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I am so tired of contacting potential supervisors and submitting applications only to get rejected! Is the problem in my qualifications? I graduated university with a GPA of 4.94 out of 5 (A Saudi Arabian University), and then I got my masters from Warwick University with a Merit but a distinction on the dissertation. I scored 7.5 in the IELTS exam as well.

Additional details: I am considered as an overseas student, and I have a sponsorship. My field is in digital marketing but my Bachelors was in Management Information Systems, and my masters was in e-Business Management. The research proposal I wrote discussed the bad and good behaviour of customers in the financial services industry, and its implications on the companies' ecosystems.

Thanks

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – aeismail
    Apr 23, 2018 at 0:10
  • Perhaps your research proposal just hasn't appealed to anyone. Have you considered dropping that and looking to an advisor for a project instead. Not every program expects the student to start from their own ideas rather than from the professor. But if you insist that you want to work on that and no one wants to supervise it, you are out of luck.
    – Buffy
    Jul 30, 2018 at 0:34

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Getting an offer for a PhD program can be difficult, and if you are receiving repeated rejections it may be worth seeking some feedback on your applications. Given that your undergraduate degree is from a non-English speaking country, if you are applying for PhD candidature in England or the US (or some other English-speaking country), you will need to make sure your writing is clear and grammatically polished. That is a major aspect of what professors are looking for when seeking research candidates.

Without wishing to be unnecessarily critical, I note that in your three-sentence question in this post I can see two obvious spelling errors and at least one major grammatical error. This might just be because you are writing while upset, or it might be indicative of a low standard of written English. If the latter, I would suggest you engage in some practice writing essays and other papers in English and getting feedback on your work until you have improved your writing. This may assist you in future applications. Good luck.

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  • No problem - it is difficult coming into the education system in an English-speaking country where you have to learn double what the other students are learning. Good luck.
    – Ben
    Apr 22, 2018 at 7:14
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    @lujain Even your edited version still show errors. (1) but form Warwick University (2) Is the problem in my qulifications! There should be a question mark at the end. (3) Does a Merit in a master level is acceptable should be Is a Merit in a master level acceptable (4) universities view Universities are not people. They cannot view.
    – Nobody
    Apr 22, 2018 at 7:44
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    In fairness, I think that the personification of a human institution as a singular actor is a reasonable shorthand; I wouldn't consider that fourth one to be an error.
    – Ben
    Apr 22, 2018 at 9:17
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    @Ben Thanks for pointing out my error. I wish the OP would also have this attitude like mine, admit the problem, improve it and then try it again.
    – Nobody
    Apr 22, 2018 at 9:49
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I think the answer to the first question is "Yes, a Merit is acceptable".

As the second question, I doubt if many UK academics have a sufficiently detailed understanding of the Saudi Arabian system to know whether a Warwick MSc (Merit) is better or worse than a Saudi GPA of 4.94.

However UK academics will know that a Warwick MSc(Merit) is not as good as a Warwick MSc(Distinction) and it is very likely that many of your competitors for the PhD places have Distinctions.

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