Did your kid not apply for to a college because of visit? Excellent School

[Anonymous]

My DD is interested in going into a very specific major. Researching schools in advance, we both thought one particular school would be “perfect” for her. Our experience with the school including the virtual visit was so bad that she’s thinking of not applying. On paper the university sounds great and has great reviews.

I’m just trying to reconcile this in my head with I am reading with what we experienced. We tried to make an appointment to visit the University back in Jan (pre-COVID). We started off on the wrong foot because we wanted to meet with an academic advisor in the department my DD will be majoring in. I called and got a very snippy receptionist who told us who to contact. DD contacted and didn’t hear back for a week. DD sent a follow up message requesting a meeting. Person setting up meeting with academic advisor made DD feel like she was impatient. FWIW- all the other schools she set up meetings with got back with her Within 24 to 48 hours. Due to COVID visit was understandably cancelled. They offered a virtual tour. It was horrible. The AV was poor, they had technical difficulties and we were unimpressed with the admission rep. We met with the academic advisor later and she cut of off and was downright rude. My daughter was in tears after the virtual visit.

I’m sure if I posted the name of the school people here would say that’s an amazing school For the major- yet our experience was anything but. The school went from being a top choice for DD to I don’t think I should apply.

I am just wondering if others had similar experiences with colleges letting them down pre-admissions but applied anyway and went. My thought is if they can’t treat DD well when she’s a prospective student, why should I think they will treat her any differently if she were to be accepted?

[Anonymous]

OP again. The weird thing is at the moment that my DD LOVES her safety though that seems so cliché. While the safety has an okay academic reputation, the honors program which she will probably qualify for seems amazing. When we visited, we went on a special tour for kids applying to honors. We both felt like it was a place that she’s really fit in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. The weird thing is at the moment that my DD LOVES her safety though that seems so cliché. While the safety has an okay academic reputation, the honors program which she will probably qualify for seems amazing. When we visited, we went on a special tour for kids applying to honors. We both felt like it was a place that she’s really fit in.

Sounds like the safety is for her. She needs to be where she’s happiest.

[Anonymous]

Northwestern. DD hated it from the moment we stepped on campus. No smiling students anywhere, cafeteria was too "weird" (her word not mine), and our tour guide was a disaster. Not that it would have mattered, DD knew she wouldn't apply before we took the tour.

For the record, and I shared none of this with DD until after all applications were in because, her college experience, not mine, I thought the campus lovely, the food delicious, and had I been the college student, absolutely would have applied!

[Anonymous]

I'm a college professor. While this school may indeed be full of deeply unpleasant people, please know that universities are in a bit of a panic. They are trying to finish out the semester, but they don't have access to facilities for proctored exams. Some students want to take the exam later; others want take home exams. All of this requires meetings, rewriting exams, and paperwork.

Students have dying relatives, faculty members are ill or have tiny children at home, and every day , they have to decide what maintenance is necessary (safety checks on boilers, cuttting grass in advance of fire season), and what is not.

Prospective students haven't been forgotten, but they are not at the top of anyone's priority list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a college professor. While this school may indeed be full of deeply unpleasant people, please know that universities are in a bit of a panic. They are trying to finish out the semester, but they don't have access to facilities for proctored exams. Some students want to take the exam later; others want take home exams. All of this requires meetings, rewriting exams, and paperwork.

Students have dying relatives, faculty members are ill or have tiny children at home, and every day , they have to decide what maintenance is necessary (safety checks on boilers, cuttting grass in advance of fire season), and what is not.

Prospective students haven't been forgotten, but they are not at the top of anyone's priority list.

+1000 Sorry

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is interested in going into a very specific major. Researching schools in advance, we both thought one particular school would be “perfect” for her. Our experience with the school including the virtual visit was so bad that she’s thinking of not applying. On paper the university sounds great and has great reviews.

I’m just trying to reconcile this in my head with I am reading with what we experienced. We tried to make an appointment to visit the University back in Jan (pre-COVID). We started off on the wrong foot because we wanted to meet with an academic advisor in the department my DD will be majoring in. I called and got a very snippy receptionist who told us who to contact. DD contacted and didn’t hear back for a week. DD sent a follow up message requesting a meeting. Person setting up meeting with academic advisor made DD feel like she was impatient. FWIW- all the other schools she set up meetings with got back with her Within 24 to 48 hours. Due to COVID visit was understandably cancelled. They offered a virtual tour. It was horrible. The AV was poor, they had technical difficulties and we were unimpressed with the admission rep. We met with the academic advisor later and she cut of off and was downright rude. My daughter was in tears after the virtual visit.

I’m sure if I posted the name of the school people here would say that’s an amazing school For the major- yet our experience was anything but. The school went from being a top choice for DD to I don’t think I should apply.

I am just wondering if others had similar experiences with colleges letting them down pre-admissions but applied anyway and went. My thought is if they can’t treat DD well when she’s a prospective student, why should I think they will treat her any differently if she were to be accepted?

Most faculty are focusing on enrolled student. During my time as a Tenure Track Professor (No tenure for me), I had prospective undergrads contact me to come in. They would want to spend 1 hour or so with me. 1 or 2 a month were not an issue. But when kids are applying to 10+ colleges, and it becomes 10 per month, that becomes a significant time sink. The time came out of my research time or my personal time/sleep time. And usually the questions or what they wanted to know were things that were in the catalog. (Like how many classes of X do I need to take; Um, I would have to look it up...what if I want to take x instead of y...dean would have to approve it. Or my favorite...I am a christian, and do not believe in evolution. Do I have to take historical geology? Yes. Then parents complained to the dean. Dean responds why are you doing this? Why are you talking to prospective freshmen?). This was at a Tier 1 research school.

[Anonymous]

Bucknell. DD thought that the whole campus (appearance) was blah. A bunch of brown brick buildings. The other people on the tour were dressed very fancy to the point where DD felt out of place. A couple admin she spoke to there seemed stuck up. Lots of helicopter parents on the whole visit. Just not my (or her) cup of tea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northwestern. DD hated it from the moment we stepped on campus. No smiling students anywhere, cafeteria was too "weird" (her word not mine), and our tour guide was a disaster. Not that it would have mattered, DD knew she wouldn't apply before we took the tour.

For the record, and I shared none of this with DD until after all applications were in because, her college experience, not mine, I thought the campus lovely, the food delicious, and had I been the college student, absolutely would have applied!

That’s so funny that you’d say that because that was my Northwestern experience decades ago! On paper it was perfect and I was *so* excited to visit and did a prospective students weekend. It was horrible and I didn’t end up applying.

Op, sounds like the safety school is a great fit for your daughter. I hope she loves it!

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand why people except every admissions office to set up faculty meetings. Just because some small schools will doesn’t mean it’s normal.

And as PP shows, faculty are busy with their own students. Why should they have a meeting with high school visitors? There’s no way to know if your 15/16 year old is even going to major in their field.

It doesn’t make sense to just a school by one interaction. Technical issues? For real? And a poor admissions officer trying to do an admissions session from their crappy apartment? It doesn’t seem fair to cross a school off the list because they weren’t at their best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is interested in going into a very specific major. Researching schools in advance, we both thought one particular school would be “perfect” for her. Our experience with the school including the virtual visit was so bad that she’s thinking of not applying. On paper the university sounds great and has great reviews.

I’m just trying to reconcile this in my head with I am reading with what we experienced. We tried to make an appointment to visit the University back in Jan (pre-COVID). We started off on the wrong foot because we wanted to meet with an academic advisor in the department my DD will be majoring in. I called and got a very snippy receptionist who told us who to contact. DD contacted and didn’t hear back for a week. DD sent a follow up message requesting a meeting. Person setting up meeting with academic advisor made DD feel like she was impatient. FWIW- all the other schools she set up meetings with got back with her Within 24 to 48 hours. Due to COVID visit was understandably cancelled. They offered a virtual tour. It was horrible. The AV was poor, they had technical difficulties and we were unimpressed with the admission rep. We met with the academic advisor later and she cut of off and was downright rude. My daughter was in tears after the virtual visit.

I’m sure if I posted the name of the school people here would say that’s an amazing school For the major- yet our experience was anything but. The school went from being a top choice for DD to I don’t think I should apply.

I am just wondering if others had similar experiences with colleges letting them down pre-admissions but applied anyway and went. My thought is if they can’t treat DD well when she’s a prospective student, why should I think they will treat her any differently if she were to be accepted?

As a tenured faculty member, I can tell you that universities are big places with lots of employees. I've barely even known the admin people who do work for ME, let alone those who do work for students. I couldn't name a single person in the academic advising office. Admissions rep? This is probably somebody who otherwise would be an insurance salesman. There can be a huge disconnect between the quality of classes and extracurricular activities that make up a "program" or "major" than two nobody administrators. Public or Private, universities are large bureaucracies. COVID aside (which might explain part of this), there are some wonderful people and there are people who should not be employed in any job. This was true even at an ivy league university I worked at. The campus experience is defined by interactions with 100 different people before your child graduates. I would be mortified to know that I put all this effort into designing courses that are excellently reviewed only to have it ruined by some incompetent advisor or admissions rep. I would just look at reviews or talk to students who went through the programs before you make any decision. That would be wayyyyyy more reliable than your brief experience with a very small sample (almost doesn't deserve to be called a sample) of low level grunt employees. Finally, don't forget that most "academic advisors" job is literally to look down a pre-printed list of courses that satisfy requirements and tell your student, "Durrrrr you can take A, B, or C." You might as well make a university decision based on how helpful the barista was at the campus starbucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is interested in going into a very specific major. Researching schools in advance, we both thought one particular school would be “perfect” for her. Our experience with the school including the virtual visit was so bad that she’s thinking of not applying. On paper the university sounds great and has great reviews.

I’m just trying to reconcile this in my head with I am reading with what we experienced. We tried to make an appointment to visit the University back in Jan (pre-COVID). We started off on the wrong foot because we wanted to meet with an academic advisor in the department my DD will be majoring in. I called and got a very snippy receptionist who told us who to contact. DD contacted and didn’t hear back for a week. DD sent a follow up message requesting a meeting. Person setting up meeting with academic advisor made DD feel like she was impatient. FWIW- all the other schools she set up meetings with got back with her Within 24 to 48 hours. Due to COVID visit was understandably cancelled. They offered a virtual tour. It was horrible. The AV was poor, they had technical difficulties and we were unimpressed with the admission rep. We met with the academic advisor later and she cut of off and was downright rude. My daughter was in tears after the virtual visit.

I’m sure if I posted the name of the school people here would say that’s an amazing school For the major- yet our experience was anything but. The school went from being a top choice for DD to I don’t think I should apply.

I am just wondering if others had similar experiences with colleges letting them down pre-admissions but applied anyway and went. My thought is if they can’t treat DD well when she’s a prospective student, why should I think they will treat her any differently if she were to be accepted?

As a tenured faculty member, I can tell you that universities are big places with lots of employees. I've barely even known the admin people who do work for ME, let alone those who do work for students. I couldn't name a single person in the academic advising office. Admissions rep? This is probably somebody who otherwise would be an insurance salesman. There can be a huge disconnect between the quality of classes and extracurricular activities that make up a "program" or "major" than two nobody administrators. Public or Private, universities are large bureaucracies. COVID aside (which might explain part of this), there are some wonderful people and there are people who should not be employed in any job. This was true even at an ivy league university I worked at. The campus experience is defined by interactions with 100 different people before your child graduates. I would be mortified to know that I put all this effort into designing courses that are excellently reviewed only to have it ruined by some incompetent advisor or admissions rep. I would just look at reviews or talk to students who went through the programs before you make any decision. That would be wayyyyyy more reliable than your brief experience with a very small sample (almost doesn't deserve to be called a sample) of low level grunt employees. Finally, don't forget that most "academic advisors" job is literally to look down a pre-printed list of courses that satisfy requirements and tell your student, "Durrrrr you can take A, B, or C." You might as well make a university decision based on how helpful the barista was at the campus starbucks.

Holy crap you come off as a huge jerk in this post, can you hear yourself?

[Anonymous]

Only the part about not know his admins struck me as a-hole behavior. The rest is true.

If you’re tossing a school because of snippy admins...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is interested in going into a very specific major. Researching schools in advance, we both thought one particular school would be “perfect” for her. Our experience with the school including the virtual visit was so bad that she’s thinking of not applying. On paper the university sounds great and has great reviews.

I’m just trying to reconcile this in my head with I am reading with what we experienced. We tried to make an appointment to visit the University back in Jan (pre-COVID). We started off on the wrong foot because we wanted to meet with an academic advisor in the department my DD will be majoring in. I called and got a very snippy receptionist who told us who to contact. DD contacted and didn’t hear back for a week. DD sent a follow up message requesting a meeting. Person setting up meeting with academic advisor made DD feel like she was impatient. FWIW- all the other schools she set up meetings with got back with her Within 24 to 48 hours. Due to COVID visit was understandably cancelled. They offered a virtual tour. It was horrible. The AV was poor, they had technical difficulties and we were unimpressed with the admission rep. We met with the academic advisor later and she cut of off and was downright rude. My daughter was in tears after the virtual visit.

I’m sure if I posted the name of the school people here would say that’s an amazing school For the major- yet our experience was anything but. The school went from being a top choice for DD to I don’t think I should apply.

I am just wondering if others had similar experiences with colleges letting them down pre-admissions but applied anyway and went. My thought is if they can’t treat DD well when she’s a prospective student, why should I think they will treat her any differently if she were to be accepted?

As a tenured faculty member, I can tell you that universities are big places with lots of employees. I've barely even known the admin people who do work for ME, let alone those who do work for students. I couldn't name a single person in the academic advising office. Admissions rep? This is probably somebody who otherwise would be an insurance salesman. There can be a huge disconnect between the quality of classes and extracurricular activities that make up a "program" or "major" than two nobody administrators. Public or Private, universities are large bureaucracies. COVID aside (which might explain part of this), there are some wonderful people and there are people who should not be employed in any job. This was true even at an ivy league university I worked at. The campus experience is defined by interactions with 100 different people before your child graduates. I would be mortified to know that I put all this effort into designing courses that are excellently reviewed only to have it ruined by some incompetent advisor or admissions rep. I would just look at reviews or talk to students who went through the programs before you make any decision. That would be wayyyyyy more reliable than your brief experience with a very small sample (almost doesn't deserve to be called a sample) of low level grunt employees. Finally, don't forget that most "academic advisors" job is literally to look down a pre-printed list of courses that satisfy requirements and tell your student, "Durrrrr you can take A, B, or C." You might as well make a university decision based on how helpful the barista was at the campus starbucks.

Holy crap you come off as a huge jerk in this post, can you hear yourself?

I really resent the administrative bloat at universities. If thinking that about 25% of these people should be fired makes me a jerk, then so be it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is interested in going into a very specific major. Researching schools in advance, we both thought one particular school would be “perfect” for her. Our experience with the school including the virtual visit was so bad that she’s thinking of not applying. On paper the university sounds great and has great reviews.

I’m just trying to reconcile this in my head with I am reading with what we experienced. We tried to make an appointment to visit the University back in Jan (pre-COVID). We started off on the wrong foot because we wanted to meet with an academic advisor in the department my DD will be majoring in. I called and got a very snippy receptionist who told us who to contact. DD contacted and didn’t hear back for a week. DD sent a follow up message requesting a meeting. Person setting up meeting with academic advisor made DD feel like she was impatient. FWIW- all the other schools she set up meetings with got back with her Within 24 to 48 hours. Due to COVID visit was understandably cancelled. They offered a virtual tour. It was horrible. The AV was poor, they had technical difficulties and we were unimpressed with the admission rep. We met with the academic advisor later and she cut of off and was downright rude. My daughter was in tears after the virtual visit.

I’m sure if I posted the name of the school people here would say that’s an amazing school For the major- yet our experience was anything but. The school went from being a top choice for DD to I don’t think I should apply.

I am just wondering if others had similar experiences with colleges letting them down pre-admissions but applied anyway and went. My thought is if they can’t treat DD well when she’s a prospective student, why should I think they will treat her any differently if she were to be accepted?

As a tenured faculty member, I can tell you that universities are big places with lots of employees. I've barely even known the admin people who do work for ME, let alone those who do work for students. I couldn't name a single person in the academic advising office. Admissions rep? This is probably somebody who otherwise would be an insurance salesman. There can be a huge disconnect between the quality of classes and extracurricular activities that make up a "program" or "major" than two nobody administrators. Public or Private, universities are large bureaucracies. COVID aside (which might explain part of this), there are some wonderful people and there are people who should not be employed in any job. This was true even at an ivy league university I worked at. The campus experience is defined by interactions with 100 different people before your child graduates. I would be mortified to know that I put all this effort into designing courses that are excellently reviewed only to have it ruined by some incompetent advisor or admissions rep. I would just look at reviews or talk to students who went through the programs before you make any decision. That would be wayyyyyy more reliable than your brief experience with a very small sample (almost doesn't deserve to be called a sample) of low level grunt employees. Finally, don't forget that most "academic advisors" job is literally to look down a pre-printed list of courses that satisfy requirements and tell your student, "Durrrrr you can take A, B, or C." You might as well make a university decision based on how helpful the barista was at the campus starbucks.

Holy crap you come off as a huge jerk in this post, can you hear yourself?

I really resent the administrative bloat at universities. If thinking that about 25% of these people should be fired makes me a jerk, then so be it.

My academic advisor was the only person at my college who ever seemed to care about me as a human. Without the “administrative bloat” of “grunt” receptionists and staffers to guide me through the maze of higher ed, I never would have finished. And your class was just a stupid waste of time box I had to check to get to the end.