So, Let's Discuss Good & Bad Experiences With Admissions Forum

[qualster]

offices.

[newyorker88]

Well Cornell taking forever and BC dragging their feet with financial aid packages is annoying the crap out of me.

[traehekat]

UNC has been pretty horrible - taking forever with no contact at all, they actually TELL you not to contact them, when you do call to get information they have been pretty rude to most people.

[jakeoooh]

Have read some pretty insane stories about the unc admissions office over in the unc thread. In addition to general slowness, someone posted along the lines of: "we don't give out status updates, so if you have other offers pending you'd be well advised not to wait for a decision from us. Oh, and we do have caller id here- do yourself a favor and don't call back for atleast 2 weeks." Assuming that's true- not sure why the poster would lie- seems like a good way to scare off potential students.

[singingvontrapp]

To be fair, though, those people at the offices are probably inundated with work and there is probably little they can do no matter how often you call them.

[soullesswonder]

I've enjoyed reading about some of the toolishness in the South Carolina thread.

Personally, I've had good experiences with Duke and UVA.

[cavebat2000]

Duke has been pretty fantastic. No one else has even come close.

[narkizopoint]

Iowa: Great student contact interaction. Really pleasant and informative. Horrible scholarship/financial aid office (unpleasant reaction to asking for partial scholarship information/scholarship negotiation and just horrendously slow financial aid package-still not available even though they said my finaid package was complete on 03/09/10).

[Sauer Grapes]

Duke, WUSTL and UVA have all been extremely helpful, polite and quick to respond.

[mcdad]

Michigan is fantastic. When I'm president I'm sending Zearfoss to the UN.
NYU is also very good

[Cupidity]

Fordham was bad in person. Dean brown was nice via email but when I went the staff was rude. BU and Cornell were great.

[Usernamepassword]

ASU saying they'd give me a response by Jan 31 and still not having one now that its April.

[vanwinkle]

Fordham was bad in person. Dean brown was nice via email but when I went the staff was rude.

[lawduder]

Cornell - unbelievably slow, I withdrew here before I received a decision. Ironically, less than a day after I had withdrawn I received a followup email.

FSU - very friendly every time I called and I also had a very fast turnaround with my application. Status checker was updated in a timely manner with all relative information. The acceptance phone call is always a nice touch and I wish other schools would adopt it.

UF - very impersonal. I felt that every time I called here I felt like I was just irritating the admissions staff. They were both unfriendly and very unhelpful. UF does almost everything via snail mail and while their status checker was also updated in a timely manner, the time from "decision in transit" to actually receiving the letter was about 9 days and I live in the same state.

UMiami - no emails confirming that my application was complete so I had to call to make sure they had received everything. I received a decision very quickly after my application was complete, and when I called to ask the status of my application, the lady on the phone didn't give me the walk around and simply told me that I was accepted and the packet would arrive soon. Miami ran out of scholarship money pretty early on, but the office of student recruiting was very helpful and fast to respond to all of my emails asking about money. The director of recruiting would often reply to my emails late in the evening and on weekends; times that she was obviously not in the office. No status checker was kind of lame though.

Minnesota - I never actually called the school during the application cycle. Their status checker was always updated and when a decision was made, I received a phone call from the dean which was great. He was very friendly and gave me all the information about a travel stipend for ASW.

WUSTL - complete once, twice, and the third times the charm! WUSTL completed my application the very next day after sending it via LSAC. Communicating via email is also a WONDERFUL thing for anxious applicants. I think WUSTL has the right idea here, email correspondence with a nifty snail mail usb view book when you're finally accepted. I never called the school so I can't comment on how the actually "people' are.

Notre Dame - extremely friendly when I would call. They were always very helpful when I called and asked about the status of my application (unfortunately they didn't have a status checker either). They were a little too slow with the whole decision process and I had already been accepted to schools that I'd take over them so I withdrew before a decision was reached.

Vanderbilt - both helpful and friendly over the phone. I obsessed over their status checker for a while. They also seemed a little slow (probably because my numbers were low for them) and as with Notre Dame, I withdrew because I was in a school I preferred.

Boston University - the lady on the phone (I think it was the same one every time) was very nice and answered all of my questions. My application was in review for what seemed like an eternity and it took a while for them to complete me in the first place.

Emory - complete silence from Emory with the exception of an "application complete" email a few weeks after I applied. I never received an email even acknowledging that they had received my application from LSAC. Apparently they moved to a "paperless" system this year which caused some problems for them as they worked out the kinks. No status checker was lame. Towards the end of my cycle, I figured Emory was just going to ding me because I hadn't heard anything during the large wave of acceptances/scholarship offers. Turns out that Emory had actually meant to send an acceptance packet to me but had lost it or something and I received an email telling me they had no record of sending me anything. When they realized their mistake, they suddenly become extremely helpful and sent all sorts of information to me via email including a scanned copy of my acceptance letter/scholarship offer.

[Sauer Grapes]

I should say that I did speak to Cornell over the phone and the lady I talked to was exceptionally nice and helpful.

[tru]

.

[Pro Boner]

Univ of Washington=horrible

[IAFG]

Columbia's staff: darling. Chicago's staff: I will be generous and say curt.

[Veyron]

Penn: Impossibly nice, very personal.

NYU: Fastest guns in the west.

[domeafavor]

Out of the 17 schools I applied to, UIUC has the best admissions process (quick! transparent! kickass flash drive!), and UNC has the worst.

[OperaSoprano]

Fordham was bad in person. Dean brown was nice via email but when I went the staff was rude.

That graphic again! I swear to god...

The staff isn't rude, they have just been mistreated a lot. I know no one on here would act that way, but you would seriously be surprised at what other prospective students have said and done. I am still in and out of that office frequently, and I acknowledge how hard they work, and what they have to deal with. The people I know who work in our admissions office are extremely gracious. I'm betting I'd run out of patience and become a horrible person if Fordham gave me a job as admissions receptionist.

[ggocat]

you would seriously be surprised at what other prospective students have said and done.

Sounds like the makings of some funny stories. Do tell!

[Cupidity]

.

Fordham was bad in person. Dean brown was n ice via email but when I went the staff was rude.

That graphic again! I swear to god...

The staff isn't rude, they have just been mistreated a lot. I know no one on here w ould act that way, but you would seriously be surprised at what other prospective students have said and done. I am still in and out of that office frequently, and I acknowledge how hard they work, and what they have to deal with. The people I know who work in our admissions office are extremely gracious. I'm betting I'd run out. of patience and become a horrible person if Fordham gave me a job as admissions receptionist.

I 'm about to spend 100000$, she could at least be polite, I work fast food in a touristy area... I would never act the way that receptionist did.

[jobless2Lguy]

i remember dealing with chicago was a nightmare. the rest of the t-14 were decent. northwestern was outstanding

[JustBelieve]

Have read some pretty insane stories about the unc admissions office over in the unc thread. In addition to general slowness, someone posted along the lines of: "we don't give out status updates, so if you have other offers pending you'd be well advised not to wait for a decision from us. Oh, and we do have caller id here- do yourself a favor and don't call back for atleast 2 weeks." Assuming that's true- not sure why the poster would lie- seems like a good way to scare off potential students.

Wow, that's crazy!