*rant* Grad school admissions offer rescinded

[Farang]

Originally posted by: Parasitic
And also while it's fine and dandy that you decide to deal with UWM about trying to get their to retract the rejection really the better thing to do is try to talk to other schools into throwing out you offer to decline admission as damage control. Most selective (to competitive) schools receives hundreds to thousands of applicants that unless you were the absolute BEST or second best candidate they will not go out of their way to work with you, since they have too many others who are willing to give up everything to go there; plus if you did get them to retract that and let you in, you have undoubtedly pissed off an unknown number of people who may have either direct or indirect influence in your graduate career...and it's best not to do that.

I mean, if you pissed off the processing clerk, it might take him an awful long period of time to investigate a "typographical error" on your grades and financial aid packages.

So we should live in fear of processing clerks? He is dealing with the bureucracy, not the professors (the ones who have an impact on your career). Also I doubt the processing clerk or anyone else cares if he bothers them, and if they did care I doubt they could do anything about it. Very few people are vindictive enough to fsck with someone's grades. I don't understand why some people are so scared of the big bad university administrators.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: Parasitic
And also while it's fine and dandy that you decide to deal with UWM about trying to get their to retract the rejection really the better thing to do is try to talk to other schools into throwing out you offer to decline admission as damage control. Most selective (to competitive) schools receives hundreds to thousands of applicants that unless you were the absolute BEST or second best candidate they will not go out of their way to work with you, since they have too many others who are willing to give up everything to go there; plus if you did get them to retract that and let you in, you have undoubtedly pissed off an unknown number of people who may have either direct or indirect influence in your graduate career...and it's best not to do that.

I mean, if you pissed off the processing clerk, it might take him an awful long period of time to investigate a "typographical error" on your grades and financial aid packages.

I can get into the other schools, of that I am not concerned. The problem is that I have no real desire to go to any of the other schools. Madison has the better program. The other ones either have a better program but I can not afford to go there or have a program that is not as good.

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: Farang

Originally posted by: Parasitic
And also while it's fine and dandy that you decide to deal with UWM about trying to get their to retract the rejection really the better thing to do is try to talk to other schools into throwing out you offer to decline admission as damage control. Most selective (to competitive) schools receives hundreds to thousands of applicants that unless you were the absolute BEST or second best candidate they will not go out of their way to work with you, since they have too many others who are willing to give up everything to go there; plus if you did get them to retract that and let you in, you have undoubtedly pissed off an unknown number of people who may have either direct or indirect influence in your graduate career...and it's best not to do that.

I mean, if you pissed off the processing clerk, it might take him an awful long period of time to investigate a "typographical error" on your grades and financial aid packages.

So we should live in fear of processing clerks? He is dealing with the bureucracy, not the professors (the ones who have an impact on your career). Also I doubt the processing clerk or anyone else cares if he bothers them, and if they did care I doubt they could do anything about it. Very few people are vindictive enough to fsck with someone's grades. I don't understand why some people are so scared of the big bad university administrators.

Maybe the example with the processing clerk might be too farfetched, but things like that can and do happen. If you pissed off your departmental secretary he/she possesses the ability to make your life a little miserable compared to not having bothered her at all. If you got the secretary irritated you might have problem getting your reimbursement checks on time, have appointment and scheduling issues with your thesis committee, typographical errors on grade submissions, etc, and most of the time when a mistake happens graduate students are usually the ones who suffer.

 

[KillerCharlie]

This is a good thing. Sorry to break it to you, but library and information studies is a horrible degree. You'd make more money working fast food than being a librarian.

 

[dr150]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Apparently the department that I was applying to did not bother to read my transcript before they sent me the offer letter (I say apparently because I am not sure how that could happen). My GPA on my last 64 credits was a 2.78, they request a 3.0. My last 60 credit GPA should be (though I have no way to be sure) above a 3.0 after I graduate at the end of this semester. My cumulative is a 3.08 (I had two bad semesters, one a 2.75, one a 2.5 in the past three years).

Now two weeks after I got the acceptance letter and accepted their offer I get an e-mail stating that they are rescinding their offer because of this. They suggested I enroll as a special status student and re-apply next year. What. The. Fvck. Talk about totally screwing with someone's life. It isn't as if I already declined the offers from the other universities because I had gotten into this one. Oh wait...I did. Because they declined to admit me on probation (which they can do) or ignore it, I suspect I was not a strong candidate in their eyes to begin with so taking three classes will not make a difference.

Talk about really weird. I would expect that such a relatively minor mistake on their part would be something they would ignore. I also find it really odd that they did not catch it until two weeks after they accepted me.

I am NOT having a good week (this is not the first bad news so far).

see last post

I never knew Devry could do this!

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
This is a good thing. Sorry to break it to you, but library and information studies is a horrible degree. You'd make more money working fast food than being a librarian.

So true, but I do enjoy the field. I'm not sure wtf I would do if I was not a librarian of some sorts.

 

[randomint]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
This is a good thing. Sorry to break it to you, but library and information studies is a horrible degree. You'd make more money working fast food than being a librarian.

So true, but I do enjoy the field. I'm not sure wtf I would do if I was not a librarian of some sorts.

i suggest business. go to a few years of undergrad again if you have to but there's a lot of opportunities in business. Accounting, finance, investments, economics ..you must be interested in something!

 

[invidia]

So life is about making money? I reject your reality and substitute my own.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: randomint

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
This is a good thing. Sorry to break it to you, but library and information studies is a horrible degree. You'd make more money working fast food than being a librarian.

So true, but I do enjoy the field. I'm not sure wtf I would do if I was not a librarian of some sorts.

i suggest business. go to a few years of undergrad again if you have to but there's a lot of opportunities in business. Accounting, finance, investments, economics ..you must be interested in something!

I am interested in business (supply chain management). If I had to do my undergrad over I would likely do that. The problem is that would be another 2-3 years just for my undergrad, making me 25-6 before I ever graduated. Damned if I want to do (or could really afford) that.

 

[randomint]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: randomint

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
This is a good thing. Sorry to break it to you, but library and information studies is a horrible degree. You'd make more money working fast food than being a librarian.

So true, but I do enjoy the field. I'm not sure wtf I would do if I was not a librarian of some sorts.

i suggest business. go to a few years of undergrad again if you have to but there's a lot of opportunities in business. Accounting, finance, investments, economics ..you must be interested in something!

I am interested in business. If I had to do my undergrad over I would likely do that. The problem is that would be another 2-3 years just for my undergrad, making me 25-6 before I ever graduated.

don't worry. i know it feels bad when your friends and peers are out there building their careers and you lag behind but you won't regret the decision in the long term.

plus, you're even interested. i'm sure there must be some school which you can enroll in and get your degree part-time. with business, there's always a lot of flexibility in terms of your course schedules/combinations.

yeah you will have to work part-time for your finances but you will have a rewarding career.

 

[Cattlegod]

contact the media FTW.

 

[radioouman]

UW is a good school. I got my masters from Platteville. Your GPA is low for grad school, so just apply for the special student status and go after your degree. So what if it takes you an extra year?

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: radioouman
UW is a good school. I got my masters from Platteville. Your GPA is low for grad school, so just apply for the special student status and go after your degree. So what if it takes you an extra year?

The fact that they are pulling this after the fact indicates that they did not really see me as a strong candidate (if they had, they would not have sent this). While Madison is a good school, what the hell am I supposed to do for a year? Even then there is no guarantee whatsoever that I will get in. Oh, and there is the small matter of being completely unable to afford an extra year ($8k tuition + rent and others brings it to at least $15k).

 

[ChaoZ]

WTF is a special student status?

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: ChaoZ
WTF is a special student status?

It is an in-between status. You pay undergraduate fees and can take up to nine graduate credits.

 

[eits]

threaten legal action. claim that you've made financial preparations and life preparations based on the acceptance letter.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: eits
threaten legal action. claim that you've made financial preparations and life preparations based on the acceptance letter.

Oh yeah, they are REALLY going to love me for that...especially since my alternate is in the same system.

 

[GoingUp]

UW is a hell of a school! Good luck!

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
What does everyone think of this response:

Thank you for your e-mail.

I have to confess that I am a bit confused by this situation. My records were included with my application and available to the admissions committee at the time of my acceptance. As I received my acceptance letter over a week ago (and submitted my acceptance of the offer) I am now in a bit of a difficult situation. Having accepted your offer and declined those from other institutions I must now attempt to resolve this.

As you mentioned I have an interesting background and work record. Having already been accepted into your program it is clear that I possess the qualities that you desire in students. While I will admit that at times my grades have been below what I would want, I think that overall my record reflects that I would be a strong student.

I would request that the School of Library and Information Studies reconsider its offer of admission.

Thank you,


xxxxxxxx

Sounds good, though you may want to mention that you expect to have above a 3.0 in your last 60 credits by the time you graduate, since it sounds like this is the reason they retracted the offer. I would try calling first, however. You may get quicker results (and if not, you can always send the e-mail as well).

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
This is a good thing. Sorry to break it to you, but library and information studies is a horrible degree. You'd make more money working fast food than being a librarian.

You can make a decent salary as a librarian, and most people don't go into it for the big bucks anyway. Incidentally, my university library is currently looking for a librarian with a MLIS and 8 years of experience to start at $90,000 + 14.2% on top of that to retirement, 5 weeks of vacation a year, etc. This is well above the average, certainly, but there are jobs like this out there. The median salary nationally is $48,000, I believe. For fast food workers it's... ?

 

[compman25]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
This is a good thing. Sorry to break it to you, but library and information studies is a horrible degree. You'd make more money working fast food than being a librarian.

So true, but I do enjoy the field. I'm not sure wtf I would do if I was not a librarian of some sorts.

And lots of big corporations have internal libraries with librarians. When I worked for Sola Optical we had a library and a librarian.

 

[lytalbayre]

you sent your acceptance before you received their revocation? If so, it's a legally binding contract and you can threaten legal action.

 

[Superrock]

If I were you, I'd write a very well written and logical email letter. Do not write anything in the letter that doesn't absolutely need to be there. Wait 1-2 days then call them on the phone and ask them if they read your email. Don't express your anger because then they'll be defensive. Just make them very uncomfortable by carefully explaining the situation and stay on the phone until you reach a resolution. Long silences are good because that will make them uncomfortable and they'll want to hang up. Keep updated with phone calls until a resolution is met.

Contact every school you turned down and tell them of the situation, hopefully they'll give you an advantage over other wait list students.

Legal actions is a last resort I don't suggest because it'll probably be more trouble than it's worth. No matter what, legal actions will make you look better if it showed you tried to talk to them before resorting to legal action.

 

[randomint]

Originally posted by: Superrock
If I were you, I'd write a very well written and logical email letter. Do not write anything in the letter that doesn't absolutely need to be there. Wait 1-2 days then call them on the phone and ask them if they read your email. Don't express your anger because then they'll be defensive. Just make them very uncomfortable by carefully explaining the situation and stay on the phone until you reach a resolution. Long silences are good because that will make them uncomfortable and they'll want to hang up. Keep updated with phone calls until a resolution is met.

Contact every school you turned down and tell them of the situation, hopefully they'll give you an advantage over other wait list students.

Legal actions is a last resort I don't suggest because it'll probably be more trouble than it's worth. No matter what, legal actions will make you look better if it showed you tried to talk to them before resorting to legal action.

good advice

 

[geecee]

That is just wrong. And a graduate department at any major university should know better, especially in the havoc that it would cause at this stage of the process. Your letter is quite rational (and better than they deserve) and a good thing to do. I hope everything works out for you.