<p>My son applied to several schools, 4 good state, 3 smallish LACs, and 1 moderate private selective reach, both academically and financially. The reach I dont want to name, as things could change, but here is what happened. All were applied RD back in November. He has pretty good stats, 2200, 29, top 20 in his class, great ECs and recs. So, the 3 state all come back with good merit, one waitlists, we dont qualify for need. The 3 Lacs all meet "retail" state price. So far so good...The reach deadline comes and goes....Son says he has heard nothing and the online tool never said any issues existed. So I call them on Friday. Answer, incomplete materials submitted. I say did you notify us? answer, no we have so many applicants, but students should check their status. They now say SAT and letters of rec all missing.
So I over react and read my son the riot act for not checking more frequently. He has no answer for me of course. The admissions ofc tells me that we can still send in the material asap. So Monday morning, son goes to HS guidance counselor with his tale. She says it was all submitted months ago and can prove it via the computer system saying the college received it all! Now, Guidance calls the university and is told "well it may have been our fault, but we get so many applications...." "Sorry." "No reason to resubmit now, since we get SO MANY APPLICATIONS" Guidance counselor called me and was as blown away as I was in the total lack of interest shown by the uni on their admitted mistake. Now, I tend to hold grudges and would not consider them myself at this point, but it was sons dream school. Thank God it wasnt his only option. Am I too sensitive or was this handled poorly in others opinions?</p>
<p>This happened in one form or another for about 3 of D2 school applications. We resubmitted the missing parts. One ivy league admissions person said ‘well it was just the recommendation letters’ implying they meant nothing. I actually learned alot from that call. I was somewhat disappointed in the system but not the school itself. No, I was not angry.</p>
<p>This happened to my D’s then-boyfriend last year. He scrambled and got them everything they had lost… And they wait listed him. He was going to wait it out until I pointed out to him that any school with that attitude BEFORE THEY HAD ALL HIS MONEY would likely not be any better ( and probably worse) after they did have his $$. He moved on and chose another school which has been the perfect fit for him. I still tell anyone I know who is applying there what happened and what the attitude was…</p>
<p>Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using CC</p>
<p>HI Penzly,
I’ll give it to you straight - it’s the students (or student’s GC or parent) responsibility to make sure all docs are received. Period, end of story.</p>
<p>Colleges lose this stuff all the time. They are getting better with the electronic filing stuff but they still screw it up. I’m sure if you huff and puff they will show you a disclaimer to this effect.</p>
<p>I would go the other route… beg them for help. It’s doubtful but it’s worth a try. Show them your submission hardcopies, etc. and ask for mercy. Small chance but much better than the anger attempt.</p>
<p>Just my 2 cents meant in a constructive way.</p>
<p>Best Regards,
Wheaty</p>
<p>I would feel insulted, really…</p>
<p>OP, disappointed for whom? You sound awfully invested in this reach school.</p>
<p>Angry? At your son? How is that going to help him? At the school? They wouldn’t give a rip, even if they knew, which they don’t. </p>
<p>I think you are way overreacting. Let it go.</p>
<p>Disappointed for son, angry at schools dismissive attitude. I asked for the opinions…I am letting my OCD get the best of me:)</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback all!</p>
<p>When my daughter applied to schools I ended up making the phone calls to make sure they had everything. I understand that it was my daughter’s responsibility, but she was gone each day from 7:00 am until 6:00 pm and could not call. For some reason the common- app always showed forms missing. One school kept insisting that they never received the transcript despite the fact that it was sent twice. Then the school told me that they do not accept transcripts via the common app- they only accept a mailed copy. I had to email guidance and tell them to put transcript #3 in the mail. Then I found out that they had the transcript all along, right from the common app. There was absolutely no way that my daughter could have handled this herself given the fact that she was in school all day followed by sports. When I go through this process again we will be keeping track very closely.</p>
<p>Hey, he didn’t get rejected from reach school. Not many people can say that. (True of my d., too - she didn’t apply. ;))</p>
<p>twogirls, I didn’t participate in tracking my D’s admissions, but I was was all over the FA stuff. There was no way I was leaving that in her hands. </p>
<p>penzly, you are right that the school probably mishandled things. That happens, as you know. Especially when something is in high demand, such as, apparently, slots in the freshman class of this school. Your son has learned the lesson that when something is really important, he can’t just assume all the ducks are in a row.</p>
<p>I should add that the GC repeatedly told me to let my daughter handle this herself. I did ask her to send emails when necessary, but come on… I spent 45 minutes on the phone with one school while they searched for her transcript. How can a student do that when he/she is in class all day and the office closes at 4:00?</p>
<p>I’ve had to deal with so many apps my whole life. Undergrad, med school, internship, residency, fellowship and now I’m on the other side of admissions in a med capacity.
As an applicant, I always check to be sure that all materials are received either by phone call, online, or email. With 30k apps or 90k apps (ucla), each containing 2 LORs, GC LOR, transcripts and other papers, of course there are going to be misfiling, mis mailing, misfaxing, mislabeling. Imagine the tide of paperwork. The person interested in the result needs to do the follow up. On the colleges side, they are probably secretly relieved…1 more app to boost their denominator in selectivity, but they don’t have to take the time and effort of evaluating the app. There are 29,999 more apps to go thru, why would they chase down 1 app?
Why would this be the colleges fault, exactly? This also happens all the time, which is why schools don’t get super excited about it. They had tens of thousands of other applicants checking to be sure that everything had been received.</p>
<p>It’s awesome that your son has some really great choices. And if he applies to grad school, I bet he’ll verify that all things are received, so it’s a good lesson learned.</p>
<p>And just so you know, the student’s obligation to assure that applications are complete continues into grad school. D has sent her college transcript to one grad school twice, and they still claim not to have it, while all the others received it in due course the first time. Clearly the problem is with the intended recipient, but it’s still my D who has to keep on top of it and fix it somehow.</p>
<p>My alma mater used to claim they could take the applications, throw them down the stairs, and accept those which landed on the top three stairs, and get a class as academically talented as thee one they actually admitted.</p>
<p>Maybe they did. :)</p>
<p>D2 realized a month after the due date that her transcript had not made it to NYU. When she told me about it, she intimated that it was too late. I told her that we had paid the application fee, the fee to send her test scores, and that she should have her guidance counselor send the transcript. Fast forward to March 29th and she is utterly surprised to get an offer of admission to NYU, with the best financial aid of any school that she was accepted to. I think that in her case, the late transcript actually worked in her favor!</p>
<p>Mini,
You made me lol!!</p>
<p>I would write a letter asking for the application fee back.</p>
<p>Msmdad,
Yup, as long as the decisions haven’t been made or mailed out yet. Once the decisions are mailed out, though, I can’t imagine reopening a file to rediscuss an applicant. They are off to evaluate transfer students now.</p>
<p>I’d be mildly annoyed at my kid for not checking up on the application. But it is over now.
Move on to the other good choices in front of you. Lesson learned–tuck away in brain for any future application processes.</p>
<p>wow @penzly, Thanks for sharing that story. I feel incredibly lucky that all went well with my D applications but I still have anxious thoughts that I’m going to find out after May 1st that college lost or didn’t get our enrollment deposit.</p>