First Employers, Now Colleges

I called OU again, and they called me back. The guy in the department told me that my application was too late to be considered. Their deadline was July 1.

I mentioned that I applied in late April, and I can't really help it that the admissions department (who clears each application before sending it to the departments for a final admissions decision) didn't send it on for three months.

In late May, I received a letter from OU saying that my application was being reviewed and if the specific department had additional requirements or needed additional documentation, I would be notified of that during the review period.

Now that I've called, I've finally been told that, yes, the department requires some addional material, and, had I not called, my application would simply have been put back in the files for consideration for Spring because those additional materials were due on July 1.

This is the first I've heard of needing additional materials (things like a resume and a personal statement and so on).

So basically, I'm down to UNT. I called them and they told me it could be as late as the end of next week before I know anything.

Hard to believe a guy with a 3.42 GPA can't get into graduate school.

 

Not that going to North Texas is going to give me a higher quality education.

At this point, I really just wanted to get into what would be considered a flagship school, even if it's one in a lesser state.

Tired of being the guy who can only go to directional schools or big system schools with extra initials or Texas Tech. Not that you necessarily get a bad education at such institutions (SWT is considered one of the better advertising schools around, and it's a double-directional university). I just wanted to be accepted at one of the biggies for once.

 

I really cannot believe the amount of time these Universities spend going over an application.

For example, I applied to the University of North Texas some time in early May. Since then, my application has simply been in a pile somewhere doing a whole bunch of nothing.

Early last week (Monday, the 4th, actually), I was told my application just made it onto the desk of one of the admissions counselors. I'm not entirely sure what the job of an admissions counselor is, but apparently they have to take a gander at the application and put it in an intra-campus envelope and send it to the department to which the applicant has applied.

So, the guy on Monday says something to the effect of, "Your application is on the admissions counselor's desk. It should go out to the department today. Check back later on this afternoon, and we should know something."

Well, since it has to go to the department anyway, I don't call back until I call the department on Friday. Guess what? The department doesn't have the application yet.

So, I call admissions again, and they say they sent it over the day before, which was Thursday. And that it can take a few days for mail to make it across campus (must be a huge campus up there in Denton).

So the department should have my application on Monday, which will be roughly three months after the school received my application.

The thing that gets me, though, is UNT's application deadline is July 15. I applied two months before that, and my application is just now making it to the department. What happens to the people who applied at the last minute? Do they find out that they were accepted into the Fall semester 'round about late-October?

The Fall semester at UNT starts on August 25. I was told the department takes at least five to seven working days to decide on an application, which would make it as late as August 20th before a decision is made on my application.

At which point, they'd be hard pressed to even get a letter to me in time to let me know I was accepted (or not accepted) before classes start, and I'm not entirely sure the department is the last stop on the application train.

Once again, I ask, how could anyone who applied closer to the deadline ever hope to have their application processed?

I had one school that was in so big a hurry to consider my application that they didn't even wait for my transcripts (UTexas - still no answer on why they did that, by the way, and no response as to why my official appeal was never heard), and two others (UNT and OU) who are exceptionally slow with processing applications.

And what is up with the mail all of a sudden when it comes to letters of recommendation?

The guy (Gary Wilcox) at UTexas told me there were no letters of recommendation in my file at UTexas, yet I know my professors sent them. It's amazing to me that everything except my letters of recommendation made it to UTexas.

Same with OU. No letters of recommendation, but they were sent.

And while TCU managed to get at least one letter of recommendation no one else got (TCU said they got one letter of recommendation for me), they managed to lose my UTA transcript.

And these are the people who are supposed to teach us how to function in the real world?

Maybe they ought to add such classes: "Advanced Mail Loss" or "Excusing Your Incompetence by Blaming the Applicant for Your Screw Ups" or "Making Up Excuses that Don't Fit the Facts", along with "How to Not Communicate with Applicants, Even If You're in the College of Communication" or "Using Things You Never Requested as a Basis For an Applicant's Denial"

UNT is the only school that didn't lose at least part of my application, but then, they also didn't require letters of recommendation (actually, they never said they required them, but that doesn't mean they won't use the lack of them as an excuse to not admit me. Gary Wilcox listed my lack of letters of recommendation as the major factor to my not getting admitted, even though letters of recommendation were never requested by UT. I just asked professors to send them to support the appeal I was making that was never heard).

I plan on applying to UTexas every year now. I want to see what their excuses for not admitting me are year after year. I mean, this year it was, officially, the letters of recommendation they never asked for (but still managed to lose when I happened to have them sent even though they were not requested), though they've never answered my question as to why they denied my application without waiting for my transcripts and why they never heard my appeal. After a few years, the excuses should get to be pretty creative. "I'm afraid you used blue ink on the application, and we only accept those who use black ink." and things like that.

 

Interestingly, I received an email today letting me know that I am virtually assured of admission to the University of Oklahoma for the Fall. My application has been recommended for admission by the department; so, it's highly unlikely I won't get admitted at this point. But it won't be official until the Graduate College signs off on the recommendation.

The guy in the department really went out of his way once he received the application to help me get the rest of the required materials in a compressed time frame. I do appreciate him doing that. Makes up for the admissions office at OU and the Graduate College leaving some things undone (and not letting me know) and going very slowly.

I am glad I called and kind of pushed things, though, because I was told that had I not made that effort (had I simply done what the admissions office told me and waited for word), my application would not have been considered for Fall.

So, I think that's a good. Even if I end up not going (I know it's kind of last minute to be still wondering whether I'm going to go or not), it feels good to have been accepted by a flagship university.... even if it isn't University of Texas-level. And I do appreciate that someone was extra helpful after all the trouble I had previously.

 

I guess the puppy gassing put me over the top because I'm officially accepted to OU now.

Still no word from TCU or UNT, but it really doesn't matter at this point. I'm feeling pretty sure that I'm going to go to OU if I go anywhere at all this Fall.