How long is too long for an email to an admissions rep to go unanswered? And what to do when you reach that point?
EDIT: I regret asking my question the way I did on CC bc it led some readers to make assumptions that were inaccurate. I was hoping the question would be taken at face value. I really just wanted to know how to follow up. And I wanted to vent a little. Thanks to those of you who suggested he call and/or email the main admissions line.
Typical example of the boy who cried wolf IMO, especially with the increase of applications. Questions should have been limited to genuine questions that the website could nit answer. “Did you get my update” is an email nobody should send if the followed the directions for updates.
Now he needs help and calls and is directed to leave a VM but does not? First thing to do, leave a VM. And email the general admissions email for a start.
Good luck.
Call the admissions office, not the regional Admissions officer. Explain you’re an accepted student and you need to speak to someone urgently.
Thank you for the suggestion to email the main admissions address.
Excellent advice, @Lindagaf Thank you! He will wait a few more days to give them more time but will do as you suggest.
We have been through quite a few admissions cycles now, and all of the collegekids together have not needed to contact an admissions offices 10 times (to be fair, I don’t count sending in missing info as a contact, and to me that does not require followup).
I think you are imagining a level of service that does not exist. The regional reps cover hundreds of thousands of students. They read thousands of applications. They spend a lot of time on the road doing presentations in every school and hotel ballroom in their region.
Right now the reps are slammed with calls & emails from every college counselor in their region who has a student who “should” have gotten an offer but didn’t, or where there is a real discrepancy in the offer, on top of thousands of emails backed up in their inbox from students saying they “will definitely come if they get off the waitlist and did you know that I just got this prize at school?” and somewhere in those thousands of emails is a do or die question (really??) from a kid who must know whether something will be the way he wants it (guaranteed a single? the dining hall can cater for my allergy? I will get X element?) before he commits.
If it is genuinely that urgent, then he uses all the tools at his disposal: he actually leaves a voicemail. He calls admissions directly. He gets his college counselor to phone the college. He steps up. If it’s financial you (not your son- it’s the only part of the uni that is happier to talk to parents) call the Financial office, not the rep.
Then your son makes his college choice based on the information available to him. If it’s a deal breaker he goes to his second favorite college.
My son hasn’t asked anything remotely related to the topics you’ve mentioned. And I agree those sorts of questions are trivial!
Lack of response is very common. They are very busy. If you are talking about hyper competitive schools, he is even less likely to get a response. Many colleges were absolutely inundated with apps for this cycle. If it’s really urgent, call the admissions office.
Thanks for your kind advice @lindagraf I suspect we all are on our last frayed nerve at this point (admissions and families!).
After 10 days, son was finally able to get a response. And the college confirmed that this was something that truly did need to be handled on an individual basis. Thanks to everyone for suggesting a call/email to main admissions. That did it!