Help needed with unfair rejection at Purdue

Parents Forum
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Just following this thread from afar. I used to think highly of Purdue but if their website is this inept and their admissions staff is this heartless it really makes me question my opinion of the school. Admittedly that opinion is partly based on Neil Armstrong having attended Purdue. With a bureaucracy that doesn’t have the best interests of their accepted students in mind, it’s tough to feel like Purdue is all that strong of a school.

Hope the OP’s daughter gets that fall start (or summer, since that’s what she apparently preferred).

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I have no connection to Purdue at all but know it’s a great school and am not forming any negative opinion about Purdue based on this one thread. Hope the OP comes back for an update.

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Virginia Tech admissions answers general question posts over on their threads during the application submittal period.

My D officially accepted admission to her college via the portal about 6 days out from the deadline (we didn’t have a chance to visit until a coupe of days before). They are upfront about having a 1-3 days lapse in processing before the student receives the link to set up their official student portal (but they don’t require students to take the lapse into consideration when accepting. Payment of deposit = accepting your spot). Still, I was nervous about that with the deadline being so close, but we kept a screenshot of the acceptance of payment, just in case. Thankfully there were no issues, but I nagged her every day about checking for that email!

I also hope the OP comes back on for an update.

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Our experience with Purdue over the past three years has been nothing but positive.

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@sevmom, ITA with your assessment.

This is how I see this situation (seeking clarification if I have missed something)

OP’s D was supposed to go to Purdue’s website and commit to Fall 2021 and pay her deposit by the May 1 deadline

What OP’s D did was go to Purdue’s website, commit to summer start and pay the summer start fee.

During this transaction, she did notcommit to attending in the fall.
Even if there is a glitch in Purdue’s system (I have a problem with the verbiage if it was set up as OP describes), but OP’s D did not commit to attending school in the fall by the May 1 deadline.

I think what D should have done if she wanted the summer start program was to first commit to the fall term, pay the deposit and then commit to the summer start and then pay that deposit.

To me, this would have required OP to pay 2 deposits; 1 for fall enrollment and one for the summer start program (this is a separate program). Op only paid the summer start enrollment.

While everyone is talking about lawyering up and dragging Purdue this was an honest mistake on the part of OP’s daughter. Purdue is willing to offer her a spot in the spring.

I see her options as follows:
Does she want to take a spot in the spring? If yes, can she take courses at the local CC ? If this is a yes, coordinate the course work with the local CC and Purdue so that D is still on track to graduate with her class.

Find out if Purdue will grant her a deferment to start Fall 20202 (if they are not amenable to spring and D still wants to go to Purdue). D could craft a gap year.

Does she want to leave Purdue in the rearview mirror? If yes, are there any viable options on the NACAC list?

Does she have other school offers where she can reach out to them about a seat in Fal 2021?

Does she want to do a whole gap year and reapply?

Good luck

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Again, I have zero connection to Purdue (I guess I cheered for Drew Brees when he played there, so I’ll add that to the list of positives along with Neil Armstrong) and only saw this topic show up on the bottom of my college confidential forum list because it was a “hot topic” but as someone with no other impressions of the school, the fact that there was a summer start option already should have allowed the student to keep her spot. That fact that she called admissions to double check, just in case, seals the deal and any actions that Purdue takes beyond that show that their bureaucracy doesn’t prioritize the best interests of their students. Those still siding with Purdue here are really dismissing the student’s phone call on April 30th, which was the time for Purdue staff to do the right thing, which they seemingly didn’t and now they are using fine print and red tape to deny her fall (or even summer) admission.

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Per the OP

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Op has evidence of the acceptance for Summer Start and the payment they made on April 29 for the summer program (which I think is separate from admissions).

Op doesn’t have evidence of her daughter accepting her seat for Fall 2021 (and that payment), because you said your daughter signed up for the summer program and did not click the fall.

When she made the call did Op ask the clarifying question if her D was good for both the fall enrollment or the summer enrollment.

or

Did she simply ask them if they receive receipt for enrollment for and payment of the summer start (since that is what daughter applied for)?

I think Op and her D thought that when D committed to and paid the fee for summer start that she was committing to both (and found out that this was not the case).

Purdue Admitted students

Purdue summer start

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And you are speculating that she had to select both. Frankly the speculation on this thread is out of control despite the OP clarifying multiple times that a glitch caused her daughter not to be registered for any term and Purdue accepting that it’s their fault but they just don’t have space to do he right thing. The unsupported blame the student game happening on this thread is ridiculous.

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I think that is the heart of the issue, but frankly that should not be allowed to happen. I’ve never heard of somebody having to pay the deposit for both summer and fall. Generally you pay a commitment deposit and you don’t pay an extra deposit every new semester. I haven’t seen the website so don’t know, but it should be set up to accept the deposit for your admitted semester through your application portal. Regardless, the phone call the following day with the misinformation that she should not worry and just wait a day or two is totally unacceptable.

Any missed deposit should’ve been corrected at that point. I still maintain that every other school that I have dealt with has it set up so you are depositing for the admitted term only. Then they ask you if you want to start in summer as an option. Even so, you only deposit one time.

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The payment timing had no impact. The problem was simply that OP’s daughter chose the wrong entry semester.

Summer Start appears to be a program for students that are given conditional acceptance to Purdue provided that they take and pass summer courses first. (This is not clear at all from reading the marketing page for the session on the website though.)

Students admitted for fall can opt to do a different Early Start program in summer that is separate from admissions after they accept for fall.

Unfortunately, OP’s daughter didn’t know this distinction. When the school was called on the 30th she said she accepted and paid deposit for Summer Start and wanted to check because there wasn’t confirmation. The person spoken to took that question at face value, didn’t look to see if she had chosen the correct semester, and said to wait.

The site does say to be sure to select the semester to which you were offered admission. That said, it would be much better if students only saw the option they should pick or be given really clear instructions on what to do. My daughter’s school (not Purdue) sent a detailed booklet with her acceptance packet that listed out the admissions steps very clearly. It made it clear that their summer ramp program would be signed up for after initial acceptance.

I’m so sorry for your situation and I hope Purdue offers you a good solution. It seems unconscionable for them not to help rectify a mistake like this at all.

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I agree with all of these sentiments, and would add the following: these are 18 year olds, and in many cases, families who have little experience with college payment procedures. The aim should be to make it easy for students to accept, not difficult or exacting.

And lo and behold if a student should make a mistake, contact the office before the deadline, and then contact the same office after the deadline with unrefutable proof the student was acting in good faith, then the school should accommodate the student. Otherwise, all that talk about assembling a class and “getting to know” the applicant as an individual is nothing more than empty marketing.

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She did not have to select both. Another student shared Son’s chat with me that he had with Purdue representative. He had faced same issue. as my D regarding selection of Summer. On that chat, Purdue rep told him to wait 24 hours. Later the selection successfully switched from fall to Summer for him. So I know now that my D did not have to select both summer and fall.

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That is what we thought. However, being new to all this, we did not trust our thoughts. D called next morning to confirm that she did everything correctly.

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Agreed! I would also like to add that, if Purdue has oversubscribed, that is separate from this glitch. It is unfair of them to use that as an excuse to refuse reinstatement.

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Agreed! Had it not been a Saturday next day, I think this would not have happened. Their system would have updated its records and used the payment. Both Purdue and Banks were closed on Sat May 1st so transaction got delayed till next business day.

I have seen similar situations when paying taxes etc., if the deadline is a weekend, they extend it to next working day. Now I understand why they do that and I feel Purdue (and other institutions) should start doing if they are not doing it already.

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And if I may add, D and I called on Saturday as well. Purdue should not have left its students hanging on the day of the deadline.

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I don’t think anyone is "siding’ with Purdue. I think everyone is “siding” with the D, and is trying to find a solution which meets her needs.

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You have stated it accurately. I will add that D was not sure if what she did was sufficient so she called Purdue and described what she did and Purdue representative confirmed that she does not have to do anything else except to wait.

With regards to what she wants to do, Unfortunately, she was in a state of shock for days. We have gone through a very tough time as a family. Now that she has recovered from this shock a little, she has decided to reach out to them herself.

I asked her for her thoughts on the situation. She mentioned to me that she took all the steps that were needed to get admitted there and she reached out to Purdue when she felt she needed Purdue’s help. She trusted Purdue’s guidance to wait so she expect Purdue to honor their commitment to her. She is expecting Purdue executives to see that and offer her a fall start.

She had eight acceptance and some with good scholarships. She chose Purdue because this is where she felt she will fit best. She does not want to do a gap year or spring start. She felt that she deserves what she was offered and Purdue should fix their mistake.

I would also like to add that on Friday Purdue in the most recent communication Purdue has proposed what you have listed above as to take classes at CC in West Lafayette and also to take some classes at Purdue available to non-students. D felt that if she does that, she will miss out on the college start experience and the opportunity to build lasting friendships in the beginning of the term.

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My bad, I should have quoted only the second part of the sentence.