Need to Vent--Advising Office F-'ed Up

[Dodge This]

My advising office has a letter service to send out all my recommendations in one packet to each school. My letters got to each scholl fine except for one, Washington in St. Louis.

I'll admit it was my fault for not following up with the school to see if they received everything. I did check to see that the office sent out a packet to the school, which they did the same day as the rest. I finally realized just yesterday that I never got a confirmation of my completed application, then I remembered that they have a website with the status of my app.

So I look at the site and what do I find? "Your file is missing the following: ______ Recommendation."

Holy sh-t.

The advising office didn't send my complete packet of letters. When I told them and asked them to expedite my mailing request, they said no. They said I can't prove they screwed up, so I should be given no preferential treatment. They said it'll be a week before the letter can even go out because of the massive influx of these requests. They said all of this while HOLDING MY FILE containing my recommendations right in their hands. Furthermore, they charge a fee per each mailing and, again, since I can't prove it was their fault, I have to pay the fee.

In the 15 minutes I argued with them, they could have xeroxed the damn letter, attached their pre-formated cover sheet, and given the express envelope to the mailman who just happened to walk in to collect the outgoing mail while I was there. (I'd like to thank fate for that swift kick in the balls while I was down.)

Okay, my fault for not following up like I should have. I'm over that. I can understand mistakes, but not when people refuse to take responsibility for them.

So now I can send a nice thank you not to my advising office for costing me even the chance of my app getting reviewed at one of my top choices. What I hate most about it is that I won't get rejected based on my merits or lack thereof. I'll get rejected because my app wasn't complete when it should have been.

Thanks for reading.

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[imtiaz]

I feel for you man. My school too, is just one big ball of red tape. WashU has a website though, you can check your status online 24/7. I check mine twice a day!

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Imtiaz
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I write messages on money.
It's my own form of social protest.
A letter printed on paper that no one will destroy.
Passed indiscriminately across race, class, and gender lines, and written on the blood that keeps the beast alive.
A quiet little hijacking on the way to the checkout counter, and a federal crime.
I hope that someone will find my message one day when they really need it.
YOU ARE NOT A SLAVE.

 

[jimi]

Have you contacted Wash U. to let them know about this unfortunate mess that was sort of out of your hands?

Sometimes, if you are an outstanding applicant they may glance at your file and realize what they are missing out on.

I don't know about Wash U. but I got a letter from the dean of admissions at Pittsburgh that said the committee allows him to invite a select few applicants to interview without being totally reviewed by the gazillion sub-committees first. This expedites the invitation and their chance of getting that applicant.

Who knows, maybe Wash U. has the same system.

Definitely present your case to them!!

 

[lilycat]

I feel for you -- almost the exact same thing happened to me, although at least it wasn't at one of my top choices, and my advising office agreed to fax the letters, after I convinced the admissions office of the school in question to call them with their fax number. If you haven't already, see if fax is an option, both for Wash U admissions, and your advising office. Also, personally, I would start moving up the chain of command at the advising office, if you haven't already. Stay polite and calm (I know it's tough right now), but demand to talk to whoever is in charge there -- present your case in a rational manner, and see if they can fax your letter. That way, Wash U will have something right away, and then can get the more formal copy later. Definitely call the Wash U office to discuss with them. They are very friendly and helpful. Good luck.

 

[Dodge This]

This is a follow up to my message...I with the advising office and despite all their talk about not being able to bend the rules for me, I found out that they sent out my letter on the day I went in and argued with them.

I haven't called Washington yet. I hope someone there is sympathetic since the deadline for all materials to be submitted was last month.

At the bottom of it, this is still my fault for forgetting to check the website constantly. Honestly, if I were them (WUSM), I wouldn't make the exception.