No matter how willing you may be to help others at work, there will always be situations when you won’t be able to help, despite your best intentions. Communicating unpopular decisions is a challenge many people prefer to put off. But try to consider the position of the other person. Even if their hopes are dashed, that is preferable to not receiving an answer at all. In this case, try to communicate transparently and propose alternative solutions wherever appropriate.
“Hello XYZ,
First, I’d like to apologize for my late reply. We were pleased to read that you would like to work with us as part of your master’s study. The proposed topic is very interesting, and your previous academic performance indicates that you would be a good fit for our company.
Unfortunately, the XYZ department is currently already supervising two other students with their theses and does not, therefore, have the capacity to provide suitable assistance to you and your project. As an alternative, you could modify the thesis question to focus more heavily on social as opposed to economic aspects of ABC, in which case we may be able to offer a place in our XYZ department.
Please let me know if this would be of interest.
Best wishes,”