<p>and, the person who answered the phone talk to me for like 1 minute. She told me to hold, and she started to talk personal business with someone else. I think she missed to press the hold bottom because I was listening to the conversation. I don't really know what to think about this. ok. just sharing my experience with Rice.</p>
<p>Mom112233. My DD almost didn't apply to Rice due to problems scheduling an interview with the admissions office (this was 6 years ago!). I persuaded her to apply, and she attended Rice and got a GREAT education and had a terrific experience. I can't even begin to tell you all the wonderful mentoring and opportunities she had at Rice. Please don't make the mistake that some people do, and that is to confuse administrative staff with the college experience. :)</p>
<p>Agree. They are trying to deal with way more applications this year and not totally doing a good job and some of the people aren't well tuned into the stress from your end. But once the students are there they are very attentive and do get a great education.</p>
<p>Ditt, ditto, ditto. My first experience with the adm office staff wasn't the best, but everything else from that point on was wonderful, including the phenomenal education and experiences he had there. Don't let the phonecall dissuade you. Rice is a wonderful school!</p>
<p>Just as two above have said, we had an absurd experience trying to schedule admission interview with Rice (also several years ago). S did not end up attending, but I just don't feel poor admissions staff reflect accurately what the college experience would be.</p>
<p>However, Rice Admissions might want to look at how their staff handle these things. It's darn poor, if it was going on in several different years, as appears from these posts.</p>
<p>I strongly urge you to call back. The person who answered may have been a student working in the admissions department, which is no excuse, but I'm sure that department is pretty crazy this time of year.</p>
<p>I've had off conversations with Financial Aid in the past too, but once I got beyond the person answering the phone it was much better!</p>
<p>Everyone we've come in contact with over the past 2.5 years has been somewhere between very nice and absolutely wonderful. I'm talking about College staff, Masters, Housing & Dining, RUPD (especially nice), professors, etc.</p>
<p>Please don't let one bad phone conversation turn you away from this terrific school!</p>
<p>DS has a hs classmate who is now a 1st yr at Rice and I remember a conversation with her mom a year ago who had a similar phone experience contacting the school. She pressed on and eventually got her questions answered. I spoke with her DD over winterbreak and she couldn't be happier with her first semester at Rice, *even with the hurricane experience!</p>
<p>Perhaps it's actually intentional, some kind of a weird filtering mechanism....</p>
<p>Agree with all the above posters. DW worked at an elite LAC. The department chair hired her babysitter to run the dept office! I'm certain lots of people calling in had experiences like yours.</p>
<p>Thanks all for your replies! I feel better now.</p>
<p>I have been dealing with a departmental secretary at a school in which Son is interested ...I won't go into details, but I'm postitive that the girl could never be admitted to the school at which she works. I keep telling myself that it's a small town so the talent pool isn't very deep and that they probably don't pay all that well.</p>
<p>We had a horrible start to one of our college visits. Due to construction on campus, it was very hard to get to the admin building. Then, exactly ONE door to the building was unlocked and that, of course, was the last one we tried. (All of this could have been avoided by a two sentence email to us in advance of our visit.) Then they sent us across campus alone to sit in on a class - no offer of water and it was very hot. The class was about rape and Son was the only guy in the room. Then we had lunch under very chaotic circumstances. When we finally talked to the admissions officer-the last person on the agenda - she was a delight and left a great impresson - but by then we felt very battle weary and did not have a great impresssion of the school. Tiny little things by an adminstrative person would have improved our visit by 100%, but they weren't done.</p>
<p>Of course, your problem was with Rice and they aren't exactly hurting for students. If they lose a dozen or two due to rude admins, probably doesn't make a dent in the applicant pool.</p>
<p>
[quote]
DW worked at an elite LAC. The department chair hired her babysitter to run the dept office!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Makes me think of my SIL. She is a medical technician by profession, stayed at home for years and started working at a college in hopes that her son could go there and get a tuition break. He wasn't "good LAC" material, but she's still there. She has no secretarial training and admits to working as little as she can get by with.</p>
<p>There are good employees and bad employees about everywhere.</p>
<p>Perhaps some admissions officers will see this thread! The first impressions in the office do count for a lot. I have found this to be true in many businesses as well--esp Drs. offices. They may not be aware that office staff does not offer the first impression that is needed. In this economy, no one should feel so comfortable that service/first impressions to customers/potential students be ignored!</p>
<p>And it could be that there is a hiring freeze which means that the department can't hire more people to handle all the influx of calls. Mix together a bad year in the economy with scads more applicants and no additional hiring and you've got a recipe for bad customer service.</p>
<p>This really reflects how hard it is for any of us to judge a college, which are typically big, diverse and decentralized, with many stakeholders (not just stuents). Unlike a regular business, it's far less from being a centralized, coherent entity. </p>
<p>There are typically thousands of people, departments, managers, many of which are almost completely autonomous from one another in terms of authority and interaction (given the nature of academics). Many different management philosophies, goals, policies, and cultures from school to program to department. Many faculty for example (who have a huge influence on the student experience), don't even know of, let alone ever interact with, staff members or senior management of the university (that is just but one of a million examples).</p>
<p>Even when the 'impression managed" version they provide to you (vis a vis the application process, advertisements, tours) appears coherent and utterly positive, it tells you little about the actual reality of being at student there or the kind of education you get because the rest of the school has little or anything to do with that version.</p>