Just in case anyone is wondering… I have not yet heard anything from the AO. And I still haven’t worked up the nerve to email … I guess I now have no room to say anything else about it.
Update-- DD had some specific questions she wanted to ask of someone from a specific department at the school. So, we emailed once more, acknowledging the AO’s busy schedule, how difficult it must be to keep up with so many inquiries/emails, etc. Because of this, we asked if we could just receive a contact person from the department that DD could correspond with to get more info, etc.
SILENCE. It has been about 10 days since this second email. We have received nothing. At this point, I’d even appreciate a “look - we are not in the least bit interested in your kid, so it won’t even matter”.
At this point, I’d assume that either the AO is either sick or just rude.
Why not actually call with your question, without mentioning that you emailed about it. If they say, “You should really email these queries” - well, then, just say, “I did. More than once.”
Frankly, unless it’s something glitchy on their end, and they’re just being rude, that might not be the best match for your family.
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@stalecookies I originally worried they were sick. But this has been two separate occasions months apart. I have to admit, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and we have pretty much written this school off.
I thought I would call, but I have a funny feeling they would say- let me connect you with your AO, so they can handle this and then there we would be. I can’t imagine they don’t know about the emails. (one maybe, but two?) IDK. I don’t think there is anything, at this point, that would completely erase these “snubs” from our minds. Intentional or not, they come across as such.
I’d call. I have had a number of situations where I have flagged something for follow up and have totally spaced on it. Your AO might have done that.
I have also been amazed at the number of times my emails have gotten caught in my own outbox or have been caught by a spam filter at the other end. Usually this has been discovered after I’ve been stewing for while.
With a million ways to get in touch with people, there’s a million times more volume to handle and a million more ways for stuff to get missed.
You can also submit the portfolio in whatever way you like and just tell them you’ve done it. Just make sure you send that to the general admissions email as well as your AO.
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It would certainly leave a bad taste in my mouth, too!
It would make me wonder, were your DD accepted, how good are they generally about keeping in touch with families.
^^ I might think that, but particularly now, with crazy work arrangements, kids at home, boarders who can’t go home, I would be a bit more generous. If your kid is accepted here and is interested, dig deeper for sure, but I would not write off the school for one potentially bad apple.
It’s possible this AO is indeed checked out, but depending on work arrangements, the AD might not know (which might not be the case if they were all working in the same place.)
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Just an update. Not that anyone really cares, but it is cathartic for me. Same AO - There has now been a phone call with message left and another email sent. This time because one of DD’s schools called about a concern they had with her application. It was an issue that could be viewed as a problem, depending on how much importance the school placed on it and with the advice of others (well-versed in the workings of BS administrations and admissions committees), I felt it needed clarification.
There still has been no acknowledgement of my contact attempts. None. Nada. I am flummoxed.
Wow, that is baffling. Could you dm me the name of the school? A similar thing happened with a thank you email + questions to one of my interviewers and I was wondering if maybe it’s a widespread problem at that school (or just that AO).
Update – we finally got a response. It was professional, kind and succinct. Inundation of work was the reason for the delay. The issue was addressed.
I’m not sure how we feel, except that we really, really want to love the school and just couldn’t because of this situation. I think we were all resolved to the fact that we had dismissed the school as a no, and then here they come swooping right back in.
In my adult mind, I will judge the school based on everything else we know about it and all of the rave reviews it has in the categories most important to us. But in my juvenile, emotional soul, I want to forget it and be able to just walk away no matter what M10 brings.
We will see what happens, but thanks for the support y’all have shown throughout the past few months with this situation.
Different school different issue, but I have one I feel the same way about. If it wasn’t for CC, I would have written them off already. But I feel like everyone here has a completely different view of the vibe than what I felt from our interactions so far. I’m still annoyed, but also realize after A10 she won’t be dealing with admissions anymore. So it probably doesn’t matter.
I also think that is one of the disadvantages of this cycle. We have so few interactions that one or 2 negative ones looms larger.
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@dadof4kids One of the things DS said to us at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, which was revealing many flaws of administrations all over the country, was that what makes the school he knows and loves is NOT the administrators. That has stuck with us and helped us see things from the kids’ perspectives. Our kids will not be dealing with admissions or with financial aid, etc once they are there. We as parents probably will continue to have to deal with FA or administration, though. So, I think it is the weight of the balances, the size of the transgressions vs the size of the rewards and the overall gestalt of the school that will win out.
But you can still be annoyed, as I am as well. LOL
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AOs are not sleeping right now. This year more than ever.
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@buuzn03 Yes to all this. And I’m glad you got a response. You can worry about the details on M10.
@dadof4kids you are so right – each interaction looms larger than normal in this weird world.
@DroidsLookingFor I can only imagine! TO must be really, really hard.
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@buuzn03 I hope the name of the school didn’t rhyme with Schercersburg 
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@hellomaisy nope! Not at all!
Just wanted to weigh in about how the AO has a big influence on how you feel about a school - the AO my son interviewed with at Govs was so amazing and he is a big factor in why the school is really one of my son’s top choices. The interview was long and amazing, my son really enjoyed it and liked the AO. The AO asked interesting questions, listened carefully to my son, asked great follow up questions, and really drew my son out of interview mode. Every interaction from him has been prompt, warm and personal. It very clearly shows that the people at the school really want to know prospective students as human beings, and I think it is a good indicator of how the adults on campus will relate with the students. The AO solidified the impression we already had of the community at the school - warm & personal.
This is very true @petrin . We had a very hard time with this particular school because it is so well loved on this forum, but the AO really made it hard for us to love it. And after multiple attempts being ignored, continued to make it even harder.
I am sure people will love this school, but it will always leave a bad taste in our mouths. No matter what the outcome of M10 would’ve been, we had marked this school off the “will say yes” list because of the lack of respect we felt was shown by the AO. And I don’t use the term lack of respect lightly. I think that even if you are too busy to respond, you can at least delegate that duty to someone else. We even asked for this, at the end…and still received nothing, which I found disrespectful. It shadowed our view on the school and I knew I would never be comfortable sending my kid to a place where they could not even take 5 minutes to acknowledge us, as a family.
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Is it against the rules to say which school it was or are we all just conditioned to tread lightly and not say anything negative in “public?”
Ummm…yes, you are calling me out. I am trying to be polite. I also recognize this is my personal experience with this school and numerous others have had a completely different experience.
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