mckive6 Posted February 3, 2016 Posted February 3, 2016 Our oldest is a senior this year, so this is our first experience with applying to colleges. We've had a few problems with applications, etc these last few months at different schools. Is this typical? For example, I sent all the supplemental stuff to one college and tracking said it was received, but the college never got it. Thankfully that was an easy fix because she visited that week. Then, another school received 2 teacher recommendations but they were from the same teacher! Still not sure how that happened, except that using the common app and Naviance through the public high school where she takes one class, has been very difficult. It wouldn't allow her to request recommendations and no one could fix it. Finally, the guidance counselor said the teachers could send the letters from their personal emails. The college was willing to take the recommendation late. Next, when my dd called admissions to ask what she needed to do to get the scholarship she qualified for but had not received, she was told her transcript arrived late and that was why she hadn't received an invitation to interview for the scholarship and the honors college. Her transcript was mailed well before the deadline. The next day she received a call stating an error had been made and she was invited to the interview! Now, just tonight I received a call from an admissions counselor who said she received the homeschool packet but not my dd's online application! She completed it on 2/1 and who knows what happened. While the counselor was on the phone, we found the emailed receipts and forwarded them to her. Because of these issues, she has called every school to be sure they have received every little thing! Also, at least 2 schools have told us they have record number of applicants for their honors programs. Wonder if this seems to happen every year, or is this year different? My dd is learning to be resilient! These kind of things do seem to happen to her often. Quote
ThisIsTheDay Posted February 6, 2016 Posted February 6, 2016 We've had a few issues that were similar, but it seems they were more spread out between both of my kids. It's SOOOO stressful, and when calling the school, I'd often end up talking to a student who worked in the office. The biggest single issue seemed to be a lag time between the time the information was sent to the school (often with an auto email acknowledgement) and the time it showed up on my student's application portal at that school. Mixups do not tend to give me a lot of confidence in the school; however, we've also talked with some awesome people who were quick to rectify situations. I understand your frustration and surprise! It didn't happen in subsequent years, when the only requirements are housing (done in/by spring) and FAFSA and anything surrounding payments. 1 Quote
Mom22ns Posted February 8, 2016 Posted February 8, 2016 Well let's see, we had one school lose a transcript - twice. Another school lost an ACT score and it took getting the date and batch number from the ACT board to get it located. Different schools, different years, different kids, so I was the only one that was overly stressed :). 2 Quote
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 8, 2016 Posted February 8, 2016 Once college cannot find the SAT and SAT Subject test scores they were sent. The SAT scores were sent on two separate occasions. I suspect that because scores were sent before the application was completely submitted, the school didn't know what to attach the scores to and just trashed them. I after going back and forth with them and College Board for about a week, I finally paid to have scores sent again. (Which I resented, because we'd already paid to send those scores.) 2 Quote
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted February 8, 2016 Posted February 8, 2016 We've had a few instances of missing information and schools putting the burden of fixing the issue on the student-even when the issue is that the school cannot properly download and log info from Common App. I think the two most frustrating were the school that chose to forget to attend the mandatory homeschooler interview it had set up for dd and the admissions staff that could not handle downloading recommendations from Common App and wanted them all emailed. Unfortunately it took them several tries to get the right email, each wrong attempt was the responsibility of the student to fix and I suspect her recommender was not amused several attempts later. 1 Quote
mckive6 Posted February 8, 2016 Author Posted February 8, 2016 Nice to know we're not alone, not that I would wish these issues on anyone. Just today, I see through email, that two colleges that she's already been accepted to, just downloaded the CC transcripts. I thought once they were sent, it was a done deal. I just didn't realize how vigilant we would have to be. Some issues are on the college's end, but the most bothersome ones are from the public high school, dealing with transcripts and letters of recommendation. I hope the rest of the application season is smooth for everyone! Thanks. 2 Quote
Barbara H Posted February 8, 2016 Posted February 8, 2016 These are common problems for students who go to all types of schools (public, private, homeschooled). Test scores get lost, transcripts get lost, etc. Many colleges will send students a link to an online portal and I always suggest to applicants that they follow up and make sure materials are received. 3 Quote
swimmermom3 Posted February 8, 2016 Posted February 8, 2016 Well let's see, we had one school lose a transcript - twice. Another school lost an ACT score and it took getting the date and batch number from the ACT board to get it located. Different schools, different years, different kids, so I was the only one that was overly stressed :). We had the lost ACT scores issue too, but the school just asked us to send a screen shot of the scores. We went ahead and did the same thing you did as far as getting date and batch number. The decision came within a few days of submitting the new scores so obviously that's what they were waiting for. Quote
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 8, 2016 Posted February 8, 2016 We had the lost ACT scores issue too, but the school just asked us to send a screen shot of the scores. We went ahead and did the same thing you did as far as getting date and batch number. The decision came within a few days of submitting the new scores so obviously that's what they were waiting for. Oddly enough, CB told me that they couldn't access batch numbers for any score reports after mid October. I have to say I thought that was pretty peculiar. I think one of the problems my son is having is that the score reports were sent before his application was completed with this school. Although I'm not very sympathetic, since other schools, with lower rankings, managed to connect his test scores and his application once it was received. 1 Quote
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