justkeepswimming Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 What additional information did you mail in to the university itself? DD applied online and I mailed her transcript - but they still say the transcript it outstanding. Now - she only applied on the 16th, and the transcript arrived to them on the 18th (and her ACT scores arrived on the 19th) - so, with the holidays, it's not as if a really long time has passed.... BUT I'm worried they may need more from me & the honors college deadline is approaching - but she can't apply there until she's been accepted and can't start on the essays until she knows the topics... So - if you guys sent in MORE information, I will follow suit and overnight additional paperwork (Goodness knows I have EVERYTHING in pdf form at this point in the game!!) to them on Monday. She emailed to ask about the transcript (to make sure she shouldn't have included additional identifying information other than what she sent) and the guy said "it's all good" and he'll "keep an eye out" for her transcript. But I don't trust him. :ph34r: I find it's very easy for people with nothing invested in the situation to say "it's all good" without actually knowing if it IS or not! :P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 I just sent the transcript and then a separate course description. It doesn't sound like the problem is additional paperwork, just the transcript itself. I'm confused - they are saying they don't have it, but you are saying it arrived on the 18th? Did you send it with a receipt? i You probably don't need to send anything additional, but it never hurts to pop another transcript in the mail. You could print postage at home from the USPS site and drop it off today, most of the post offices gather and sort mail on Sundays, so you could check times. Sending it priority today might work out the same as overnighting it tomorrow. One of my dd's schools sent us a letter saying that her transcript was missing and they couldn't evaluate the application until it arrived. So I send it off, and the very next day her acceptance letter and scholarship award arrives. Obviously they had the transcript and evaluated the application! Did she email the admissions office in general or her own admissions counselor? Always better to speak with the admissions counselor as opposed to general admissions staff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Just another note- we have had some things like this come up and I always suggest emailing his counselor but he just picks up the phone and calls. I hate making phone calls but luckily my kid is pretty forward :) He has gotten very good results with phone calls vs. Emails. They generally pull up his file right while on the phone with him and are able to get it straightened out. He also had gotten quick return calls when he has left voice mails. He has dealt mainly with small schools but took this approach with the state flagship too. That took a few more transfers and more time on hold but he was able to resolve an issue of missing test scores on the phone when emails had been fruitless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 (edited) Swimming, the UA honors application calls for a short (2000 characters, including spaces) essay about the student, their career goals, and how they think being honors would improve their academic experience. They say that the essay is used to learn more about the student and is not used for admission to honors. I know the minimum criteria is ACT of 28 and 3.5 GPA. You also enter all of your activities and honors; it's a computer application so you have to enter it, you can't just send a resume. Edited to add: correction, you can upload a resume, which will also be used if you apply for the more selective programs like University Fellows. I can't remember if we also had to enter some of the activities info in the application itself. Edited November 29, 2015 by katilac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justkeepswimming Posted November 29, 2015 Author Share Posted November 29, 2015 I'm confused - they are saying they don't have it, but you are saying it arrived on the 18th? Did you send it with a receipt? Did she email the admissions office in general or her own admissions counselor? Always better to speak with the admissions counselor as opposed to general admissions staff. Yes, we mailed the transcript w tracking via priority. So I know it arrived... But not on whose desk exactly. :) There's no admissions counselor for our state - she'd have to contact the engineering major counselor & I'm not certain how helpful they would be for this particular question. Hmmmm. She said she'll email Mr Helpful from admissions (the guy who emailed her back the first time) on Monday and see what he suggests to do. She is applying to the competitive honors programs - but if that's the main topic for the essay, she should be able to get that written up in a relatively short amount of time. So- I feel better about that. I was worried it would be one is those "If you had super powers..." sorts of essays and she'd need a lot more time for a creative essay. I didn't send course descriptions - that's what I was utmost concerned about - wondering if the transcript was bogged down in some obscure homeschooling rule I'd missed. I could have sent them (in fact, I mailed them to another school that same day I mailed the transcript to Alabama), so I'm really not sure why I didn't send them to UA too. 😜 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodGrief Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 I don't have experience with Alabama, but I do know in general it can take a while (even a few weeks) for supporting materials to be processed by the admissions office and show up as Present in the file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justkeepswimming Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 I don't have experience with Alabama, but I do know in general it can take a while (even a few weeks) for supporting materials to be processed by the admissions office and show up as Present in the file. Agreed - I've recently learned the same thing. I've just seen some recent postings in a couple of places from students who applied to Alabama when/after dd applied who have already gotten their acceptances in (Alabama's initial application is suuuuper simple), so it concerned me slightly since I don't want her to miss the deadlines for the additional applications/essays. Luckily, she could fill in the scholarship application before being accepted, so that part's all taken care of now. But - I'm thinking at least some of those students likely had sent their scores to Alabama earlier and their schools were likely able to send transcripts electronically, so they were matched up with their accounts more quickly. And the holiday didn't help. lol! Adding Alabama was a pretty last-minute decision for dd, so it was all very rush-rush and now wait-wait. :willy_nilly: I'm a much better rusher than a waiter. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 She is applying to the competitive honors programs - but if that's the main topic for the essay, she should be able to get that written up in a relatively short amount of time. So- I feel better about that. I was worried it would be one is those "If you had super powers..." sorts of essays and she'd need a lot more time for a creative essay. Well, that's the essay for the regular honors program. iirc, you have to fill that out first. dd got a separate invite for the Fellows program, but I can't remember if you need that to apply or if you have to be accepted to honors first. dd isn't applying, so we never looked at that application, and UA's web site is a red hot mess today and won't let me check anything. I don't remember if all the competitive honors programs are part of Fellows, but the deadlines for that are: application due in December, phone interviews in January, finalist weekend in February. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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