University of Illinois rejection letter

A

anubis

macrumors 6502a
I recently applied to a bunch of graduate schools that I assumed I wasn't good enough to get into, including the University of Illinois for Electrical Engineering. I guess all of the planets were in proper alignment and I actually got accepted into every single one. What started out as a "I'm going to apply to these universities and get rejected by all of them so then I never have to go through life wondering if I could have been accepted and regretting it forever" type of exercise turned into "well, now that I'm in, there's really no way I can afford their $30,000/semester tuition and living expenses."

Now, U of Illinois supposedly had a record number of applications this year, and subsequently sent out a record number of rejection letters. Since I found myself in the unique situation of not really being able or wanting to go to Illinois after all, I have decided to turn the tables on them. I sent THEM a rejection letter. This is for all of my mac brothers around the nation that applied to Illinois and got rejected. Keep in mind that U of Illinois Graduate Electrical Engineering is ranked 4th in the nation and I suppose typically an admissions offer is taken EXTREMELY seriously by all those who recieve one.

Here's the admissions offer they sent me in the email:

Dear: Chris

The Graduate Admissions Committee of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department has considered your application for admission to the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

We are pleased to inform you that a recommendation for admission as a degree student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been forwarded to the Office of Admissions and Records.

The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department has recommended such admission and your official Notice of Admission should be issued by the Office of Admissions in a few weeks.

We would appreciate you sending an email to xxxxxxxxxx (xxxxxxx@uiuc.edu)when you have made a decision concerning your graduate studies. But, in any case no later than April 15, 2006.

Registration for the Fall Semester of 2006 can be accomplished anytime after you receive your notice of admission. We look forward to meeting with you to help guide you through your registration.

xxxxxxxxx
Associate Head for xxxxxxxxxx
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And here is the rejection letter I sent them:

Dear Laurie, University of Illinois:

Thank you very much for you interest in me as a Graduate Student at the University of Illinois.

Unfortunately, after reviewing your admission letter and offer, I am unable to accept your offer at this time. As you are aware, I am a very competitive applicant. As a result, I have chosen to attend a university that more closely matches my rigorous academic needs and goals. Your university has not been added to my list of final candidates.

However, I definitely encourage you to re-offer admission in the future as your situation changes. Please feel free to contact me at any time should you have any future questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Chris
New Mexico State University
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Again, I sent this form rejection letter to them in order to avenge all of my friends around the world who received form rejection letters.

BTW, I've chosen to attend the University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center for the MS degree.
 
It seems like this comes up every year for at least one undergrad; I thought that perhaps people looking into graduate schools would have gotten over this. Maybe it's just me, but I don't really see the point in writing a letter like this - there was nothing in the acceptance they sent you that would warrant a snide response, and it makes it look like it would have been a better choice for them to accept someone else in your place. Being a qualified candidate does not qualify you to be rude.

On top of that, it's really not wise to burn any bridges you don't have to, especially over something as trivial as a grad. school acceptance (and when you were accepted, no less!). Hopefully your letter will not be noted anywhere, and you will never have to do any work in the future with anyone that may see and remember it.

I'm sure plenty of people will get a kick out of this, though, I just don't really happen to be one.
 
Right.

So cross the University of Illinois off the list for doctoral work ... :rolleyes:

Maybe you really believe Universities should send personalized letters to all of the applicants they reject? Seems like a good use of limited funds and resources to me.
 
I'm gonna have to jump in the "I don't get it box" - I actually go to Illinois - but not for engineering. These are my thoughts on the process really, you are asking schools to evaluate you and make a choice, the school made a choice that they liked you and not some of your friends ... so what? Would you be really mad if you got offered a job but that company didn't offer all of you friends didn't? I mean I guess its good that you let them know, they have expanded the wait lists in all colleges more than ever and all the schools got a record number of applicants. Maybe one of your friends thats on the wait list will get a slim chance to actually study here ....
 
Wow...you're a real jerk. (Stronger words come to mind, but I'll leave them off a public forum.) As others have said, you'd better hope you don't ever need anything from the people at Illinois in the future. And the academic community is small, and amazingly enough, they talk to each other.

You call yourself a "very competitive applicant," but you clearly need to grow up a bit. I bet they're thanking their lucky stars you turned them down...
 
7on said:
It is obviously humor.
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No, it is obviously rude and I think his letter shows very poor judgement and a definate lack of maturity.

No need to be a jerk. The did accept you after all. You can send them a proper letter advising them of your decision to attend elsewhere, therefore freeing up your spot for someone else, but don't be an ass about it.

It is not funny to be rude, no matter what the case may be. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but I try to be as polite as possible as much as possible. I may not always succeed, but manners are sorely lacking in American society and your letter back to U of I proves nothing other than you are capable of being a jerk when it is not warranted.

Note I did not say you were a jerk, but capable of being one, so don't turn my response against me as an example of me not living up to my policy on politeness.
 
I still think it's pretty funny. It's not like the dean herself reads these letters, probably a student worker or secretary. You never know, he could have just made some secretary's day just a little brighter with the joy of laughter.
 
7on said:
It's not like the dean herself reads these letters, probably a student worker or secretary.
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Then how did he avenge "mac brothers around the nation that applied to Illinois and got rejected" by sending that letter?

It was done for nothing other than spite and was rude. There is nothing funny about it at all.
 
I tend to agree with most people here, in that your "rejection" letter to them was a bit out of place. As others have said it is a very small academic community and your letter may have burned some bridges.

Personally i think email rejection/acceptance letters from universities are a bit rude. If i pay $80 as an application fee, please send me an actual piece of paper via the US mail that contains my offer. I just finished my rounds of doctoral applications in the fall, and not only did i receive acceptance/rejection emails from various universities, but even received letters that were intended for other applicants!

I really hope that in the future you decide to attend U of I for masters or doctoral work, and i hope you get the most rude rejection letter possible. I am sure that the U of I faculty are quite happy that you are not attending!
 
7on said:
You never know, he could have just made some secretary's day just a little brighter with the joy of laughter.
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Doubtful. People who deal with this sort of thing all day long would much rather just get a basic response of non-interest, or perhaps a letter thanking the university for acceptance and politely declining.

At least I no longer feel out of place by saying I thought this was inappropriate; glad to see there are still a number of mature folk here on the boards.
 
Yeah, you make yourself sound really good by presenting yourself as an ostentatious ass. I mean, gee, if I got offered admission in to a school that I couldn't afford, I'd ask for financial aid, not send them a nasty letter saying "Although you let me in, actually, I realize, you're not good enough for me."

In fact, what you should have sent was a "Thank you so much for your kind offer, but I have found another place that seems like it will serve my needs better. I hope that you will consider me for admission in the future should I change my mind."

You aren't impressing anyone.
 
dude..you didn't have to write a letter....making yourself sound so so so....help me out here....

should of just let it go.


Bless
 
StarbucksSam said:
Yeah, you make yourself sound really good by presenting yourself as an ostentatious ass. I mean, gee, if I got offered admission in to a school that I couldn't afford, I'd ask for financial aid, not send them a nasty letter saying "Although you let me in, actually, I realize, you're not good enough for me."

In fact, what you should have sent was a "Thank you so much for your kind offer, but I have found another place that seems like it will serve my needs better. I hope that you will consider me for admission in the future should I change my mind."

You aren't impressing anyone.
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Hell, you could even thank them and explain that the reason you couldn't attend was money and see if they could help you out. What's the worst that could happen? I mean, it's not like you were going to go anyway, so if they say no you're no worse off than before. And if they said they could help you out, you would have had more options.
 
emaja said:
It was done for nothing other than spite and was rude. There is nothing funny about it at all.
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I would have refrained from sending such a letter. You just never know when something in writing will rear its head in the future, usually at the most inopportune time.
 
anubis said:
This is for all of my mac brothers around the nation that applied to Illinois and got rejected
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personally i think your rubbing it in their faces.

Also, this sort of reply is childish, like someone else said, I bet their glad that you turned them down
 
I'm confused.

Are ya'll suggesting that he shouldn't have sent any letter regarding whether or not he was going to attend UI?

I got accepted to a number of schools for undergrad but had to turn down several due to finances. Isn't a follow up letter after acceptence good form, especially if you aren't planning on attending and need to notify the school?
 
job said:
I'm confused.

Are ya'll suggesting that he shouldn't have sent any letter regarding whether or not he was going to attend UI?

I got accepted to a number of schools for undergrad but had to turn down several due to finances. Isn't a follow up letter after acceptence good form, especially if you aren't planning on attending and need to notify the school?
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Of course he should have responded. But with a letter stating that he had found another opportunity that better served his needs, and telling them where he was going (grad programs like to know where they are losing their admits).

You don't try to come off as a pompous ass and call yourself a "very competitive applicant" who might be willing to consider their program in the future if their situation "changes."
 
WildCowboy said:
You don't try to come off as a pompous ass and call yourself a "very competitive applicant" who might be willing to consider their program in the future if their situation "changes."
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I'm sure the U of I will be stung by the loss of this prize catch. :rolleyes:

If the dean ever sees this letter, he'll be thanking whatever god he prays to that this guy didn't end up in his program.
 
So, lemme get this straight:

When a University writes you a form letter saying that your not up to par with all the applicants and declines your application, it's alright?
But when a student writes a form letter to a University saying that they are not up to par with the other Universities gunning for him, it's not?

Who cares for the reasons behind him sending the letter. In this instance, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

All of this flaming reaks of a double standard.

We all need to just sit back, take a breath and lighten up.
 
leftbanke7 said:
So, lemme get this straight:

When a University writes you a form letter saying that your not up to par with all the applicants and declines your application, it's alright?
But when a student writes a form letter to a University saying that they are not up to par with the other Universities gunning for him, it's not?

Who cares for the reasons behind him sending the letter. In this instance, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

All of this flaming reaks of a double standard.

We all need to just sit back, take a breath and lighten up.
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It's not exactly a double standard. Are you honestly expecting a big university to send out personalized rejection letters? They have to do it this way or it'd be horribly inefficient. Now what's the reasoning for sending a form-letter style rejection letter to a university? Why copy the style of a rejection letter mockingly, too? It's very rude.

The university didn't send out a rude, mocking, joke letter to anyone. I fail to see how this is a double standard. The university was respectful, he was not.
 
Univ. of Illinois loss = 0.

"Hey, for all you losers that didn't get accepted, well, I'm so brilliant that I did - but because I am so valiant, I will stand up for you and turn them down! How cool am I? Never fear, your protector has arrived." :rolleyes:

You couldn't have made yourself sound more pretentious, and you could not have made Univ. of Illinois feel any better about you not being a part of it.

Anyone who makes a public claim such as this, which is obviously a poor attempt to impress others, fails. Contrary to your belief, you're no different and have failed miserably as well.
 
Macaddicttt said:
It's not exactly a double standard. Are you honestly expecting a big university to send out personalized rejection letters? They have to do it this way or it'd be horribly inefficient. Now what's the reasoning for sending a form-letter style rejection letter to a university? Why copy the style of a rejection letter mockingly, too? It's very rude.

The university didn't send out a rude, mocking, joke letter to anyone. I fail to see how this is a double standard. The university was respectful, he was not.
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I never said that any University should write personalized rejections letters. I know well enough that this is impossible.

But if a University won't (or can't) give individualized attention to each applicant, then why should it be expected that each applicant reply above and beyond that? They spend all of 6 seconds printing out hundreds of these letters and we are supposed to spend 30 minutes crafting out one?

And it was mentioned many times before, it is highly doubtful anybody with any sort of pull or sway at this University will even see the letter so even if it is rude or mocking of the system the University's use, why do any of you even care?

Again, we all need to just lighten up.
 
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