<p>As many of you might have read but probably don't remember, I've been having issues with a certain private Canadian university throughout the graduate application process. First, the secretary of the department took issue with the number of test-out credits on my transcript and demanded official documentation from the Collegeboard, to whom I had to pay significant sums to dig up the records from the high school era. A few weeks later she emailed to accuse me of reading my recommendations: "I noted that this letter, like a previous one, was sent by you. Letters from referees should be sent directly to the School - the applicant should not see the letter. I do not know if this will be noted by the Graduate and Postdoctoral office if we do decide to offer you an acceptance." Of course, no student who has applied to this program has ever given professors SAEs with their own return address on them so said professors don't have to deal with them if there's a snag in delivery. I also had to goad a professor who's currently overseas to send a digital image of her signature to this woman because a letter printed, stuffed and sealed by the department secretary here wasn't good enough.</p>
<p>Finally, just yesterday I received a forwarded email in bright purple font saying they did not have my CV and cover letter and would not review my application until these were received. I sent these little documents back in November. My application has been labeled "Complete and Ready for Review" on the website for months, and they're asking for replacements just now when I'm already receiving decisions from other schools.</p>
<p>So, I took much delight in clicking the button that says "Cancel this application" on their website. I don't even want to spend the money on the postal stamps to fulfill their requests anymore. Since I've been accepted to three other institutions, this is no great tragedy, but I do wish I had that $150-ish of fees back in my pocket.</p>