AncaLS
Apr 4, 2009, 12:52 PM
Post #108 of 117
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A ridiculous story about Brooklyn College Admissions
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So I applied to Brooklyn's MFA program. I have no beef with the MFA program. Brooklyn's Admissions Office, though, has got to be the most incompetent, dysfunctional and possibly corrupt office I have ever dealt with.
The short verison: Somehow, even though I already have an M.A., they suggested I transfer my application to the undergraduate division. After I emailed them back, they confirmed that they stand by this decision! (???)
The long verison:
I have a B.A. from McGill University (in Canada) and an M.A. from Teachers College at Columbia University. Because of my Canadian degree, I had to send my transcripts to a "foreign credential service" for evaluation. None of the other graduate schools I applied to this year (including two other CUNY colleges, City College and Hunter College) or back in 2005 required this.
There were three "approved" agencies and the one that seemed the most reasonably priced ended up costing about $215 ($190 for the service + $25 to receive your own copy of what they send to Brooklyn). This is on top of the $125 application fee to Brooklyn College. This agency decided that my degree is the equivalent of three years of study at a U.S. college (why, I'm not sure; Americans at McGill spend 4 years rather than the 3 years that Quebec students spend, for this reason; I studied for 4 years). The agency charges an additional $50 to re-evaluate whether they have made an error. If they agree that they made an error, you are refunded the $50, nothing else.
I don’t understand how a college can charge $125 and then require you to send your transcripts to an outside agency for more exorbitant fees and then come up with such an absurd suggestion. What was $125 for? Moving my application from one corner of a desk to another?
In the end, I had copied my email to the Admissions office to the deputy director of the English department, the professor that receives writing samples and personal statements separately from Admissions, precisely for the reason that if we went through Admissions the English department would lose so many applications through a black hole. He wrote a sympathetic, apologetic email to me saying he agreed with my position and had forwarded my email to other administrators but that I probably should not hold my breath. I felt a little vindicated by that and see no reason to battle senseless bureaucrats, but I thought I might share my story here.
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