No you can't go to our university! We screwed up. Sorry!

July 4, 2013 11:51 AM

How do I respond to the University of Barcelona rescinding my acceptance for a Master's program? You know, and hopefully to reverse the decision. Apparently they made an error regarding my qualifications. (mods, please take out the university name if it's possibly a bad idea for me to include it here) Last Friday, two days after an interview I received the following email from the University.

Subject line: Master's program X acceptance letter

Attached, we send you the acceptance letter to the master in program X.
We also send you a letter for the visa, just in case you need it
Shortly, we will send you some useful information about the university and living here
Looking forward to meeting you


Today I receive.

Subject line: Program X acceptance error

I would like to apologise because we made an error in your acceptance to the master program X.
Some of our partner universities informed us that your psychology studies weren’t enough for this master. All the students need a bachelor’s degree in psychology with no exceptions
The coordination office of the master will send you a letter with a further explanation.
Please accept our sincere apologies.

One of the requirements was to have a undergrad degree in psychology, which I don't have. It was my number one concern and I addressed this in my statement of purpose letter with the advice of yourselves. Apparently I did this well enough to get an interview and acceptance within the school in Barcelona. Apparently, it was somebody at another school after the fact that overturned their decision.

This is all about the psychology degree. I was so excited to not only get accepted, but to get accepted without the degree due to my other experiences and credentials. What a let down. This sucks.

So here is what I want to do first. Respond to the acceptance letter error with something extremely simple like. I was really looking forward to studying and working with The University of Barcelona and it's partner universities. I was shocked and disappointed to receive this email this morning regarding the error. I would like to arrange a call to discuss further with the admission committee. Please let me know if this can be arranged.

Then I was going to write the woman who interviewed me to say something along the lines of Dr. I received this disappointing email today regarding an error made by the university and my acceptance. Would you be able to provide any assistance or advice in regards to having the issue reconsidered?

I just want to get something in by tomorrow morning Spain. I know decisions are being made quickly. I would normally try and sleep on this but with the 8 hour time difference I think I need to get at least heard as simply and politely as possible before I can figure how to really work this out.

So what do you guys think? How should I proceed immediately and what should I be thinking about and considering to try and get this decision overturned?

I'm going outside to sit in the 4th of July sun for a few hours. Let me know what you think. Thanks all.

posted by Che boludo! to Education (9 answers total)

I think, unfortunately, that you should let it go. If you don't have the prerequisite degree, and they've never made an exception, a clerical error isn't going to fix the situation now.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:22 PM on July 4, 2013 [10 favorites]

I'd write to the woman who interviewed you she may have some insight about the decision, but if that's their decision, that's it.

Sorry, that's disappointing and annoying.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:27 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Sadly, I would manage your expectations of turning the decision around. From having worked in the French educational system, I can say that European bureaucracies hold infuriatingly fast to the very letter of the law in a way that puts anything we have in the US (I don't know about Argentina) to shame.

Totally sucks and I'm really sorry to hear about it. I hope you are able to somehow make it work.
posted by threeants at 12:40 PM on July 4, 2013

I think it depends on who overturned your admittance: the department, School of Liberal Arts (or its equivalent) or Admissions?

If the woman who interviewed you was affiliated in the Psychology department and this letter originated in another bureaucratic office, there might be crossing of wires and someone within the Psychology department might be able to fix things for you with the School or University Admissions office. Of course I have no idea how things work in Spain. Maybe someone with experience will chime in.

If the decision comes from the Psychology department, you won't be able to change their policy. Arbitrary requirements are part of the game. It might be that the interviewer was not or committee did not know about that requirement and someone reviewing offers pointed it out.

If the decision comes from the School, the department will have little leeway there. If it's Graduate Admissions, you might get lucky and the department might be able to change their mind.

The politics of masters programs are opaque so you might never get a clear answer. It might be one related to how Spanish programs feel about foreign students-- usurpers of slots that would have otherwise gone to Spanish students or moneymakers for the university. Or maybe the institution is trying to raise its profile in relation to these other universities.

So, contact the woman who interviewed you or the faculty involved in admission in the department to see what they say. Your application was already your chance to convince them so just ask for clarification. Be prepared for an unsatisfying answer and be grateful that chance intervened to save you from graduate school.
posted by vincele at 1:06 PM on July 4, 2013

Response by poster: Guys, I'm gonna try and overturn the decision. I invested a lot of time in applying to the program. It's worth a little extra effort.
posted by Che boludo! at 3:30 PM on July 4, 2013

Response by poster: Here's the actual signed letter attached to the email.

We are very pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at the Universitat de Barcelona as an
official student of the two-year Official Master in Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology. This
master will start approximately on 1 October 2013 in our Faculty of Psychology sited on Passeig Vall
d'Hebron 171 08035 Barcelona, Spain. However, you must remember that this Master is an international
programme and you will have to spend two years visiting at least two of the countries of the Consortium
(Spain, France, Italy and Portugal).
Your Home University is the Universitat de Barcelona sited in Barcelona, Spain. Accordingly, you will
develop a minimum of 60 ECTS in the Home University and at least 40 ECTS in the Host University of a
total of 120 ECTS. Nevertheless, during the first semester of the master you will be in your Home
University and this period will offer you the opportunity to prepare the documents required to visit the
country of the Host University.
Attached, we send you the handbook where YOU'll find all the information about the Master.
In case you need further information about your acceptance in this Master, please do not hesitate to
contact us
We are looking forward to meeting you in person,
posted by Che boludo! at 3:33 PM on July 4, 2013

i really doubt you'll be able to get them to change their minds. what probably happened behind the scenes is that they lobbied the other universities to make an exception, but someone(s) with veto power did not agree. they are purposefully not giving you that someone(s) contact information. if it was possible they would have said that since you don't have a psychology degree, you need to do some extra interviews with some people, or they'd say you were contingently admitted in a future cohort after you've finished an under-grad psychology degree.

i don't think it would hurt to ask for more explanation or to talk to someone on the phone. you'll need to adjust you attitude though to not sound argumentative. i'd suggest accepting that you won't get in, and start making plans to do something else.

that, or go back to school for a psychology degree.
posted by cupcake1337 at 4:13 PM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

If you do decide to send the email as you've written above, you should change "and it's partner universities" to "and its partner universities." I feel like proper grammar can only improve your chances.

Best of luck!
posted by easy, lucky, free at 6:01 PM on July 4, 2013 [5 favorites]

Since you're planning to lobby them to overturn the decision, I think you should talk with one of the senior staff (admissions director, interviewer, whoever signed the e-mail saying you couldn't come...) and tell them this:

**I'm very happy that my degree and interview were enough to gain me acceptance at the University of Barcelona--I also understand that one of the partner universities has concerns about my degree not being enough. I respect their concern, of course. Since I have to commit to spending two years visiting other countries in the consortium, I think a good solution would be for me to eliminate the university that took issue with my education from the list, and instead, I will choose one of the other consortium countries. How can I go about doing this?**
posted by yellowcandy at 8:04 PM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]