (got through multiple screening processes at multiple schools), but you in person… If you didn’t get interviews, than something in your app may be up or maybe it’s just the crazy competition/not quite strong enough or you applied to the wrong programs (such as only field specific programs that only accept 4 people per year as compared to large umbrella programs that may accept 70 people, perhaps compounded by applying to not quite the right program to fit your interests?)</p>
<p>It is also possible that certain professors were not accepting grad students this coming year. Did you specifically name people you would like to work with in your personal statement? Maybe some could only take one student, or none at all.</p>
<p>“Fit” may also have something to do with it. Were your research interests linked very closely to those you were applying to work with? </p>
<p>I would assume that you have already taken these things into consideration before even applying to schools, but they are major factors in admissions. You still have a chance with the rest of the schools you applied to. If it doesn’t work out, reapply next year to the ones you really want to get into, and throw in a few new ones you’d be interested in attending but didn’t apply to this year. I hear that 12 schools is a good number to apply to, but it depends how many of them are “reaches” and how many are “safeties” (and neither can really be determined, as another person said it is largely luck at times).</p>
<p>Also, everyone in this thread, stop it with the undergrad talk of safeties, fits, and reaches - seriously, this is grad school. There are only schools. Nothing is a safety.</p>
So sorry, but there is such a thing as a Safety. If you’re a good match for Top 10, Top 15 programs, then a Top 70 program is a Safety. Slam dunk Safety.</p>
<p>“Slam dunk Safety.”?? No, because a) lower ranked schools might not consider you a serious applicant if you are so well qualified, but much more importantly b) you probably shouldn’t be applying to a 70ish ranked school if you are ‘top 10’ material (ugh, I hate these ranking numbers too, but that’s another matter). It behooves you to go to the top 10 school (in the sciences at least, for reasons extensively discussed elsewhere on this forum) than a very low ranked school. So this is why there are no safeties in grad school because generally, you shouldn’t be applying to or going to a “slam dunk safety” type school (if you are qualified for a top school). It’s not like applying to UG where you typically apply once as a HS senior and kinda have to go wherever you get in (you wanted HPY but got into NYU, Tufts and UW? Sorry kid, looks like you have to pick from those three). In grad school, you can take extra years to improve your app (to avoid going to the ‘slam dunk safety’), as well as reapply if you don’t get in.</p>
<p>Also, so-called “safeties” may not have funding - and an unfunded acceptance is generally as good as a rejection, considering the costs of graduate school these days.</p>
<p>To answer a previous question, I didn’t interview anywhere. In my field I don’t think it is the norm to interview.</p>
<p>I’m mostly asking what I can do to strengthen my application and make sure I get into grad school next year without having to resort to a “slam dunk safety” school. I don’t want a name with no reputation to hinder my career in academia in the future.</p>
<p>Sorry - with you applying to NSF, I was going under the assumption that you had interviews. I think it would be helpful if you say what your field is. Also, I think that before you can try to strengthen your app, you need to figure out how it was deficient (and why you got rejected). I am really sorry you have having such a hard time (or bad luck).</p>
<p>Have you contacted the schools you applied to? Some professors are willing to briefly discuss the comparative merits of your application and have suggestions as to how you can improve your chances next go-round.</p>
<p>However, I dislike when parents state “my S” or “my D.” Is it really much to ask to just state it’s your son or daughter? Whatever, I just needed to vent.</p>