Hi,

I've just had a rejection letter for a PhD admission on the basis that I only have a 2ii. I do have a good masters mark and a keen supervisor and sponsorship etc etc. Can I appeal the rejection?

Any advice grateful received...

Unlikely, it's worth emailing someone in the Department directly.

That seems so unfair! I've only applied for one place as that's where the supervisor I want to work with (and is keen) is based and he looked at my application and thought it would be fine. How do people get round a 2ii, do I need to start again with another undergrad degree?

It is most often the case that there are more applicants than PhD places, and hence even good/suitable students are rejected. It is however peculiar that you did not get offered a place as you have your own sponsorship. Do you know that your references were good? Sometimes that can make a difference and the 2ii is more of an excuse (maybe)?
I agree, get in contact with your prospective supervisor to find out what the problem was.

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I'm not sure whether you can appeal or not...I would tend to think that the rejection letter is pretty final. I guess there is no harm in speaking to your proposed supervisor to find out exactly what the issue is. Normally a 2.1 is a criteria for undertaking any PhD but it is quite unusual to be turned down if you have your own funding sorted out already- the main source of competition is usually for obtaining funding. And there seems to be a vague unofficial agreement that a distinction at masters (or at least a very good mark) goes a long way towards making up for not having at least a 2.1. What field are you in, just out of interest? If the rejection is final though, don't give up! I have a friend in another department with a 2.2 and a pass at MSc who is on a fully funded PhD- I think in this case it might be more beneficial to do some research assistant work or something first, make a few contacts, and try to sort out a prospective supervisor and funding this way. At least if you get to know someone personally, and you are good at what you do, they are less likely to be put off by your having a 2.2. Good luck, KB

It might be the knock-on effects of the recession. Apparently my department has had more than double the usual numbers of PhD applications and they are rejecting anyone with a 2ii, whereas last year they would have gone more on the supervisor's opinion, simply because there's no way the department can supervise the number of people who are applying.

To be honest I am not sure how successful you would be at appealing. If you were going for research council funding then many of them stipulate a minimum 2i for the funding, therefore it is out of the university's hands. It might be worth contacting the supervisor to see if they can suggest anything.

Good luck!

Well, I appealed and was successful at the start of my PhD.

I also got the rejection letter and it looked pretty final. I went to my then proposed supervisor (and now my supervisor) and she said that she wants me to appeal. She wrote a long letter to them and took subjects apart from my masters course and then looked at marks for each subject that is relevant to my PhD topic (and excluded the rest) and calculated my new average mark - which was very high. She also attached couple of my references (from my masters supervisor and from a lecturer). In the last semester of my masters course I had some medical circumstances that she argued also lowered my final marks for that semester (and we attached all the supporting medical documentation).

Anyway, I got a letter of offer within a week of sending that off. I am in Australia and am not sure what 2ii is.

Main point is, you REALLY need your potential supervisor to back you up on this. If you wrote them a letter yourself, it would look a lot weaker.