Problems Contacting Admissions?

educ8

5-Year Member
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May 12, 2011
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Is anyone else having this problem?

My son is having problems getting a response from Admissions. He is torn between being seen as a squeaky wheel and making sure his file is complete and a question is answered.

There are several issues that he is concerned about and he thought it was a good idea to contact admissions...and I agreed. Better safe than sorry. He first addressed this board and Objee suggested he contact his AO. He has, on at least four occasions e-mailed his AO about this and she either doesn't answer or (once) her four word response made it obvious that she hadn't read his question. So then he called the Admissions office directly and when no one answered he left a message and hasn't gotten a response for more than a week. So then he called his AP who now reports that the AO doesn't return his calls either.

We know that the Admissions office is very very busy and that the AO has many collateral duties and is probably stretched to the limit about now. He is concerned and is reading all sorts of things into this problem and is now hesitant to try to contact admissions at all for fear of ...as he says "getting a red sticker on my file." One of his concerns is that he has applied to EA early and feels that he should have heard something by now...indicating that there may be a problem

So as the parent of a great kid who has been immersed in this for months, I ask you all for advice . He has a solid (great even) plan B, but the CGA and becoming a CG officer is BY FAR his focus with the others being distant seconds.
 
Some of the admissions officers do check these boards out, now and then. Is he trying to contact his admission officer near Thanksgiving or Christmas? Some people may be on leave (across the federal government). Closer they get to deadlines the more likely they are pressed for time. They also get a number of "stupid questions", which take AO's attention away from good questions like your son's.

What's the question anyway? If it's not something that will affect his possible acceptance or at least competition, I would just be patient, but if it's something that could affect the outcome, get the question addressed.
 
Thanks for the responses.

He has three questions, the first is just to make sure that the materials from his HS Guidance Counselor was received before the EA deadline. (The Guidance Counselor is notorious for forgetting to do things on time - he kept a kid out of WP last year because of this issue). He swears that it was sent in on time. My son has been trying to find out definitively for almost two months.

The second issue is concerning the CGA web-page, specifically his "Activity page" - it shows the coaches recommendation to be "In progress" with a yellow exclamation point next to it. His AP called last night to say that it is a glitch with the web-page.

The third issue is that he has received a few honors and accomplishments since he pressed "submit" a few months ago. He lettered in CC, earned another Eagle Palm, etc. He also took the Naval Academy's PT test and did pretty well (better than the CGA's test) and wondered if it would be considered - showing commitment to improvement or if it didn't really matter since he "passed" - He is concerned that the low score on the CGA PT test will make him look like he is not in very good shape, but he took it after Cross Country practice one night. He took the Navy test a few weeks after CC was over and did much better after getting some rest.

I've been telling him that everything is done and done correctly...probably. He just wants to hear it - for sure. As for submitting new achievements - that is just icing on the cake - none of it is new - just greater achievement in the same areas (Scouts, sports, academics).

Goldenlion, thanks he'll be comforted to hear that he is not the only one.

BTW, my wife just forwarded me an e-mail from his AO (received today)- The AO addressed two of the issues, the "In Progress" recommendation, and said that DS wasn't on the "list of applicants that were missing items" but forgot to answer question number three...but that might be one of those "stupid questions" that really isn't that important in the big scheme of things.

Thanks again.
 
So as the parent of a great kid who has been immersed in this for months, I ask you all for advice.

If you send me his name and your questions via PM, I can get you answers.
 
Luigi,

We have - several times! Objee has been SO HELPFUL in an extremely frustrating situation. He/she gives the USCGA a very professional face.:thumb:

I was just thinking that Golden Lion may have a similar problem, and this is not the place to discuss it.

Again, Objee could not have been more professional, prompt and reliable.
 
This should not be considered an "extremely frustrating" situation. Admissions officers can't wait on single applicants who have a growing number of questions through out the process.

Think its frustrating now? Imagine when it was all paper-based. Took some time to have statuses change.
 
Thanks LITS,

It is a bit more involved than that...but I understand how just reading the post would give you the impression that DS was just bothering the AO with trivial questions. I agree that "Admissions officers can't wait on single applicants who have a growing number of questions through out the process."

DS was just trying to get a definitive answer that EVERYTHING was in...and Objee was able to provide that answer - and it turned out that everything was NOT in...and that was the problem. The web page indicated that there was some problem, but DS couldn't get an answer as to what it was... and he was having difficulty getting to someone who could find out for him.

It would be inappropriate to discuss the problem here, but it was not just a trivial question...it was a legitimate question about whether the file was complete or not...and consequently whether or not DS was being considered as an applicant or not.

Thanks again Objee.:thumb:
 
Oh ok, I see.

Tell you what can get fun.... back and forth with DODMERB! BLAH! Hated that. Talk about a roller coaster. :eek:
 
DS was just trying to get a definitive answer that EVERYTHING was in...and Objee was able to provide that answer - and it turned out that everything was NOT in...and that was the problem. The web page indicated that there was some problem, but DS couldn't get an answer as to what it was... and he was having difficulty getting to someone who could find out for him.

That is frustrating. My son did not experience this with USCGA but did with USAFA. Hard to take care of the problem when you don't know what it is.
 
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