<p>Be honest cause no one knows who you are. Tell me which colleges have nice or rude or helpful or don't care admissions offices and if it has influenced your decision to go to that school. It might even change things since you never know who is reading this!</p>
<p>UCLA has the nicest admissions team. Whenever I called they were extremely helpful and told me to email further questions. USC was not as helpful. They seemed sorta rude...guess thats what you get from private schools</p>
<p>cornell is great.
uva not very helpful
unc decent
w & m good
penn ok</p>
<p>connecticut college--great
bates--decent
bowdoin--eh, but i still love the school
hamilton--super
hobart and william smith--ok</p>
<p>There are two offices which I don't particularly care for; whenever I call with a question regarding my application, the person will day: "Let me send you over to someone who can open your application and give you an answer." Then, I get transfered to a dead end: some recording about the vast number of application we have to process. I'm convinced that these schools have a dead end line that they give to annoyingly anxious applicants that they just don't want to deal with. I won't say who they are, but if you have experienced the same thing I have, you know what schools do this. </p>
<p>However, my experience with the Rice admissions office has been very helpful and simple. They don't transfer you to dead end recordings and are altogether willing to help sort things out.</p>
<p>I'm an international, and I've never made a phone call to any of adoffices nor visited, so I can tell only about the online interaction with them.</p>
<p>RIT
- Quite impersonal and really not excited that you are interested in their school. When I requested more information from them, to get a viewbook in my mail, all they've done was just send some automated e-mail with a link to pdf file. But weird thing is, they sent me a snail mail with something that was supposed to introduce their school to me. They had lots of stuff going on on their website, and application checklist was really nice, but their automated e-mails that didn't even bother to put my name on top (for like 90% of times) turned me off. When I saw that my TOEFL score didn't appear on checklist (and I sent it to all my schools at once, only RIT didn't seem to receive it), I concluded why bother and gave up on that school. </p>
<p>Yale
- They contacted me first by sending a small pamphlet about the school in my mailbox and that's when I got interested in it and decided to take a look at the ivies. They were really nice with the student outreach, and even have Facebook account set up just for that purpose. Students responding questions are really nice and patient with everyone. They also describe some of their Yale experience, and I was happy to read about them.
I also like that they have really nice prospective students website, only one complaint is that their data is outdated on the virtual tour. Inquiries were answered in decent time, but it took them long to send the viewbook to my other address. Overall, nice, but once I turned in my application, it took them some time to give me the pin to access my checklist, but they had some technical issues this year, so I guess that is not the norm. </p>
<p>Cornell
- They have plethora of resources online, and I thought it was nice they organized a chat for international students in a decent time for us (unlike all the other colleges that invite you to a prospective students' chat when it's like 3a.m. European time). They also sent several e-mails about life at Cornell etc. so that was nice to read. Also, they were fast in connecting me with students at Cornell that are from my country and those students were quick in replying. From what I know about Cornellians, they seem to be the types that get down on business and do it right away.
However, the viewbook I requested during summer arrived on Dec 31! I sort of started to think they just weren't interested in me although they didn't even know me, but viewbook helped me to write (in my opinion) a good supplement essay.
However, they were the first school to send me an online application status check account.
When I sent an update to my application recently, the person who replied even congratulated me on an award. That's something that no other school did!</p>
<p>WUSTL
- They just started sending me pamphlets and mails etc. in my junior year. At first I wasn't all that interested in any of the colleges sending me mail at the time, but I slowly started liking the school as I found out more about it and thought: "hey, if they're sending me this much paper, I'll just request a viewbook and apply there, too!" They were nice in communication with me, but they did lose my mid-year report (only one of my schools besides RIT that didn't seem to receive something) so I had to fax it, but the problems were being solved quite quickly over there. They were the first school to send me the actual viewbook (and I requested all on the same date), and provided me with quite a nice bunch of information on paper. Also, they sent a mail to "the family of boho_girl", too! Oh, and they are realtively fast in replying e-mails, too.</p>
<p>Swarthmore
- It's actually fun to communicate with them. They always seemed excited to get an email from me ("thank you for contating us! we're excited to receive a mail from you!") and they were willing to see what they could do to address my inquiry. I really love their viewbook (and the school, really, it's just amazing).
However, once they received the apps and got busy, they don't really reply on e-mails. At least not fast. </p>
<p>Harvard
- Again, plenty resources online, but I am not too happy with prospective student inquiry form. Sometimes they just send an automated e-mail and then if that doesn't answer the question, tell you to write to an actual e-mail address. So it takes two e-mails to get an answer sometimes, but their speed of replying makes up for it. Plus, they sent some e-mails every now and then to introduce the school. I also really liked their application. It seems as though school is trying to get the know the student the best it could, as opposed to all the other schools that just ask you to prove why you should attend it. It really gives you freedom to express yourself, and over all, I find process to be good.</p>
<p>Princeton
- Personally, I think they have really good administration, in my opinion.
I requested viewbook in early summer, and they probably didn't have the new viewbook ready yet, so they sent me a small pamphlet right away. And I think they sent me new viewbook as soon as it was available. No "advertising" e-mails, though. And that sort of made me think they didn't really pay much attention to prospective students' interests.
Once they received my application, they were fast to acknowledge the receipt of it. Whever I had a question regarding my application etc. they were fast to reply. Once they even replied within 30 minutes of my sending e-mail!
Filling out their application was fun - especially the "favorite..." section :p Although not as much as Harvard, but they also seem to want to get to know the students well, too.
And they were the only one of my schools that had interviewers in my country. That was such a pleasant surprise. :)</p>
<p>Good luck, everyone, with various admissions offices, and admissions decisions that are bound to be released soon! :)</p>
<p>I've contacted Columbia and the University of Miami (phone call + e-mail for both).</p>
<p>Columbia was very good. When I e-mailed them, they got right back to me and re-sent a copy of a confirmation e-mail that got lost in cyberspace, and when I called about parts of my application that they hadn't received, they explained exactly what I needed to get them, even if the lady on the phone was a bit impatient. I had no problem getting everything I needed from them.</p>
<p>U of Miami is a different story. I needed the date of an accepted student reception I was told about in my acceptance envelope, since we needed to make travel arrangements and my mother needed to ask for the time off work well in advance. We called once and were told "a Sunday in April" with no further specifics, and when I sent an e-mail about the matter, it simply went unanswered. We had to call another time, and then we finally got the date. It could have been worse, but it was frustrating.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins is great too</p>
<p>Although I have no contact with the admissions team yet, when my dad and I toured UCLA and Stanford during the summer, the students and faculty that were still there were incredibly helpful and nice. A couple students even took the time to tell us the best eating joints and "inside info" (where to buy the cheapest books, which professors to avoid, best times for laundry, etc.).</p>
<p>When I emailed Brown though, they were really unhelpful. I had a question about a unique situation I had. They just basically gave me this standard answer that definitely didn't answer my question. When I asked them to elaborate, they sent me to the FAQ, which also didn't answer my question. :/ Still love the school though.</p>
<p>I actually though USC was great. They are always great about sending information and answering any questions. What really drew me in was that after I went for my first USC tour, I got a really nice handwritten note in the mail saying that they appreciated my visit and if I had any questions to feel free to contact them.</p>
<p>I emailed Dartmouth to ask them a question about admission and they emailed me back months later. The lady who emailed me was rude and implied that if I should not even apply (without knowing my other qualifications) if I wasn't worthy. She acted as if I knew nothing about the school and pointed out (several times) that it was an Ivy League school that had difficult admission and that if you are a nobody, you shouldn't even bother to apply. However, that it is just one person and I'm sure that the other people are nicer. I still think it is a great school.</p>
<p>Did you get in?</p>
<p>I haven't applied yet. I'm just a junior and I really liked Dartmouth so I wanted to ask them a question about admissions. I used email because I live all the way in California and it would have cost my family money to call. I still really like the school and want to apply though :) I'm sure that's just one person.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr has been really really great through the whole process. Probably the best out of all the schools I've applied to... They send little reminders and helpful paperwork, and little notes saying how cool your essays were. Haha, they're an adoreable school. Oh, and a lot of "don't stress!" emails before the apps were due. </p>
<p>I haven't had really negative experiences with any of the other schools although a lot of people I've talked to have had problems with Grinnell this year...</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr is amazing. I wish I could be best friends with the admissions office. (Yeah, I know that makes no sense).</p>
<p>Both Wellesley and Barnard are very helpful, but also very to the point (and don't do cute things like Bryn Mawr :P). I live in a different timezone (12 hours difference), and every time I emailed them I still got responses pretty much right away. I was impressed.</p>
<p>Cornell is a bit annoying and snooty, but I suppose with the volume of applications they don't really have time for each student's request, especially when they get the same questions all the time.</p>
<p>Also, a friend had a very negative experience with Brown when he requested information and included his GPA and SAT score in his email. His SAT score was on the very low side (1600 ish), and he got an email back with one line:</p>
<p>Is this a legitimate request?</p>
<p>Hahahahah I laughed for a long time after reading it and needless to say he didn't end up applying there.</p>
<p>^LOL :D</p>
<p>I found Cornell pretty nice, really. Every time I called them, they would patiently answer all questions I had.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is great. I've only emailed them - about some missing documents - and they were really friendly and helpful.</p>
<p>Duke and BC both made it clear that the line runs out the door and around the corner, and neither needs to court potential applicants. The BC admissions person actually said, in an info session last summer, "It really doesn't matter to us how much you like us. You probably noticed that we didn't take any of your names when you came in." (That was countered by an incredible forum of six students who "told it like it is" and answered questions with humor, warmth, and honesty.)</p>
<p>Wake Forest's admissions office was wonderful and welcoming. (Wish they had a program for my daughter's interest; she chose not to apply for that reason alone.)</p>
<p>WUStL has been incredible too, express-mailing the itinerary for my daughter's visit, arranging for an art-department interview, staying in touch constantly, and making the online status check easy to use.</p>
<p>We love Miami and have fingers crossed for that one, but while they were very welcoming in person, they are v-e-r-y slow in answering questions by email.</p>
<p>Whitman: AMAZING. The best admissions team out there. They will go out of their way to help you figure anything out, and they're very prompt and dedicated. Very personal, also.</p>
<p>UW-Seattle: Decent, especially for a state school. I called the admissions office randomly and they put me directly in contact with one of the main admissions officers, just to answer a simple SAT score question.</p>
<p>USC: Not so great; they threw a fit when I requested a paper application. They sent me three emails saying "You can download it online," after I had clearly stated that I wanted an actual, hard copy so I wouldn't have to waste my ink on their fancy, colorful application.</p>
<p>Ithaca College: Eh...they spend all of their money on flashy acceptance packages and special websites. The school gives really bad financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Marist College: Fantastic! They called me right before they sent out EA decisions asking for my updated ACT score, and it ended up landing me a scholarship I probably wouldn't have gotten otherwise.</p>
<p>Gonzaga University: VERY nice admissions team. I decided not to attend, but they were always very fast to answer emails.</p>
<p>Emory: Lovely and helpful--they lost my application materials and when I emailed them, they got right on the ball and found them.</p>
<p>CMC: They're pretty nice, they were lenient on a deadline for me.</p>
<p>Notre Dame: Reeeally sweet. I liked them a lot. Very helpful--they make you feel wanted even if you're a somewhat random, low-scores applicant.</p>
<p>Western Washington U: Really helpful and prompt, but it is to be expected from a small state school. It's very much like an LAC.</p>
<p>Pepperdine: They were really odd this year. I called on the day I submitted my app to check that my other materials had been received (by their priority deadline of 11/15), and they said "Yes," but then I got a letter via snailmail in January telling encouraging me to apply. I was like...w t f? It all got worked out, but they were very unorganized this year!</p>
<p>MIT and DUKE: Very helpful staff in the admissions and the fin aid offices.
Phone/e-mail gets instant responses that are thoughtful and on point.</p>
<p>Caltech: Admissions staff is great; Financial aid staff must be a bit small
in numbers based on a few of my waits on e-mail.</p>