<p>Just thought it would be good to start a thread to share experiences about the whole admissions experience at Richmond. Ours was not good.</p>
<p>Maybe they will learn from it and improve it for others.</p>
<p>My son was selected as a finalist for the Oldham Scholarship, the only full-ride merit scholarship they offer. During the process, they treated him like royalty. He came away from Richmond with U of R as his second choice school, a very close second to Notre Dame, which looked like a financial long-shot. Consequently, the Oldham would have likely had him at Richmond.</p>
<p>During the competition days, he was told they would call the scholars over the coming weekend to let them know the results. Sure enough, on this site and others, people from India, Hong Kong, etc. started announcing that they had gotten the call. My son, who lives all the way out in the Chicago area, did not get a call. No call of congratualtions. No call of consolation. No call period. Some two and a half weeks passed, when finally an envelope showed up in the mail with a photocopied form letter telling him he did not get the scholarship. It didn't even carry an original signature from the Advisor for the Oldham
Scholars. </p>
<p>There were only 23 kids competing for this scholarship. So it is not as if it would have taken a monumental effort to make the phone calls. And to send a photocopy of a letter was nothing short of insulting. My son crossed Richmond off the list a week or two before that letter arrived, realizing he didn't get the scholarship and that they didn't care enough to have the decency to call the kids that had missed three days of school to attend the competition. I imagine other kids did as well. As my son said, "I can only imagine the caste system that must exist on campus once you get there, if this is how they treat you while they are recruiting you."</p>
<p>I would imagine the Oldham family would be appalled at the way the University is caretaking the money that has been entrusted to them, if they knew of the follow-up process that is in place. I also think it is appalling that they are using the money to give a free education to international students, when their are American students that are deserving. It is not as if the economy is soaring these days.</p>
<p>Bottom line, Richmond. Pull your heads out.</p>
<p>Dad, I understand some of your frustration. Other parts though come off a bit like sour grapes. Scholar winners have priority registration and housing selection, but given that there are so few, it’s far from a “caste system.” In fact, I couldn’t even tell you a single Oldham scholar from my class (the current group of Seniors only have two Oldham scholars).</p>
<p>That said, the line about “I also think it is appalling that they are using the money to give a free education to international students, when their are American students that are deserving,” shows me that you’ve got a pretty myopic view. </p>
<p>The world that we live in is truly a global one. Because of this, it is vital to take the best, most deserving students, regardless of their home country. The 2011 graduating class’ president is an international who will be working for a Big 4 accounting firm in Richmond. I knew three international students well (one of which is still one of my closest friends) during my time at UR. Two have remained in the US, one of which has completed his MBA and another that is starting grad school this fall. The third was a Greek national who was living in Egypt during the uprising. It was amazing to hear her recall the events and to get a better sense of what was really going on over there.</p>
<p>UR prides itself on its international programs (both sending students, and receiving students from abroad). If you didn’t get a sense of that, then UR probably wouldn’t have been the best fit.</p>
<p>From reading your other posts, it sounds like your son is going to have some fantastic opportunities at his choice of some great schools though.</p>
<p>Frustrated Dad - We have similar feelings about the inadequate communication. My daughter was not a candidate for scholarship consideration, we experienced it in other ways. We thought the “likely letters”, the acceptances being sent via Fed Ex, at the last possible moment, and the wl/rejection letters coming by regular mail was poor form. The admission office lack of communication on their blog and by phone, lead to lots of posts on cc…lots of confusion and most likely rumors that were untrue. In fairness to them, they must have been completely overwhelmed by increase in the number of applications this year, if the Fed Ex Letters were indeed necessary to avoid admitted students from missing Accepted Students Day. We just had none of these issues with the other schools that my daughter applied to. It sounds like this was a unique situation this year. I have to agree with you also about the “full ride” issue,Sorry Spider05. Just my opinion. I hope that U of Richmond pays attention to some of the suggestions/complaints on these threads…</p>
<p>Spiders05: I’m not sure of your connection to Richmond, but you are awfully defensive, and a little offensive, if I am being honest.</p>
<p>First, “caste sytem” or not, it is nothing short of boorish behavior to ask kids to write essays until their minds and fingers are numb, then spend three days away from high school interviewing with a multitude of different panels and committees to compete for this scholarship, only to treat them as an afterthought when they don’t make the cut. Maybe you missed the main point of my post, but this group of kids left Richmond thinking they would receive a personal phone call from Dr. Cable within two days. A few did, and they broadcast it all over College Confidential and a number of other sites. The rest were left languishing for over two weeks. Only then did their photocopied form letter arrive in the mail. That kind of performance on the part of an admissions office is pathetic and we experienced it no place else other than Richmond.</p>
<p>Regarding international students, my opinion is that international students should be allowed to study in the US, but they should have to pay for their education. Period. Then they should have to return home. Over 25% of the illegal immigrants we have in the country are students that have overstayed their visas. So lets pay for their education, too? Really? </p>
<p>Maybe you think U of R should be praised for giving a free education to an international student that has in-turn taken a high paying job at a Big 4 accounting firm that would have otherwise gone to an American graduate. I disagree. I think it is ridiculous.</p>
<p>I’m sorry it didn’t work out and hopefully they improve the process.</p>
<p>Frustrateddad- Couldn’t have said it better myself !!! I COMPLETELY agree with you on all points !</p>
<p>Thank you, Sailgal. </p>
<p>Good to know I’m not alone.</p>
<p>I’m completely with Spider05 here… I just went through the process this year with your students and it couldn’t have been easier. Everything came in a timely manner and the blog posts helped me know when to anticipate information and when to not. Maybe this is because I didn’t spend my time on college confidential comparing myself to other people’s stories? At Richmond, each person is an individual with a unique story and is treated different, in accordance to them. Much better than when there are 4,000 incoming freshman who are just numbers, in my opinion. If you only have negative things to say about Richmond, it’s probably best that your child chose not to attend, scholarship or not.</p>
<p>Hi frustratedad, I hope we realize that the success of US is built on immigrants, who were at one point of time the so called “international”. UR is doing a favor to US by inviting bright youngsters from the rest of the world, so that they can be the future tax payers and employment creators, which I guess is very badly needed.</p>
<p>International-Frustratedad is not saying DON’T accept international students. If you read his posts completely…he is saying he support International Students at U Richmond, just not full scholarships.</p>
<p>…and then return to their home country…</p>
<p>I’d love to see a source on his “over 25%” statistic.</p>
<p>First the comment that “Oldham Scholar is the only full ride scholarship they offer” is inaccurate. “Richmond Scholars” is the only full tuition scholarship. Oldham is one of four subsets of Richmond Scholars. There can be up to 7 Oldham Scholars. There were 40 Richmond Scholars out of a class of 818 last year. 9% of the 818 were international. UR does not publish statistics on who the fortunate 40 were but if those same ratios hold up there were four international students. Five percent of the class came in on a full tuition merit scholarship. I can argue that my daughter should have been given much more consideration than she was. She loves UR and has yet to be ridiculed by one of those 40 students. Get over it.</p>
<p>mld719…you seem to imply that I have spent a lot of time on college confidential comparing stories. I have to say you look pretty stupid making a comment like that when you have 34 posts and I have 23.</p>
<p>international…I have nothing against immigrants. Honestly, I don’t. But international students are not immigrants, they are temporary visitors taking up space in our universities that could be taken by bright American students. It hurts our own kids. </p>
<p>Spider05…Yes. I think they need to go home afterwards. They are not citizens. Do you support the crime of overstaying a visa? And my source for the “over 25%” statistic is Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security. I assume she knows her facts…maybe not. Either way, it wouldn’t change my opinion.</p>
<p>PAVenturer…You are incorrect. The Oldham Scholars designation is a full ride (full tuition and room/board). The others, Boatwright, Science, Artist designations are full tuition only.
I don’t undertand the rest of your post. I’m not sure what I am supposed to “get over”. We found out Richmond was indifferent to treating their students like crap, and chose to go elsewhere. I hope your daughter doesn’t experience any of that. </p>
<p>Finally, many of you are simply missing the main point. I could care less if my son received the scholarship or not. It was that UR was so grossly unprofessional, and so incredibly rude in the way they handled the notifications afterwards. These kids gave up three days of their time, missing school and other activities, to come to Richmond for the scholarship competition. Those kids that were not selected were simply treated like crap. They were left hanging for weeks after being told they would hear personally from Dr. Cable within 3 days. It was inexcusable. If that kind of performance is OK with you, great. Its not OK with me.</p>
<p>Wow, for someone who could “care less” if his son received the scholarship, you certainly can’t let it go. It’s best that you won’t be in attendance at any future UR Family Weekends (you would likely find that nothing met your ‘expectations’.)</p>
<p>Beantown: I will try to use small, one syllable words as much a I can so you can keep up.</p>
<p>My expectations are that if a scholarship committee tells a student they will call him/her within three days to let them know either way on a scholarship they have spent three days interviewing for that they will call within three days. UR waited 15 days and finally sent a letter. I think that is unacceptable. If that is acceptable to you, then I am sure you will have a blast at Richmond. Knock yourself out.</p>
<p>Thanks, I already am! Why don’t you lurk on your son’s dream school thread instead? I’m sure you’ll eventually find something ‘unacceptable’ to you there as well. Knock yourself out.</p>
<p>Beanbrain: I guess the words are still too difficult for you to manage. It’s not surprising that you are enjoying yourself there…you sound as if you would be too dense to pickup on it if you were being insulted or mistreated. </p>
<p>And maybe you didn’t notice, Brainiac, but I started this thread. I checked back to see if anyone had had similarly poor experiences with admissions, or if anyone from admissions had bothered to comment. I believe the idea of this site is to share experiences…good and bad. I wasn’t expecting a bunch of wankers like yourself to turn it into this.</p>
<p>I have to agree. I was waitlisted back in April at UR. I have not heard anything from the college (good or bad) since then and it is nearly July! I have called and emailed and while I understand that they may not be finished with their admissions process, most school have contacted students. All I want is to know and at this point I’m not expecting anything but do they really expect students to sit and twiddle their thumbs until it’s time to move in?</p>
<p>frustrateddad: I’m certainly not too dense to realize that had your son had been awarded the scholarship you felt he was so entitled to, there would have been no negative comments from you on this thread (regardless of when it came.) Your on-going sour grapes attitude, boorish comments, and insults have done nothing but display your immaturity.</p>
<p>Beanbrain: My son competed for five full ride scholarships. He won three and was unsuccessful on the other two, one of which was Richmond. The other, UVA, was fantastic about communicating and letting him know his status when they said they would. They didn’t leave him dangling, even though he didn’t get the scholarship. </p>
<p>UR was a safety school for him. Getting the scholarship or not getting it was not a big deal. That may seem hard to believe to you, because UR was probably the best you could do, but it didn’t matter to my son. He had much better options and took one of them. </p>
<p>I will say until the negativity after the scholarship competition, he liked Richmond. His only negative comment after both visits was that he had met some student from Boston that was a real tool bag…was that you?</p>