<p>Maybe I'm just grumpy this morning, but is anyone else experiencing a school (or in my case, several schools) that simply NEVER give you a decision? Yes, I have called, I have emailed....and I either get a "But we mailed that out a month ago," or "You should have received that." Yes, well....I DIDN'T RECEIVE IT. I don't know...I just kinda figure if I spend hundreds of dollars (or in one case, over a thousand) to travel to your school to have my D audition b/c you don't come to Unifieds, at the very least, I deserve a decision. Any decision. Just...the knowledge that she was considered, and a decision was made. </p>
<p>Luckily, we have some great acceptances, and even if I never hear from these schools, my D will be in a great program. But isn't it common courtesy? What am I missing here? And it's NOT that they don't have our email or address, b/c we certainly get enough pamphlets and letters and emails about the school in general. </p>
<p>Advice on how to handle this? I have had two people tell me that in years past there were schools they just never, ever heard from. I don't find that acceptable. Am I wrong? Do I need another cup of coffee and a happy pill?</p>
<p>This has happened several times to my kids. For instance, my D applied academically to Rutgers. She was a National Merit Scholar and top 1% in her class, so we were excited at the possibility of a full ride. She never heard from them, ever. </p>
<p>Honestly, rather than get angry (which I was, briefly), I told myself they were doing us a favor. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if a school will be a match for your kid. But in this case, it was crystal clear that Rutgers was not a match for her. </p>
<p>This happened in another school as well–nothing. It was the same case–my D should have been offered a fairly automatic full ride scholarship because of her stats, and instead of awarding her, they pretended she didn’t even apply. But in both cases they did accept my checks…</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s a deliberate strategy (to save money?) or simply extreme incompetence. Either way, I decided to look at it as good data to know about the colllege.</p>
<p>Good luck in your search, and glad she has choices!</p>
<p>Connections, you are just a better person than I am. You’re right, of course, that it is obviously not a good fit. I guess I feel like not only did they accept my check, but had my D do a lot of work to apply/audition…the least they could do is answer. </p>
<p>I’m gonna go with the “extreme incompetence” explanation and write it off!</p>
<p>I think that is unacceptable (sorry if there is a pun in there). It isn’t April 1 yet, but if a school has not replied with an admissions decision by then, I would call again and say that no decision has been received and if they claim they have sent one, ask them to resend it.</p>
<p>Yes, of course, you’re right that it’s unacceptable, and I could have said, “Either send us the decision or refund the money.” But by then - April - I had no energy to do that. That was just me.</p>
<p>My son received a rejection from a school where he never finished filling out the application or attended an audition. “We are sorry we can not offer you a spot…”. Really? Bad record keeping. </p>
<p>Not hearing from a school that took your money, where you spent time and energy applying, traveling and auditioning is just plain bad.</p>
<p>Sadly, this is the lack of common courtesy of our society today. It’s happening as well when these college kids graduate, go on interviews and never receive any notification of a decision one way or the other.</p>
<p>lojosmo-My D had an experience related to your son’s. She had filled out Part I of a school’s application when she was considering applying there. Never sent them transcripts or any other detailed information. They kept sending her emails telling her she was missing documentation from her application even after she emailed them informing them she had accepted admission to her ED school and was not continuing her application with them. She emailed them at least 3 more times and each time they said apologized and said they just hadn’t updated their database yet, but i think this is actually a strategy to increase the number of applicants they can report to USNews and the like. They can boost their selectivity rating.</p>
<p>Yep, we had one school last year that never gave us any sort of artistic decision. D received her academic admission/scholarship info in the late fall but they never notified us artisically. </p>
<p>I was so annoyed. We had sent all the paperwork, headshot, resume, personal statement, and audition fee as soon as it was physically possible to do so, and scheduled her audition (thankfully at Chicago Unifieds!). When we got there, they had her on the list but claimed they never received her audition paperwork or check. Of course we were prepared and had extra copies of everything and ponied up another check and she auditioned.</p>
<p>That was the last we ever heard. I did try to contact them later with proof that we had paid the audition fee earlier but couldn’t get a response. </p>
<p>And finally, after calling several times and getting the “we send the info to Admissions and the notification has to come from them” spiel, countered by “Here in Admissions, we only deal with Academic admissions. The artistic admissions come from the department” my D got a sympathetic admissions officer who checked the system and told her she had been wait listed for the department. That was the very last we heard.</p>
<p>I sent an email to the department chair letting him know that there was an issue in his department that needed to be fixed (I wasn’t angry, just letting him know that he should investigate where the breakdown occurred). I got an autoresponder that he was out of the country until summer. The end.</p>
<p>Needless to say, we wouldn’t have sent her to that school under any circumstances!</p>
<p>I assume we have to wait for April 1. But others are noting that in previous years they never got notification. That is bad form. I think every school should be sending a “thank you” to each applicant for considering them. They can easily do so by email.</p>
<p>I will add one more thing. These schools are often processing hundreds of applications and auditions each year. It is not outside the realm of possibility that (such as in my D’s case) a kid just slips through the cracks. I don’t think that is necessarily a reflection on the program. It’s how they respond to the realization that a mistake has been made that makes all the difference.</p>
<p>Here’s another example: Last year, after receiving a rejection from a particular school, my D emailed and asked if they had any feedback they could pass along since it was very early in the audition season. One of the auditors, not realizing that my D had been copied on the email request s/he had received from the department head, hit “reply all” and my D received a very harsh assessment of her audition. Yes, it was devastating. However, she almost immediately received sincere and profuse apologies from both the department head AND the auditor, saying that they would never intentionally communicate that way to a student. To me that showed class and caring and a respect for the students. I still to this day recommend that program VERY HIGHLY to everyone.</p>
<p>Well, it helps to know I am not alone. With one of the schools we are dealing with, they were very apologetic at first, but got snippy very quickly. We all know the mail is not perfect, nor is email. What is the big deal about sending out another notice? Really? I guess I just don’t get it. So yes, it’s not so much the fact that it happened, but HOW they dealt with it once it was brought to their attention. </p>
<p>The other thing I find annoying is the differing answers you get from the school. If one person calls and says, “Have all the decisions been made?” (in other words, can I move on?), and the schools says, “Oh, no, we’re still deciding.” But they’re not…someone else calls the next day and the school says, “Yes, all decisions have been made and everyone was notified last week.” Or, the opposite happens…someone asks if they are done, and they say yes, and then weeks later you hear about more people getting waitlisted or accepted. Just tell us the truth. I really do prefer the transparent all-at-once approach. Or, rolling admissions that are transparent would be nice, too. Any kind of transparency! I can understand that the person on the other end of the phone doesn’t want to deal with a lot of upset students or parents, but I have to think that a transparent decision process would minimize that. If a school said, “All accepted students will be called on such and such a date. All WLed students will be emailed the following day. If you don’t hear from us by phone call or email by such and such a date, you will be receiving a rejection letter within 2 weeks.” Or whatever. What is so difficult about that? It’s simple, it’s clear, and it’s less painful than the agonizing limbo that we are kept in. For example, take a look at the CMU thread…it reads like the 7 stages of grief…some people have moved on, but others are still in the anger stage (or even denial). I feel awful for the people who had their hearts set on CMU, but I think it’s time to let go. And the kindest thing the school could do would be to be clear and honest with us. Given how difficult this process is for our kids (and us), I don’t think that’s too much to ask.</p>
<p>You know what, monkey13 - the biggest issue behind your being upset is the very thing I feel about the whole audition process. So many schools do not really respect the time, energy and stress that the application/audition process is for our kids (and us). Not being told about rejections is one part of it- but there is so much more. This is really hard to go through!!! I have told friends of mine that I wouldn’t wish this process on anyone. I think that calling schools, by the way, can give you false info because the students who answer the phones really don’t know what they are talking about! The schools do not make it a priority to provide information to those who auditioned and simply want to know if they can let go of hope. I am pretty certain that if you apply to an Ivy League school, you get a clear yes/no. It shouldn’t be so hard to get this from theatre schools.</p>
<p>So many of these programs are so disconnected from the schools administration it’s like they just live there but are not part of the college at all. Different requirements. Different deadlines. And no answers at all…or answers that are really just intended to make you go away. Grrrr!!!</p>
<p>Both of my kids went to a performing arts high school and I spent 6 years having to deal with the theatre department faculty vs the academic faculty vs administration. They never communicated well with each other! The arts teachers rarely got back with you and their egos were out of this world. The academic teachers almost always got back with me- in a very timely manner too. It’s funny, because the arts teachers weren’t nearly as busy as the academic teachers.</p>
<p>Anyway, my daughter had a friend who started her application to a school but did not finish it. She was accepted to that school. I guess the disconnect can go both ways. However, never getting back to you is- as soosievt said- totally unacceptable!</p>
<p>I am probably one of the people mentioned in this thread. But let me give a small defense. There is a multi-step process that involves input by both the school and the student. The student must apply and be accepted to the university. Completely separate to that is the audition process. Auditions are attended (in our case) beginning in June (Lincoln, NE). After that we are in Dallas, Georgia, Florida, Chicago and on campus. We see over 1000 auditions. Many of those aren’t serious about our program, never apply, or start to apply but don’t finish. Many are serious, but miss some part of the application process or are waiting to submit new test scores, etc. Finally, you have our side of the process -the audition. We are very successful at keeping track of on campus auditions. Not perfect, but we try hard. But look at somebody who walked in at the Chicago audition. S/he wasn’t on any list, hasn’t applied, and never contacts us again. In the interim, they may or may not apply. If they do, it takes up to 6 weeks before we are notified. It is conceivable that this student might get lost in the handling of hundreds of students. </p>
<p>We try to be honest with everyone who contacts us. In one case mentioned here, we were far too honest. But the system isn’t cut and dried. We still have students we are considering. If you called me tomorrow to ask, those are the exact words I would use. I do not believe we are different than many schools.</p>
<p>We would love to notify everyone quickly and unambiguously. Every school would. With so many auditions, and processes, there are going to be mistakes made. Each year I personally review all the good and bad feedback and try hard to eliminate mistakes. For instance, in our case I am supposed to be the sole source of contact in order to eliminate competing answers based on out of date or simply incorrect information. </p>
<p>All I can say is that I’ve never encountered anyone in the process that doesn’t care. It may seem that way sometimes, but I don’t imagine it to be the case for the vast majority of us that do this. I appreciate the time money and emotional toll. It must be brutal. I apologize on behalf of myself and my colleagues for not being faster and clearer. I hope all of you find resolution quickly. If I am one of the problems please email me. I promise to answer quickly.</p>
<p>kjgc, I for one can tell you that I was not talking about you! My D did not apply to your school, so I have no complaints! :)</p>
<p>But, I have to laugh. Today, my D FINALLY rec’d an envelope from one of the schools she has been waiting to hear from…forever…everyone else seems to have heard from this school. We open it up…and…are y’all sitting down? It was a decision for someone else. Someone in Indiana. Some poor girl who is waiting for her decision, and we got it. I LOLed. But, then I called the school to let them know, and they said, “Oh! Sorry for the confusion.” And I kept saying, “I’m not worried about me…there is no confusion…I’m worried about this poor girl who is waiting for her decision.” She kept saying, “Right, sorry.” I finally said, “Don’t you want to know her name and address so you can send her decision out to HER?” And she said, “Oh, yeah, I guess.” </p>
<p>OMG. Should I mail this girl her letter? I am NOT confident she’s going to get it.</p>
<p>I wonder who has OUR FSU decision??? Why does this happen to us? I have to laugh, or else I would cry…</p>
You’re right, of course, that it is obviously not a good fit. I guess I feel like not only did they accept my check, but had my D do a lot of work to apply/audition…the least they could do is answer. </p>