Frustrated mother here -- a college LOST all of my son's supporting docs!

[Gwen in VA]

My son is applying to UVA. I guess it is absolutely swamped this year for whatever reason. We sent all of his supporting docs in one envelope -- transcript, recs from teachers, course descriptions, booklist, school profile, counselor's rec -- the whole nine yards.

He got a very polite email this morning requesting that he send a transcript with all his courses on it, since UVA only has fragmented transcripts from a variety of schools.

He called, and UVA has none of his supporting documents! His admissions counselor is going to search for them, but.......I will call tomorrow morning to find out if I should bother putting together another packet (which means asking the teachers for another rec -- hopefully they all xeroxed the old one!)

I do have a slip from the Post Office documenting that I sent something to UVA at the end of Dec. and that UVA received it.

Unhappy mom here -- I guess that if God shuts this door He has his reasons!

I have heard of colleges losing applications -- you just don't expect it to happen to your own child!

[Blue Hen]

Oh Gwen, I hope they find it soon. Your story reminded me of my college roommate's story. Being in Ohio, and graduating from an Ohio ps meant that you would be admitted to OSU. Kathy was also my high school friend and when she heard that we had all received our acceptance letters from OSU she became worried.

Hers had not come. Finally she or her mom called OSU....long story short, her application was found behind the admission's officier's file cabinet and she was admitted. She was surprised that he told them where he had found it too.

Hope your ds is found soon.

[Jane in NC]

Oh Gwen! I would be banging my head on a brick wall at this point! The letters of recommendation are probably saved in a Word file somewhere--but what a pain in the neck to have to trace one's footsteps.

I always look at things like this and wonder what the moral of the story is. Perseverance?

We're all holding your hand, Gwen. Thank you so much for walking all of us on the board through the process, frustrations and all.

Jane

[Ms. Riding Hood]

Soooo sorry to hear that! :( How very frustrating, worrisome, annoying--all those things you don't want to deal with right now. I hope that you can put the pieces back together, or that they miraculously find the missing things!

[Julie in CA]

I'm wondering though, do you not keep copies of everything you send to colleges?
I'm thinking that I heard that it was a good thing to do, but since I have no experience yet, I want to make sure I do it if I'm supposed to.
Thanks,
Julie

[Jane in NC]

I'm wondering though, do you not keep copies of everything you send to colleges?
I'm thinking that I heard that it was a good thing to do, but since I have no experience yet, I want to make sure I do it if I'm supposed to.
Thanks,
Julie

Letters of recommendation usually go directly from the third party to the college. People do these as a favor, so asking someone to repeat the favor is an annoyance.

Jane

[Julie in CA]

Jane, thanks so much for clarifying! Is that the only thing that would be hard to duplicate if the process goes wrong?
Thanks,
Julie

[Nan in Mass]

My oldest's college lost one of his recs this year. Ug. Fortunately, it was just his boss's and it was easy enough to get him to write another, but if it had been one of the others, it would have difficult. And if they lose the medical records of my poor needle-phobic child, I will kill them.
-Nan

[Gwen in VA]

We have copies of everything we sent to each and every college, though it will take an hour of printing and then a trip to the post office. That is pretty minor, though.

More major -- Asking the teachers for the recommendations again is just frustrating. Some of the teachers have already written 6-8 recommendations. I hate to even think about asking them again.

Most frustrating -- The most frustrating thing is that UVA gives a VERY few full-ride scholarships. Most of the slots for the interviews are given to recommended students in certain "qualified" schools, but about 10% of the interview slots are reserved for general applicants. Well, they are supposed to be making decisions about who is invited to the scholarship competition this week. I think my son's chances of being invited just went from very small to zero. :(

I have been trying to contact the admissions person all afternoon to see if I should start the process of getting all new paperwork to them. She hasn't been answering her phone all afternoon. Tomorrow morning I send an email. :(

[Sandy in Indy]

Wow! I'd certainly be sure they know that you sent all the materials in DECEMBER and that your son really should be considered for the scholarship. (I'm definitely not above begging when it comes to scholarships!) I hope they find everything and/or will consider your son for one of the interview slots.

[Sharon in MD]

I will really be sure that we keep copies of everything after hearing this. The letters of recommendation must be the worst though. I would be so very annoyed at the college and feel so badly about asking the folks who wrote to do so again. I hope they have them in word files and can just print and sign and re-mail them.

I'd also be most upset about the scholarship aspect. I'll be praying you can get through to them today.

:( Hugs from MD

[Tokyomarie]

I am so sorry to hear you are dealing with this headache! I just can't imagine..... and I hope this gets resolved satisfactorily.

For the benefit of others, because I had heard of things like this happening, I was seriously anal about following up on my mailings and any faxes to colleges to get a human being to say to me, either by email or phone, "Yes, we have received all of your daughter's documents." I know these admissions folks are busy people this time of year but the peace of mind that a verbal or written confirmation gave me was worth the bother I put them through.

[Gwen in VA]

Hurrah -- UVA has 'found" all of the documents -- including the recommendations. Praise God!

Talk about a hig-stress 24 hours! Thank you for all your support.

BTW, I totally agree that you should call to verify that all your items have been received -- but NOT when the college specifically tells you not to! UVA very specifically said that they were absolutely inundated this year and that they are STILL logging materials in. UVA said that they would call you if there was a problem with your materials. :-/

[Brigid in NC]

UVA is my alma mater -- so I am glad that it was resolved! Now I hope your son gets in, with the scholarship you are hoping for!! Wahoowa!
~Brigid :D

[Tokyomarie]

So glad they were found! What a relief for you and your son.

The larger state schools are a challenge as far as knowing when to make a follow-up call, but some of them have also have a place on the student's web account where the student can confirm whether their materials have been logged or not. Dd#2 applied to two Big Ten schools last year so I can sympathize with the challenge of knowing how long to wait before making a query. One showed her materials as being logged pretty quickly even though it was weeks before we heard from them about the next step (granting of audition). The other was much slower and I finally did call to be sure.

[Sharon in MD]

Soooo happy for you...big sigh of relief!:D