An Astronomy program looking for about 5 new recruits receives 140 applications. 4 different faculty members divide up the applications and sort them in those proverbial piles 1,2,3. And then the committee sits and goes through EACH of the 140 applications and create a combined set of piles. Finally, they make a dozen offers and keep another dozen in the wait list after hours of deliberation.
That’s the typical picture. No application goes thrown away without at least one committee member, and quite often at the final meeting a lot of application migrate to an adjacent pile (either higher or lower).
The simple point is, there are only 5 openings, and potentially most promising applicant, either by virtue of past research or academic achievement, will get in. Sure, many of those in the rejected-pool would actually make excellent researchers if given the opportunity to prove themselves, but unless they can make a convincing case of that, whose fault would that be?
Usually, most of them would get admitted in one or other program; but if one applies to 10 graduate programs and gets turned down by every single one of them, then the statistical probability is that they wouldn’t be doing very well if admitted anyway. Being a graduate student means being a job-holder, with an extended training period. Unlike your college days, you get paid rather than paying. The admission committee members has an obligation to make sure that the research funds and facilities are used on the most promising ones.
The academia, nearly by definition, is a meritocracy. You can call foul if a musical instrument store salesman refuses to sell you a piano because he didn’t like the color of your shoes. But you can’t object if a dozen different music schools turn down your scholarship applications after listening the performance audio recordings you sent in.
It’s just like that.
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