<p>Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of Admissions departments not returning initial information solicitation emails?</p>
<p>I have found some admin depts that do not reply. Is the time of the season and the colleges are overburdened with running the admissions shop? That would make two of us. At first I thought it was because the emails were to the standard <a href="mailto:admiss@collegeX.edu">admiss@collegeX.edu</a>, then I when I clicked on the state where we live and directed it to the admiss officer for that state, we still got no reply.</p>
<p>A question about your e-mail: What did it entail?</p>
<p>Was it an e-mail about something that you could answer given other information on the website? Was it about chances? Scholarships? AP credits? A "will this help my son" question? I imagine there are a host of questions that are very common that admissions officers are reluctant to reply to, a) because the questions are rather unanswerable, and b) because the information is already available to you elsewhere.</p>
<p>If you had a more pertinent question that did not get a reply, that might be a cause of concern.</p>
<p>This time of year, many of the admissions officers are out of town visiting schools and presenting info sessions, etc...Some of them do not leave messages on their e-mails stating that they are away.....in addition, others do not check their admissions e-mail address while they are out of town....it took about 2 weeks to get a response from an admissions officer that was away.....</p>
<p>One example question was, from me, the parent: is there a way to preview what the financial aid package might be if my daughter were to elect ED. There was also a request to point us to a specific place in which to model this scenario.</p>
<p>I think my daughter sent an email, too, from which she said she has not recvd a reply. I think she had a question on about the possibility of a non music major participating in musical ensembles.</p>
<p>We get some colleges with really good feedback email wise. I wonder if the more selective places do not reply as often since they figure they might already have more than enough to fill a class out, so why deal with these questions, even if they are kind of softball?</p>
<p>I think these non replies came from more selective colleges.</p>
<p>Their loss. Let them have their 'full' enrollment.</p>
<p>joecollegedad, you might want to direct the Financial Aid question to the Financial Aid office - they're much less busy now than admissions, and your question is actually within their purview, not admissions. And your d's question is one to ask the music department or the student life office.</p>
<p>You can get the answers to your questions (probably - no guarantees), but sometimes you just have to ask the right person!</p>
<p>I dont know of any college that will tell you anything specific about financial aid relating to your specific application before you apply, and before you are accepted and a financial aid award has been made. Too much liability. They MIGHT, but are not obligated to respond to questions in general about how they view certain scenarios without any obligation to you that they will do that for you. </p>
<p>As a general rule, colleges with music scholarships require a music major and an audition. Some do not, but its not very many...and if they do, its a small stipend.</p>
<p>For the record we sent in several email requests to UChicago to get information on their school, get put on their mailing list and so forth. No response. Their loss.</p>
<p>But you might also call or email the music department at the college and see what they say about scholarships/auditions/requirements etc. We did and found 99% of them to be very helpful. My D did not want to major in music because she knows its a hard road to travel as a profession and while she is exceptionally gifted as a musician, its not her professional career path. Some schools were cut and dry: to get money from us you have to be a music major and only then if you audition and we accept you into our School of Music. Fine. No problem with that policy (nor fear we would have been rejected, frankly) but it wasnt her plan.</p>
<p>Financial Aid is sometimes combined with Admissions in schools where its not a needs blind admissions policy. But even when it is, financial aid is a separate animal and such. You have to contact their financial aid office to ask GENERAL questions. Sometimes they have seen your question before and will say, "in the past we have dealt with similar problems this way or that way." But that is unusual. Usually they defer.</p>
<p>With ANY ED application there is a risk. If you apply and are accepted you are obligated to attend and you still dont know what the package will be until they accept you. But most will give you an early indication in a preliminary report in December of what you will likely receive for financial aid, subject to the FAFSA report and any subsequent changes in your financial status etc. So you have a pretty good idea. The risk is that you get in and they don't give you enough. But that is the "out" you are allowed if accepted. And most schools will "fix the problem" if you tell them you can't attend because of problems....though the fix is often more student loans or workstudy.</p>
<p>In short, DO NOT APPLY ED TO ANY COLLEGE unless you are absolutely sure you will attend if accepted and pretty sure they will give you enough aid to make it possible. And whatever you do, go ahead and apply RD to whatever schools you also like just in case you get rejected, waitlisted, deferred or not enough financial aid.</p>
<p>My question was a two parter for the FA / ED preview:</p>
<p>1) do you have a way to model it before electing such a significant decision?</p>
<p>YES / NO</p>
<p>if YES,</p>
<p>2) where do I do it?</p>
<p>They said nothing. They could have said, we cannot provide this since it would open us up to liability. That would be an answer</p>
<p>For the music, D was not asking about scholarship money, but about the possibility of merely participating in music ensembles for a non music major, and what music ensembles are there?</p>
<p>I believe she also said, if you are not the right person to answer, then direct to the right person.</p>
<p>But Good tip - ask the right people directly. I was assuming that admissions were the central clearinghouse for a college. Maybe wrong on that. Stick with app questions for them, I guess.</p>