Is this normal??? (Incredibly patronizing process)

[TwinkletoesCT]

I'm midway through the application process for an M.Ed, and I'm shocked at how patronizing this particular school's process has been.  My personal admissions counselor drips out one piece of the application per 1-2 weeks, with an accompanying 60 minute phone call.  I'm 37 years old. This feels childish.  

The statement of purpose guidelines looked like Mad Libs for a 10 year old - it included how many paragraphs the essay must be, and what each sentence of each paragraph should say.  I used them as a general guideline but wrote a "real" essay about my purpose, my experience (because it's nontraditional and bears context), and why I am so incredibly enthusiastic about the program, and the feedback was "I love it...but chuck this and just follow the guide."   She told me to take out everything about my own past other than "my degree is in X and my GPA was X"  and to make most of the essay about how awesome this University is - name professors and courses and discuss how great they must be.  I had to actually ask her "to what extent am I describing 'fit' versus just stroking their egos?"  The answer wasn't awesome.  And this SOP is coming to them accompanied by my resume and transcript, obviously, so it's fairly pointless besides the requisite fawning. 

Now one of my letters of recommendation has been rejected because it was written by a college professor (who himself holds multiple graduate degrees including an M.Ed) who wrote an incredible letter saying that he has taken lessons from me over the years and it has improved his teaching tremendously.  She sent him a snarky response saying that they don't care to hear from anyone who I've taught (imagine that, for an M.Ed), but only from people who have been my manager, supervisor, etc. at work.  She referred him back to the guidelines, which don't prohibit this at all, and in fact recommend that "ideally" the letter come from an expert in the field...which he is.  I texted her and asked for clarification, and whether there's a process for requesting an exemption.  She doubled down on the former and hasn't yet responded to the latter.  

There's a growing sense of absurdity to this whole affair - who would imagine graduate school admissions to be so patronizing and pedantic?  I'm losing heart and thinking that maybe this school isn't for me.  Should I bail on this program?  Is this what everyplace is like now?  Am I the one in the wrong?  Do I just have a bad admissions counselor?  

[Concordia]

If they're like this now, just wait until your check clears.  Especially if your classmates are self-selected to enjoy this stuff.  

Looking on the bright side, you might just have an inexperienced (or psychotic) admissions person.  Is there an on-campus session you can go to where you can see if everyone else in their office is this wacky?

 

 

Edited May 24, 2017 by Concordia

[Eigen]

I would consider this a huge red flag, but I'm not as familiar with M.Ed programs as other people might be. 

I've also never heard of an "admissions counselor", so maybe that's a field specific thing?

[TakeruK]

Wow, I would consider this a huge red flag too. 

But if the SOP guidelines say to do specific things in each paragraph, then I'd follow the instructions if I were going to apply there. Maybe they get a lot of applications and they just want to be able to scan each paragraph and pick out key phrases (although, if they want to do this, then why even ask for an essay when bullet points would do). 

Anyways, one question would be whether or not this personal admission counselor is only giving this advice to you/their assigned applicants, or if these are actual application requirements/guidelines.

[TwinkletoesCT]

3 hours ago, Concordia said:

If they're like this now, just wait until your check clears.  Especially if your classmates are self-selected to enjoy this stuff.  

Looking on the bright side, you might just have an inexperienced (or psychotic) admissions person.  Is there an on-campus session you can go to where you can see if everyone else in their office is this wacky?

 

 

 

I wish.  It's a long distance program, so the good news is that I never have to meet my classmates in person.  But it means I don't really have access to the professors or anybody during this phase.  I'm about 14 hours away, by car, so while it's not impossible, it's prohibitive.  

 

1 hour ago, Eigen said:

I would consider this a huge red flag, but I'm not as familiar with M.Ed programs as other people might be. 

I've also never heard of an "admissions counselor", so maybe that's a field specific thing?

 

I've actually seen local schools hiring for this role.  It seems to be a double edged sword - the prestigious schools are doing it for a "concierge" feel; the crappy schools are doing it to make sure the "sale" goes through.  While the university in question is a competitive, big name University, this makes me skeptical (although it bears noting that they certainly aren't trying to make the path EASIER for me...).

 

33 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

Wow, I would consider this a huge red flag too. 

But if the SOP guidelines say to do specific things in each paragraph, then I'd follow the instructions if I were going to apply there. Maybe they get a lot of applications and they just want to be able to scan each paragraph and pick out key phrases (although, if they want to do this, then why even ask for an essay when bullet points would do). 

Anyways, one question would be whether or not this personal admission counselor is only giving this advice to you/their assigned applicants, or if these are actual application requirements/guidelines.

 

I'm told they come from the department.  I don't know how clearly I believe that, because it's a poorly written series of comma spliced sentence fragments.  Perhaps the admissions office created them.  They give the distinct impression of "notes jotted down from an informal phone conversation" that are passed off as some kind of formal document.