Hi Everyone,
Recently I applied to a PhD program and got a very brief refusal letter that my application was refused due to a limited number of spaces.
I have a master's degree and I know I am am fully qualified for admissions to a doctoral program. I wrote back to the department's chair to ask for further feedback and advice on improving my chances in the future, and he replied that the department does not provide any further feedback. Period.
OMG! They do not provide advices on what to improve in one's application? What do you think of that?

If academia is not selfless and did not help you improve yourself than they are not worth it Iano dont deserve a second thought. Afterall, we have a working career of a limited number. Other things matter too.

its annoying, but they could well have had hundreds of applicants. If you didn't get an interview it could be your CV/personal statement. Of course it could be that there were a lot of other people with better/different experience than you. Also, its best to avoid studentships that are only advertised for a week or so, they tend to go to internal candidates who are already lined up.

Sneaks is right. Studentships are dispersed internally despite advertisement which is just to keep equal opportunity records strate. Thats how I got mine as well.

Well, here, some people get admitted with financial aid (studentship?) and som don't get any funding/assistantships, etc, and have to pay tuition out of the pocket. From what I know the department had 6 applicants only.
Yet, you know, if a prospective student is asking for an advice on how to improve his/her chances for next year, it would be simply a good manner to find the 5 min for a brief discussion; don't just shut people out "sorry, no spaces, good bye, we won't tell you anything else'.
What does that tell you if your average is close to an 'A', you already have one grad degree, and years of professional experience.....

I think I'm going to have a cut and paste ready to everyone who thinks they're so brilliant because they're a top notch student with top grades and can perform origami on sheets on pasta or whatever.

Stop thinking you're so unique and special, you're not, there will be loads of people out there with similar and even better grades and relevant experience. And that in itself isn't enough for a PhD either - it's as much about endurance as it is about intellect.

*Guess who didn't get a lot of sleep last night*

this also occurred to me.... asking about my answers(s) after the final exams during my undergrad days!
When I asked to see it, my professor starting laughing, he said, "the final paper is the end".

OK OK, completely different story :-) :-) :-)

If you are looking for advice on how to improve in your application, maybe you should ask other people or look elsewhere (not the department chair)

since you are so good I'm sure you will find something
love satchi

Back of the net, DanB. Having had personal experience of what you discuss, Iano, I would say that your experience is a perfectly normal one. Despite your high level of qualification, you were likely pipped at the post by someone even more suitable, or maybe an internal candidate who had already been marked for the PhD. They still have to advertise it - equal opportunities and all that jazz - but they know who'll be getting it. You probably did nothing wrong with your interview, short of not being the candidate they had already chosen. You'll just have to try again when more opportunities come along. Good luck (up)

It's frustrating that they won't offer feedback, but it's quite possibly true that they had a number of good candidates and simply couldn't take them all. If you're worried at all, why not get your careers service (or a friendly academic from your current/last uni) to look over your cv and cover letter, see if they can offer any general advice?

======= Date Modified 21 Apr 2010 07:58:58 =======
If you mean you were rejected at the initial application stage, then unfortunately it's normal not to be offered feedback (it's the same for many jobs as well). I'd say you were 'lucky' even to get a refusal letter, often you just get told to assume you were unsuccessful if you don't hear from them!

If you were interviewed though, I'm surprised you didn't get feedback.

I agree with what others have said, unfortunately having good qualification doesn't necessarily guarantee anything, it's likely that all the applicants will have a good first degree, probably a master's, and some relevant research/work experience, and there are usually just more well-qualified applicants than there are places/studentships. Most likely the reason is exactly what they said, limited spaces and someone else had slightly more relevant experience, or maybe someone else got in there first and they'd already decided to offer the place to that person before they got your application. Or maybe an internal candidate already lined up.

I think you just have to keep trying. If you think you might be doing something wrong in your application, could you get someone to review it (like one of your former tutors or one of your referees) and see if they can offer any advice?

======= Date Modified 21 Apr 2010 12:25:21 =======
Iano, Sorry to hear about your experience; it must be very frustrating. Please don't let it discourage you from applying elsewhere to do your PhD at another university, perhaps. I agree with what the posters have said below. In the job market - and I speak from plenty of experience - they don't often give feed-back on their selection process. To some extent, it's the nature of the game. Don't fight it, just go with it ;-)
You can take some positive steps to make the most of your current situation. Take the initiative and be proactive. Here are a few things I'll suggest:
1) Like everyone else said, get someone with plenty of experience (preferably someone who has supervised PhD students who've gone on to get their PhDs) who works in the same field/area to look at your whole application (CV, covering letter, personal statement). But most importantly, get them to also look at your research proposal. I'm not sure what sort of PhD you've applied for, and whether this relevant to your field, but in my field a research proposal will account for at least 30-50% of your chances of getting offered a place. There are other things that count: a good first degree, and preferably an MA; excellent supporting statements from your two referees (choose your referees carefully: someone who believes you can do it and thinks you’re capable, and not someone whom you’ve not particularly got along with!).
2) Get some guide books on the PhD Application process. Not everyone like these, but I got plenty of practical tips that helped me with my application.
3) Do some research - if you haven't already - about the relationship between the topic of your research proposal, your MA area of specialisation, and the faculty's research expertise and interests where you were rejected. Do all three sit well together? Ask yourself: is there someone in that department who definitely knows enough about my proposal topic to supervise me? If the answer's 'No', then you need to look for departments or faculty members elsewhere who share your area of proposed research. Plenty of apps get rejected because the department doesn’t think there’s someone suitable there to supervise the applicant.
4) Also - I’ve not always done this and it’s certainly not necessary - but it’s definitely worth it: email some potential supervisors BEFORE you apply. Send them your research proposal telling them (very briefly) why you think they’d be perfect in terms of supervising your project, then attach your proposal, and if they give you the go ahead then you’ve pretty much completed 50% of the application process (the rest is just bureaucracy).
5) Last but not least – apply early. Start now to do research on potential supervisors, email them, getting chatting about your proposal and ask politely if they’d suggest any changes (stay flexible but not too compromising!), and then get your application under way in the next few months for a place next year. As some people have said here, sometime ‘first come first serve’ does work ;-)