<p>My daughter was accepted at Tulane and while it is not her first choice, it was high up there. I say "WAS" because the bureaucracy we've encountered is incredible.</p>
<p>First, someone mistyped my daughters SS # into the system. It took several weeks to get that straightened out -- or so I thought, until I found out that Financial Aid was in its own little world and apparently had ignored the numerous communications from other University departments about this error. NONE of my daughter's financial aid documents were filed because they had her correct SS # (not the incorrect one on record). Finally got that one straightened out. Two weeks ago, we received yet another requesst for financial info from Tulane -- one that made no sense to us. thinking there may be some mix-up, we have called the Financial Aid office 4-5 times a day since March 12. We left very specific data about hours we could be reached, cell phone numbers, etc. We did get two voicemails -- both well after the times we asked to be called. And of course, neither responded to any of our questions.... I'm now waiting to see if email gets us any futher.</p>
<p>As parents, we're thinking: "If this is what it's like when they are courting us, can you imagine after the kid is enrolled?" The kid is thinking she'll get more personal attention from the local, public U.</p>
<p>I'd imagine, with all the flood of applications that this sort of thing is fairly common and not as significant an indicator of user friendliness as we think. </p>
<p>We encountered a similar problem at McGill, just getting access to the online admissions bulletin board which informs students whether they've been accepted. They wanted the student' PIN to be the student's birthdate in a format different from what most of us are used to. While we'd do it MMDDYYYY, they wanted YYYYMMDD.</p>
<p>I still don't know who got it wrong in the first place (I don't think it was us) but we were asked to go through so many hoops to change it: faxing photocopies of passports, personal phone calls, explanations, that we finally gave up and my D is just going to wait for the snailmail.</p>
<p>Although.....the McGill Administration does have the reputation of being not all that student accessible and friendly.</p>
<p>On the other hand, ever try to deal with IRS? We send our kids to school to learn how to cope with and be ready for real life, perhaps this is just part of Life 101.</p>
<p>We had a similar experience at another school my son applied to. It was not the reason he did not attend there, though. I think at many schools, when it comes to finaid and admissions, communications get lost in the process. Doesn't make you feel any better, I know, especially when it seems like your whole life is up in the air. I don't think my son has encountered more bureaucracy at Tulane than he would have elsewhere.</p>
<p>We had some v minor question/problem at Tulane (I forget what) and got an email from our regional admissions rep with her phone and email contact info, volunteering to be available to us for any question at all.</p>
<p>And that's exactly what she has been when we had qx about anything. Perhaps, boxmaker, if you haven't completely ruled it out, you could try this approach and maybe get better "service."</p>
<p>I've had a few problems with missing papers before. Right after I submitted my application in the fall, I got a letter saying I was missing my transcript and test scores (which I had sent). I called them and they were very willing to look for me. It turns out my papers were on file but they simply had not had them there by the time that letter was sent out. They told me that with each student having 6-7 pieces of paperwork flying around an office, things just work out that way. I got another letter (I'm assuming the same one you did) a few days ago saying that my FAFSA had not been filed (which it had), and we called this morning. They had it, but it just wasn't on file by the time that letter had been sent out. My advice is to always call and talk to them. I'm sorry you've had to go through all this!</p>
<p>I was EA too, I know how that goes, semp. I thought it was that I don't have the best guidance counselor in the world and slow mail service. But it was just that paper trail.</p>
<p>I applied using the personal application and yet they KEPT asking me for a common application supplement. They let me in without it tho. I had to resend my guidance counselor rec also, semp.</p>