Advice needed.....In absolute shock.......

[nl03]

So I applied for a doctorate program in education to a great school.

I finished my electronic application two months early. I started contact with the Program Coordinator who told me my application was very strong and the faculty was recommending me and I had a first year adviser ready to take me. The only problem now was getting admitted by the Graduate School and School of Ed. This was 2 weeks before the deadline of changing anything in the application.

I got another "unofficial" acceptance 36 hours ago. Then 12 hours ago I got an email saying that the Dean of Students has rejected my application because I uploaded the wrong document. I uploaded a diploma instead of a transcript, so my application is disqualified.

After I got over the initial shock and started calling anyone who would talk to me in the School of Ed or Graduate Admissions office I finally got ahold of a lady who is the Director of Student Affairs. I took all the blame for uploading the wrong document, but asked why the program told me everything was correct about my application after reviewing it. My main argument was at that point, I still could have changed the app because the deadline had not passed yet, but being informed that my application was accepted, I thought there was nothing wrong with it. Clearly if i had been told otherwise I would have done something about it. I sent this Director my transcripts. I forwarded her the proof of the many times I tried to contact the office over the last few months but got no response from anyone. I showed that the only response I received was from the Coordinator saying my application was being accepted and that this date was before the deadline passed.

At first I think she was hesitant to accept my argument, but then she sort of came around and said "that is a good question" as to why no one informed me about this before I could do nothing about it. She sent me an email saying she understands my argument, and she is trying to figure out how to resolve this problem and she needs to hear from every party involved. I made sure to tell her I am not trying to assign blame. It was clearly my error, but why was it not addressed during the three months after I turned in my application until now?

I think this is just a case of an error that made it through every evaluator until the final guy had a look at it. And in the end the only one that will suffer is me.

Does anyone have any insight as to how this will play out?

Thanks for any advice during my FREAKOUT

[Sigaba]

nate99--

In my opinion, you're handling this situation very well. Hopefully, the Powers That Be will reinstate your acceptance.

My suggestion is that you remain patient. If you don't hear back from the DSA in a timely manner, drop her a polite "How are things coming" inquiry. (If circumstances allow, a phone call might not be such a bad idea.)

If she's unable to resolve the issue to your liking, calmly ask her about the next steps you might take. Without nagging her, see if you can keep the conversation going long enough so that she can think through all of her options ("No, there's nothing else I can do...no, wait a minute, let me try this...")

If she cannot help you any more, you'll have to decide how you want to escalate the situation. I strongly recommend that as long as you are dealing with this unfortunate issue, you maintain the clear head and good nature you displayed in the OP. If you are on the phone and you start to feel frustrated or angry, check yourself and pull back. Conduct yourself with a sense of optimism and that this is just a hiccup that you and those who are going to intervene on your behalf will laugh about next fall when you go and introduce yourself.

I really want to underscore my appreciation for the way you're handling this situation.

[ktel]

That is incredibly unfortunate, but I am very happy you are being calm and very level headed. As Sigaba mentioned, getting angry would not help the situation (that would probably be my first emotion). I am actually amazed at how well this post is written, we get so many people on this forum freaking out about much smaller things. All you can do is to keep trying to press the issue. You seem to won over the person you contacted, as she can clearly see how this situation is unreasonable. Hopefully she can help you out.

[nl03]

Well, on my end I was really losing it in the first hour. I got absolutely no sleep last night (I'm on the other side of the world right now) as I was stressing and calling and forwarding emails.

Remaining calm about it is tough. When I finally talked to the Director on the phone, there was a moment when i was about to lose it, when she said that I could have checked my application but I didn't, at that point I was starting to boil because she ignored that I just had a brain fart and this could have been handled anytime in the last 3 months. But what I did was breathe, and then just say, "You know you are right, I can't really defend myself on that, I don't know what happened, but it was just incompetence on my part. But I don't understand why this is the first that I am hearing of it, after it is too late for me to do anything about it and when it would have just taken moments to correct. And I am just hoping that I won't lose this amazing opportunity because of a silly error. I'm hoping that you will be willing to consider this one of those 'extreme' circumstances that can be reconsidered."

Believe it or not, i think that was the turning point in her tone, when I just said that I was wrong. Her whole attitude changed just a little.

In my mind I am still freaking out, but it does help me that I did get accepted to a PhD program in the same subject from a much lower ranked school that is near my family in Texas. So i do have a cheap fall back in the top 120 education schools. But this is the one I wanted.

[TXTiger2012]

I'll "third" the advice already given. Regardless of who is in the wrong, you keeping a cool head and calm tone of voice (even when you feel like there's a volcano going off inside you!) is going to win you the respect and sympathetic ear that will hopefully get this resolved to your benefit. The higher ups handling this will definitely notice your maturity and professionalism in a situation that you could understandably fly off the handle over. Good luck!!

[tirralirra]

So sorry to hear this, but you are for sure doing the right thing trying your best to keep calm. In my experience, most schools are pretty understanding and will come around after they get all the silly bureaucracy out of the way. That sounds like what they're doing...getting input from everyone involved, and then they'll take a hard look at it and see that they should overlook the minor problem. Be polite, but don't give up...the more persistent you are, the more they will see how dedicated you are while keeping calm and polite and reasonable. Hopefully they will see that this was a minor error that could have and would have been easily fixed if it was ever pointed out! Good luck...I know how stressful it is when something goes wrong!

[nl03]

I guess I have learned a lot about how this program works too

Your application is first reviewed by the faculty of the program. They decide who they want to be in the program and make a recommendation. They probably do this up to the point that the deadline occurs. Their assessment is based entirely on the application and rec letters received and self reported GRE and GPA

Once the deadline occurs, they make the recommendation to the School of Ed or Grad school who then looks through the apps and matches it with GRE and transcripts.

Once it makes it through there, I think it goes to the Dean for final approval. Nowhere in this whole situation until the end did someone notice that the document that should have been my transcript was actually a diploma

How inefficient. I think the very first evaluators should be able to find any problems with the applications that could lead to disqualification and if the deadline has not passed they should let you know that something is wrong.

In my case I believe they just had no idea something was missing, for whatever reason they didn't look at my transcript before recommending me to the program

Any program where you can be vetoed at any step without knowing that you will be vetoed and without being given a chance to rectify the situation is dangerous. I hope they will come around and let me have my shot

[ktel]

I just find it absolutely ridiculous that they wouldn't inform you, but automatically reject your application, regardless of whether the deadline passed or not. I had a lot of problems with mailing stuff to my current institution, but they would always e-mail me to ask why they hadn't received something yet. I believe I even received my acceptance before my official transcripts got there as it was taking forever.

[Jasmineflower]

Hey nate99, I really feel your pain. Bureaucracy sucks!!! I just wanted to echo once again everything Sigaba said ... even though you are freaking out INSIDE, you are to be commended for your calm manner in dealing with people. Keep it up! I think we can all learn from your even-keeled handling of this situation -- I know I can.

I see your field is education. I was a public school teacher before going back to graduate school ... if you have taught in the U.S., and if your district was anything like some of the districts I've worked in, I'm guessing you have a lot of experience with handling bureaucracy!

One advantage of this situation: After this, I'm absolutely sure that you will never, ever, EVER upload the wrong document again!

Good luck with getting this resolved. You certainly deserve to have it work out in your favor!

[nl03]

OK, so the Director of Student Affairs that I was communicating with lobbied on my behalf to get the Graduate School to agree that my application could be reviewed with the correct transcripts attached. The Program Coordinator that originally accepted my application will internally review it on Monday with the faculty, and then we will proceed from there.

I am happy, but I am also worried about negative backlash from the faculty. In my arguments on my behalf I did have to basically say that the faculty told me my application was being recommended before the deadline, causing me to believe there were no problems with it and that it made it past the faculty without being noticed.

I tried really hard at that time to not get too accusatory of them, but without the argument that someone in the faculty should have told me before it got this far I really did not have much to argue.

I guess the faculty can either look at this as something to be embarrassed about, that there own carelessness caused them to miss something and possibly cost me an acceptance, or they can look at it in a bitter way and feel offended that I put some degree of blame on them about it.

If it is the first, I don't see a problem getting accepted, but if it is the second they might reject me on second viewing out of pure spite.

I went ahead and emailed all parties involved and thanked them for the reconsideration and effort on my behalf.

Hopefully this will play out in my favor

[Sigaba]

@nate99--

Easy does it!

There's a growing edge in your posts in this thread. I do not think the frame of mind in your recent posts is going to do you any good now or later.

Please take a step back and revisit your OP. IMO, it reflects who you really are and it is the mindset that is going to get you through this situation--however it plays out.

[Jasmineflower]

Hi again nate99.  Small world -- I too taught in LAUSD.  

I'm glad to hear that your top choice will review your application with the correct transcripts attached.  It sounds like things are going well (or, as well as they can in this type of situation).

My daughter's elementary school principal (at the school she attended for first through third grade) was a graduate of your second choice, USC.  I think she did the same program you were admitted to ... she was an EdD from there, in any case. Amazing lady.  If most of the graduates end up like her, the program at USC must be awesome!  We still miss her -- had to leave the school when we moved for me to go back to uni.  

Keep us posted on your situation.  Wishing you a relaxing weekend!

Edited March 31, 2012 by Jasmineflower

[nl03]

Easy does it!

There's a growing edge in your posts in this thread. I do not think the frame of mind in your recent posts is going to do you any good now or later.

Please take a step back and revisit your OP. IMO, it reflects who you really are and it is the mindset that is going to get you through this situation--however it plays out.

Sigaba,

Well, my frame of mind is actually the same.

There are two sides to me right now, what I will say to the people at the school and what I will say when I discuss it with others who have no connection with the school.

The first side will remain calm, thankful and humble about the situation.

The second side is the same as it was from the beginning. I feel like this whole situation has been extremely unnecessary and a result originally of carelessness on my part and others who viewed my application. However, because of a variety of factors, something that could have taken seconds to fix resulted in a letter indicating my disqualification. This would understandably make anyone edgy.

However, if your concern is that I will have an inappropriate frame of mind when dealing with the program, i can put your fears to rest. The first 12 hours after I got the original disqualification was me at my angriest. Now i've sort of just settled into a feeling of unhappiness about it, which I can easily put aside when dealing with my program. In the end I am actually very grateful that some people stepped up to the plate and lobbied on my behalf.

Thanks for the concern though

Edited March 31, 2012 by nl03

[ANDS!]

I think everyone shares blame in this situation - or rather anyone who reviewed the application and did not notice transcripts were missing, including the OP. However, realistically, all of this wouldn't have happened had the correct document been uploaded. If things are decided against you - that is likely the line that will be taken.

You've gotten good advice here; at this point there is nothing that can be done but let the right people confer and make a decision. I can see why they might not want to accept your application (it is ultimately your responsibility - not the graduate committee's - to make sure it is complete and accurate), all you can do is hope they understand how easy it is for such a mistake to happen, a mistake that could have been corrected if you had been made aware of the error.

[nl03]

Well, they've already decided to review it again, with the correct documents. So at this point, they may decide to reject because of hard feelings about the last few days. I don't feel there is any way to avoid that, as I had to argue my case to even be reconsidered.

ANDS! You are definitely going against the grain compared to other posters' opinions about the situation but that is perfectly OK and I appreciate it. However, I feel my case is extremely defensible. If the deadline had passed and I had never attempted to reach out to the program, then I would probably have no defense besides "this shouldn't be such a big deal."

However, and this is key, I was informed that my application passed and was being recommended before the deadline to change it had passed. At that point it was considered by me to have been adequate for admission, and really, once you get that information, what reason would you have to go back and try to alter anything? I might have reviewed again and caught my mistake, or I might not have thought about it again. Because it can be argued that I COULD have used that time to change it before being informed of its acceptance, I feel the people involved should (and thankfully did) give me the benefit of the doubt.

In all of the other applications that I have done for other schools, there is someone that looks over your application in the first stage and contacts you if you are missing something important, and I made the reasonable assumption that that was what was going on here. Common mistakes happen. Documents get posted wrong, sometimes they fail to upload at all, addresses are typed in wrong, etc.

But I do accept your point, that it wouldn't have happened had I uploaded the right document. It is a valuable lesson for me in the future to read everything twice including what ended up uploaded. But I also see a valuable lesson in this, is to not give up easily and try to think of a clear level headed approach to arguing your case. The original message was just "I have done all I can to argue your case. Your application has been cancelled...Good luck for 2013!" Had I accepted that at face value I wouldn't have discovered that sometimes you can change people's minds through logic and a level headed approach. Had I exploded like I felt like doing, I doubt they would have reconsidered.

[ANDS!]

At this point I doubt they will decide against you. I mean if I were in the Grad. Depts. shoes and I wasn't going to budge, I wouldn't even bother saying I'd review the case; I'd just tow the party line "It is the students responsibility to blah blah blah".

Going forward I would laugh it off in your interaction with your new department. They absolutely know they dropped the ball on this as well (who doesn't recognize a diploma isn't a transcript?) - if you're accepted by the Bueracratic side, just move on. As has been said, how you manage yourself during this time is going to determine "first impressions" so to speak. You want those to be as positive as possible.

For what it is worth, I seriously doubt you are the only one in this situation. I wouldn't be surprised if this happens more often than not, yet most people dont bother to dig deeper to find a resolution.

[TXTiger2012]

@nl03- I hope you really are joking about turning down this program should they admit you. While the people involved may be totally willing to accept their responsibility in this whole mess, in the form of kindly re-reviewing your application, they may not be too enthused to find that their good faith and efforts ultimately went unappreciated. I may be totally in the wrong here, so if everyone disagrees with me, please be kind! But personally, if I was involved in this situation (on the adcomm's end), I would assume that you've pursued resolving the problem because you would have enrolled if admitted. I understand that in some situations (this school doesn't offer you any funding, but another program does), turning them down makes sense. But if they aren't your top program, or at least in your top two, and you end up turning down an offer, this may end up working against you considering how small the academic community is.

I want to emphasize that I want this to work out for the best for you! Just consider the long-term repercussions of your response to a final admissions decision, if you haven't already

[ANDS!]

Well, I hope that was more of a not-serious-joke-borne-out-of-frustration than a "it is certainly possible for me to not accept". I would agree pushing them to initiate a re-review is almost a tacit acceptance on your part.

[nl03]

well, that was actually just kind of a funny thought, but i just deleted it because you are right it did sound ridiculous.

But in reality, there is one more PhD program that I am waiting to hear from that might have some good funding.

In reality it is really just down to this school and one other, and I am leaning towards this school. However, after all of this, I have had to really take a look at the "backup" option. Let's keep this in perspective though guys: This program has not made me an offer. We've gotten all the way to "unofficial", but I actually have no idea how this will play out in the next few days. As I've learned in this situation, nothing is official until they make you the offer, and I thought in return nothing is official until I click accept.

Like, for example, what if during all of this time, in which by the way I would have jumped at the chance to accept, another option kicks in a bigger scholarship for a PhD? In my opinion (and if you disagree, please be kind), the time that me and this program are figuring our business out, both they and I are still considering other options. I consider this like dating: They wanted to breakup with me for some confusion, during which time I would have agreed to marriage. I got them to reconsider the breakup, which they are doing. But no one has actually proposed yet, so both parties can still look around. If they are sure they want me to marry them, they need to hurry up and propose. They can't expect me to sit around on a Saturday night and wait by the phone.

If that makes sense to anyone else

but TXTiger, maybe you're right and I do need to consider if this will come back to haunt me in the future in my field