Study Abroad Myth: Rejected for Being "Too Good"? Fit Beats Being Overqualified

Schools almost never give reasons when they reject students, which is how one word became so popular in study-abroad applications: overqualified. When top students and star applicants get rejected by their safety schools, being overqualified becomes the main reason they "believe" they were turned down.

First, what does overqualified mean?

You hear the word overqualified a lot every application season. It mainly means that applicants believe their background and application materials were too strong, so the school rejected them for certain reasons (more on those below).

Most students don't end up choosing their safety schools, so these schools send too many offers to students with strong backgrounds, most of whom never enroll, which actually lowers the safety schools' enrollment rate.

So these so-called "safety schools" started to consider how likely an applicant is to actually enroll. To protect their own interests and give more prospective students a chance, if a school can't see an applicant's sincerity in their application essays, there's a good chance it will reject them even if they're excellent, and save the spot for students who need it more, fit better and are more likely to enroll.

The common view of being overqualified

Most people think being overqualified matters for these two reasons:

1. The school thinks you're treating it as a safety, and if you don't enroll after being admitted, its yield rate drops (yield rate = number enrolled / number of offers sent). That doesn't just affect rankings; it also shapes how the public sees the university's overall quality

2. The school wants to keep its acceptance rate down (acceptance rate = number of offers sent / number of applications received). It doesn't want to send out too many offers or have the public think it's easy to get into and has a low bar

Jason's take on being overqualified⋯

So⋯ is being overqualified a real thing?

Yes and No!

Let me start with why I think being overqualified "doesn't matter much" for most people! At its core, the overqualified problem is really a problem of fit. The common view is that schools want to admit students who are seriously considering enrolling, and no school wants to be a backup, so when high-profile students get rejected, a lot of people assume being overqualified is to blame.

But! Schools don't just reject overqualified applicants. They also reject qualified ones. The key point! Nobody gets rejected "only" for being overqualified. I think the main reason is that the applicant didn't show the school a real commitment to and plan for enrolling, and the school didn't play a clear role in the student's future plans. When evaluating candidates for fit, schools read students' essays carefully. Your essays and interviews show how well you understand the school and how interested you are, whether you went further to talk to alumni or admissions officers or used other channels to learn more about the program, how you prove your fit with the school, how the school can help you⋯ If you don't show strong interest in the school in these ways, there's still a good chance you'll be rejected even if everything else / your profile is excellent. [So always do serious research before writing your essays, both about the school and about your own future plans!]

When do you get rejected for being overqualified?

I just said I think being overqualified doesn't matter much for most people, but now let's look at the cases where it really does exist⋯

1. Overqualified because you're applying for the same degree again: this comes up more often in grad school applications. For example, you already have a master's degree and apply for another master's where "most of the courses overlap," and you don't meet the school's "second master's requirements." In that case you'll be rejected for being overqualified. So if you're applying for a second master's, read the program requirements carefully. For example, many UK master's programs require applicants who already hold a master's to have no more than a certain percentage of overlap between their previous master's courses and the new program's courses, and you must explain in more depth in your essays why you need a second master's degree.

2. A small temple can't hold a big Buddha: for example, you graduated from a world top-10 university and then apply to an unranked master's program. That's less likely to happen, though. Schools will do their best to win you over, and unless it's obvious that "they can't keep this student and the student hasn't clearly said why they want to come," it isn't smart for a school to turn away a good student.

Jason's conclusion⋯

In short, the most common and reasonable reason to reject an overqualified student is that the school can't see how the applicant fits with it. What the admissions officer is probably thinking is: you're clearly excellent, but what does that have to do with me? Among all the applicants there's always someone better, and I don't believe any admissions committee thinks, "You're exceptionally good, so I've decided not to admit you." Even if you're a perfect-score student, when you apply to safety schools, as long as you show you have a reason to attend "that" particular school, being overqualified isn't a problem.