No you can't go to our university. We screwed up part 2!
October 2, 2015 7:44 AM   Subscribe

Do I want to mention my previous experience getting accepted to the University of Barcelona and then subsequent rejection in my application letter to a related program? Please see my post titled No you can't go to our university! We screwed up. Sorry!


Two years ago I was accepted to the University of Barcelona’s Master in Work Psychology program and then rejected due to my lack of undergrad psychology degree. There are 5 schools in southern Europe that participate in the program. Barcelona accepted me and a few days later I received a letter stating that another school in the program objected to my lack of psychology degree. I do not blame the Spanish university, although their due diligence could have been better. I have suspected that there may be a rule in one of the participating countries that requires the undergrad degree to call yourself a psychologist. I am unsure and it doesn’t really matter; Spillt milk and all.

The university of Barcelona did everything they could including getting me into a related program at The University of Valencia which runs the programs. This was an almost identical program, but did not include any other schools in other countries. Valencia and Barcelona really worked hard to help me. In the end I did not have enough time to get a visa for Valencia so I let my spot go to a local European student on the wait list.

I’ve since been accepted to another program in The United States and should qualify for admission to the class mentioned below.

The European schools offers a one semester class every year to ten students from other schools and I would like to apply. The question is should I mention my previous experience and problem with the prior rejection in my application letter to the new program?

If I do mention it, I am also wondering if it would be best to mention my experience as a lead in to my statement of purpose or to close it out.

Thoughts?
posted by Che boludo! to Education (6 answers total)
 
I would not mention it largely because the explanation is lengthy and needs a lot of details to actually make sense, and you could spend that space better on writing about whatever the reasons are that you're super excited about THIS class, your current studies, your past experience in the area, etc. etc.

I also think highlighting this situation could hurt you because it sounds like you might not have all your ducks in the row for the visa process -- I'm not sure what all the details were there, but they might be worried you would again not be able to attend for visa reasons, and prefer to give the slot to another student (obviously this might or might not be true -- my point is more that you'd end up wasting a lot of space explaining WHY the visa thing wouldn't be an issue this time around, and you can use that space for something more valuable).
posted by rainbowbrite at 7:56 AM on October 2, 2015 [2 favorites]


I think you should mention that you previously applied but that it didn't work out, but not get into any details of why; if they remember you and you don't mention it, it will seem strange.

But seriously, keep it so short: "I was very excited to be able to apply for this program; you may remember me from my previous application to the Masters program in 2013, which unfortunately did not work out."
posted by mskyle at 8:06 AM on October 2, 2015


I would vote no. While it was obviously a great accomplishment to get into the program (at first), especially without he undergrad degree, you didn't actually go. The program will likely not base admissions decisions on what other (related) program you got into, but on your actual experience. You would basically be saying "you accepted me for that so now accept me for this" instead of saying "I have this exerpeience so you should accept me". If that makes sense. Use the space for your qualifications, not the fact that someone thought you were qualified once.

The only way I might want to include it is to show your continued interest in living/studying there, but I'm not sure how to do that with the prior acceptance. I would work that in another way.
posted by sillysally at 8:10 AM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


What possible benefit could it bring you to mention it? At best they won't care, at worst it might make you seem disorganized or a potential administrative headache for them. There are other ways to convey that you're familiar with the programs on offer and other ways to convey your interest in the location. I'm with SillySally.
posted by Wretch729 at 8:24 AM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


No, it just sounds like some horrible combination of "I was accepted to this other programme so you should accept me" (which, just no) and bitter, sour grapes. Just apply on your own, fresh merits.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:29 AM on October 2, 2015


Reading this question again, I'll add: if there's someone you communicated with quite a bit last time who seems to be on the selection committee this time around, you might send an email outside of the application process to say "Hi, Just wanted to give you a heads up that I am applying to this program since you might remember me from 2013. I remain very interested in this program, and have sorted out the visa issues that caused a problem last time I applied. Best, ...." I would be most concerned in this case about people who spent time/energy getting the application stuff sorted out for you and then you didn't end up attending.
posted by rainbowbrite at 8:35 AM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


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