Would schools tell you if you didn't meet their prereqs?

[euphaire]

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Dear SDN members,
I'm currently wondering if the reason I'm not hearing back from schools is my prerequisites. I had very limited elective slots for taking science courses (engineering). I did manage to completed all the prerequisites before graduation, but only barely. In fact, I completed the exact number of prerequisites needed in most schools (you know, O chem, gen chem, bio, english, physics, maybe math too). This means that even if one of my courses was "questioned" in terms of matching to the prerequisites, I'd be in the 'didn't meet prereqs' pile since I've got no extra courses to "spare".
Now, I think things might go wrong because....the adcoms don't have access to my course descriptions, they also don't know that some of my schools (eg. U of Toronto) didn't mention lab in the transcript even though it's included in the lecture, whereas schools like U of Waterloo lists labs as a seperate course, etc. Will they assume that I didn't take labs in U of T? Sorry for rambling, I'm just going through some of the worst case scenarios.....
From your experience, do schools at least tell me what's holding my application back so I have a chance to explain, or they will pretty much reject me and say nothing? I know I should probably call all the schools to make sure, but I'd prefer not to if they'll give me a chance to explain when they think I didn't meet their prerequisite.
Thanks in advance!

 

[dmdluffy]

Dear SDN members,
I'm currently wondering if the reason I'm not hearing back from schools is my prerequisites. I had very limited elective slots for taking science courses (engineering). I did manage to completed all the prerequisites before graduation, but only barely. In fact, I completed the exact number of prerequisites needed in most schools (you know, O chem, gen chem, bio, english, physics, maybe math too). This means that even if one of my courses was "questioned" in terms of matching to the prerequisites, I'd be in the 'didn't meet prereqs' pile since I've got no extra courses to "spare".
Now, I think things might go wrong because....the adcoms don't have access to my course descriptions, they also don't know that some of my schools (eg. U of Toronto) didn't mention lab in the transcript even though it's included in the lecture, whereas schools like U of Waterloo lists labs as a seperate course, etc. Will they assume that I didn't take labs in U of T? Sorry for rambling, I'm just going through some of the worst case scenarios.....
From your experience, do schools at least tell me what's holding my application back so I have a chance to explain, or they will pretty much reject me and say nothing? I know I should probably call all the schools to make sure, but I'd prefer not to if they'll give me a chance to explain when they think I didn't meet their prerequisite.
Thanks in advance!

Dude, you completed your apps Sept. 2nd and didn't finish your supplemental apps til late Sept. The reason you're not hearing back (along with most of us in the Sept. batch) is because we're so far back in the queue. Just have to be patient and distract yourself.

 

[PreDent321]

Dude, paranoia.

 

[doc toothache]

Being an international student may have something to do with it.

 

[euphaire]

Being an international student may have something to do with it.

Can you elaborate please?

 

[bluepills]

Dear SDN members,
I'm currently wondering if the reason I'm not hearing back from schools is my prerequisites. I had very limited elective slots for taking science courses (engineering). I did manage to completed all the prerequisites before graduation, but only barely. In fact, I completed the exact number of prerequisites needed in most schools (you know, O chem, gen chem, bio, english, physics, maybe math too). This means that even if one of my courses was "questioned" in terms of matching to the prerequisites, I'd be in the 'didn't meet prereqs' pile since I've got no extra courses to "spare".
Now, I think things might go wrong because....the adcoms don't have access to my course descriptions, they also don't know that some of my schools (eg. U of Toronto) didn't mention lab in the transcript even though it's included in the lecture, whereas schools like U of Waterloo lists labs as a seperate course, etc. Will they assume that I didn't take labs in U of T? Sorry for rambling, I'm just going through some of the worst case scenarios.....
From your experience, do schools at least tell me what's holding my application back so I have a chance to explain, or they will pretty much reject me and say nothing? I know I should probably call all the schools to make sure, but I'd prefer not to if they'll give me a chance to explain when they think I didn't meet their prerequisite.
Thanks in advance!

I didn't read your whole post, but UWO doesn't separate their lab components, either, and I haven't had a problem with it. I'm assuming AADSAS looks into it when you send the full transcript. We're not the only UWO/UofT kids to apply/get into the states. It hasn't been a problem in the past, so it shouldn't be a problem now.

 

[Baker2010]

Dear SDN members,
I'm currently wondering if the reason I'm not hearing back from schools is my prerequisites. I had very limited elective slots for taking science courses (engineering). I did manage to completed all the prerequisites before graduation, but only barely. In fact, I completed the exact number of prerequisites needed in most schools (you know, O chem, gen chem, bio, english, physics, maybe math too). This means that even if one of my courses was "questioned" in terms of matching to the prerequisites, I'd be in the 'didn't meet prereqs' pile since I've got no extra courses to "spare".
Now, I think things might go wrong because....the adcoms don't have access to my course descriptions, they also don't know that some of my schools (eg. U of Toronto) didn't mention lab in the transcript even though it's included in the lecture, whereas schools like U of Waterloo lists labs as a seperate course, etc. Will they assume that I didn't take labs in U of T? Sorry for rambling, I'm just going through some of the worst case scenarios.....
From your experience, do schools at least tell me what's holding my application back so I have a chance to explain, or they will pretty much reject me and say nothing? I know I should probably call all the schools to make sure, but I'd prefer not to if they'll give me a chance to explain when they think I didn't meet their prerequisite.
Thanks in advance!

If you applied to Tufts, they will tell you what you need to complete before matriculation and that its not a problem. Just have it done by summer

 

[amalgamgrillz]

If you applied to Tufts, they will tell you what you need to complete before matriculation and that its not a problem. Just have it done by summer

He's Canadian. I don't think he should hold his breath for Tufts. They're pretty non-Canadian friendly now.

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

Dude, do your own research. This question is ******ed for someone with a 4.0 BCP. It takes 1 minute to google up the school to find out their prereqs. Compare it to what courses you have and if you won't have prereqs before matriculation, you won't be able to start.

Schools have thousands of applications and it's not their priority to tell individual applicants what is missing on their file.

 

[euphaire]

Dude, do your own research. This question is ******ed for someone with a 4.0 BCP. It takes 1 minute to google up the school to find out their prereqs. Compare it to what courses you have and if you won't have prereqs before matriculation, you won't be able to start.

Schools have thousands of applications and it's not their priority to tell individual applicants what is missing on their file.

What gave you the idea I didn't do my own research? I already said that I took the exact number of prereqs to fulfill their requirements. I have all the courses. However, things like "hidden labs" and different course titles (eg. "Structure and bonding" vs "General Chemistry") might just make one or more courses "not match up to the prereq description". Don't judge me.
Thanks to everyone for their somewhat pointless responses. I know better not to ask questions like this on SDN again.