stephkarto1
Stephanie Kartalopoulos
Feb 21, 2006, 7:10 PM
Post #123 of 6267
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Re: [Aubrie] The Waiting Game...Have you heard yet???
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If it takes sexual promiscuity, drinking, and a drug habit to get into an MFA program, what does it take to get into a PhD program? Should I post on Craig's List for orgies every night until my acceptance letters come?
:)
That made me smile, big-time. I'm SO stressed out right now over the contents of my mailbox--and the lack of contents in my mailbox. I got a letter today, and the return address said BU, but it was just acknowledgement from the Writing Program of my letter & resume for a job I applied for.
But there is this. I found out last week through the KIND KIND KIND program coordinator for the program I want to get accepted to at BU that my transcripts from my MFA program NEVER reached htem, and could I kindly send them over so that I can still be considered for acceptance?
(let the rant and story begin...)
This came at the worst time--in the middle of an exhausting and stressful week and within hours of 2 computers being stolen from my office and the security in the building doing absolutely nothing about it. Nerves were already high, exhaustion was already at a level to consume anyone, and my world shattered even more. I immediately realized that if BU--the school I applied to with the latest application deadline--did not get my transcripts, then NONE of my schools (which I requested transcripts for...all at the same time...) got my transcripts.
I called the registrar's office at UF to find out that there was a financial hold on my account, something stupid about my exit interview and student loans which I had taken care of a *very* long time ago, and was transferred to the university bursar. And I learned from her that I had never done this--even though at the time I took care of this exit interview I was given every indication that I did it correctly--and the computers say that I need to get this taken care of. She and I do this over the phone, and I ask her about my transcripts being sent out. She transfers me again to the registrar's office. Which is closed.
Fast forward to Friday morning. I call the registrar. She says there's a hold. I tell her to check with the bursar, that it's not supposed to be there. She puts me on hold while she talks with the bursar. We get the Go-Ahead to send my stuff out, but the registrar asks me, to which schools? She can't deal with me and my frustration and anxiety attack so she puts me through to her assistant, a very nice young man named Jose who very calmly helped me out. He mentioned to me something that the registrar's office does not advertise on its forms--that if the computer says you have a financial hold, YOUR TRANSCRIPT REQUESTS ARE HELD FOR A WEEK OR TWO AND THEN DISCARDED. And no one tells you that your transcript request becomes null and void, a never-happened.
I am literally crying on the phone. This is something I can not deal with--after SO much time working so carefully on my applications, after SO much money I put into this, after SO much energy--this. I explain my situation to Jose who asks me to print out another copy of the transcript request form, fill it out, and fax it to his attention before 12 PM and he will have everything out in the 2 PM mail. I hurry and do this and make sure that each application university gets 2 copies of my transcript--one to the program coordinator and one to the admissions office (neurotic perhaps, but...). I fax it to him, he receives it, he sends everything out right away, he calls me at 2 PM to let me know he handed it to the mail man who came just moments before.
Phew.
So then this is not done. Not yet. I e-mail each university's program coordinator and beg and grovel for them to still consider my application, to accept my (oh so late) transcripts, that I apologize, that there was a glitch in the registrar's computer systems, that I only recently--less than 24 hours ago--learned that my information never reached them.
The program coordinator at BU, very amazingly nice (young?) man that he is, compassionate person that he is, thanks me for taking care of this right away, apologizes for the inconvenience it brought me, says he sympathizes with me, and tells me that as soon as he has a copy of my transcripts in his hands he will e-mail me to let me know that they have arrived. I thank him and tell him that I was happy to get this taken care of, that I love BU's PhD program in my field, and that I really would not want something like this to lessen or otherwise change the way that the admissions committee reads my application.
No other schools have e-mailed back.
No other schools even LET ME KNOW that there was something missing in my application.
I was livid for half of the weekend (and sick for the other half of the weekend and into today). In my world it seems like the most common courtesy to let someone know that something's missing--especially something that is meant to arrive separately from the main application that said applicant knowingly submitted at an appointed day and time.
And it made me wonder if BU will accept me--if they're thinkin' something pretty sweet about me and my prospects for entering their program--if they let me know there was still time, that they still wanted to consider me (especially at a point when schools for the most part have made, or are making, final decisions)?
If so, that's amazing!
And if not--if it's still all a crap-shoot with BU--how AMAZINGLY NICE of them, how amazingly courteous of them, to let me know. And if that's how they treat any old applicant, then I imagine how they must treat their students who are admitted into the program and who have accepted the offer.
And that warms me and makes me think "gosh, that's the sort of program I want to be at."
Brown didn't let me know. NYU didn't let me know. And Emory--which I know I will not get into, as I was not asked down for a finalist interview--if they weeded me out because of the transcripts, then shame on them (after having received the MOST encouraging e-mails from their program director over the summer that STRONGLY URGED me to apply). If they really didn't want to accept me, then I am a bit perplexed, but whatever. I wouldn't want to be anywhere that didn't want to accept me from the get-go. And I am sitting here trying to not add a sense of bummed-out-ed-ness over my lack of interview invite for Emory to enter my stress and anxiety and uncertainty over how these applications will turn out.
So I am waiting for BU to e-mail me back now and let me know that they have my transcripts. And I am sitting here playing guessing games with myself--how long after that will I find out for sure?
And I am sick and tired of my coworkers saying "oh you KNOW you're going to get in somewhere."
Or asking me if I have heard yet.
(end rant)
OK I am advertising now for an orgy, a Bacchanalian feast, a tattoo-party, and free nipple piercing if it means that the admissions gods will look kindly upon my little soul and grant me admission to the program of my choosing...
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