Did he blow it?

kpwehope

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
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Aug 7, 2008
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Last night at about 9:00 the phone rang, they asked for my son, he was sleeping, so I asked to take a message. They said they were from the Coast Guard Academy, so I woke my son up to take the call. He was groggy and out of it from sleeping (which of course the caller did not know). They asked him a lot of questions about why he wanted to attend the academy, if college was too expensive and is that why he wanted to go to a "free" college, etc. so I was listening to his end of the conversation, and he was not answering very well because he was still half asleep, I am wondering who this was and if my son came off sounding somewhat uninterested, and giving not very thought out answers is this going to hurt his chances? Now we are all in a panic, I should have taken a message and he could have called back when he was a little more with it. Anybody else get a call like this? HELP!
 
Did the caller not identify himself/herself to you? :confused:

Is there a Caller ID record on the phone that you can call back?

Academy Admissions Partners (the CGA's version of the BGO/ALO/MALO) are trained to interview candidates and do so when the Academy has a candidate in their area who is ready. Interviews are NOT mandatory, however the USCGA is hoping to interview as many candidates as they can. In some cases, the AAP can interview a candidate before the Admissions Office tells them to.

These interviews take place IN PERSON, not on the phone.

It doesn't sound like an official Admissions Interview, although a local AAP may have been the one calling you. (not very professional, IMHO)

If it was an AAP who called, they will submit an Interview Evaluation Report to the Admissions Office.

You can check with your Academy Admissions Officer at the USCGA (800-883-USCG) to see if anything has been submitted.

USCGA Admissions Officer Contact
 
if college was too expensive and is that why he wanted to go to a "free" college
seriously?

The phone call sounds bizarre for any school. Definitely have your son call the academy admissions.
 
I found the whole thing to be so strange, I didn't know what to make of it. It was a girl who sounded young (maybe 20?) The caller ID had and 800 # and "unavailable" for the name. I thought a 9:00 pm phone call was also rather strange. I will have my son call admissions and see what he can find out. I will also call the number back and see what I get. Thanks guys!
 
I got a call too, they asked strange questions that I kinda blew off cause im not really to interested in USCGA
 
I would say blowing off questions would be a good way to show that you have no interest in the Coast Guard Academy...
 
HEHEHE! :D it wasn't really blowing off, they were really weird questions that seemed very irelavent.
 
I called back the number that was on my caller ID and it turns out it is a fundraising/promotions firm that is in no way connected to the USCGA. What I relief!!
 
USCGA is my son's #1 choice and he has gotten several calls lately

from what I supposed were upper classmen calling seniors who showed some interest in the Academy.

I remember making similar calls when I was in college, although they were to alumni to ask for money.

Anyway, it took several calls before they reached my son at home and all they seemed to ask was if he was interested, where USCGA was in his "list" of preferred schools, and if he had any questions.

I really believed it was an upperclassman calling from some sort of phone bank at the Academy.
 
I have not heard of upperclassmen calling...but that doesn't mean things haven't changed at all.
 
If some fund raising firm is making those types of calls saying they are calling from the Coast Guard Academy and then later tell you they are not, I would certainly report them to the Coast Guard Academy (you said you had their phone #) so they can look into it and perhaps put a stop to their deceptive practices.

No phone solicitor should be falsely claiming to be a representative of an Academy in an effort to conduct surveys, solicit money, etc.
 
It was NOT an upperclassman making calls from the academy, when I called the phone number back it was answered by a machine that said it was "XYZ" company and they do fundraising for colleges. I am going to call the academy on Monday and report the incident, because I felt it was more than a little strange and I think they should know what is going on.
 
kpwehope, i also revieced a call similar to this, but when i called the number back it sent me straight to an answering machine. It was not the academy, but a survey group asking questions. I hope that helps you out.
 
I got the same call about a week or two ago and found it funny that they wanted to know my cell number; as others have said it's not the actual academy. Just in case though, I did answer the questions politely.

Thanks,
David
 
Admissions office told me they didn't have any knowledge of, or given any permission for these calls. They are some kind of outside survey company.
 
Hmmmm, that concerns me. We received no less than 3 calls from someone

identifying themselves as "from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy" and asking to speak to my son. At the 3rd call, my daughter said "call back at this time" and they did. He made certain to be here for the call, all the while thinking it was a legitimate call from the Academy.

I'll ask him if he can remember EXACTLY the questions the caller asked.

I wonder why in the world this is going on?
 
I got this email yesterday:
From:CAPT. Susan Bibeau, USCG <susan.d.bibeau@> (emails clipped)
Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 13:48
Reply-To: kim@
To: <me>

Dear Cole

In order to better serve aplicants to the United States Coast Guard Academy, the Academy is reviewing its marketing and admissions recruiting programs. As part of this project, we are conducting a survey of students who have applied for admission to the Academy.

This survey will take approximately 5 minutes of your time. Paskill Stapleton & Lord of Springfield, Massachusetts, an educational marketing and enrollment management firm, has been retained by the Academy to conduct this survey. Your reply is important to the validity of this survey. Please be candid in your answers. You may access the survey by clicking on the link below.

In appreciation for your assistance with this important survey, you will have the opportunity to enter into a drawing for a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate after you have completed the survey

Once again, we appreciate your interest, time, and help with this important survey.

Sincerely,
Captain Susan Bibeau, USCG
Director of Admissions
United States Coast Guard Academy

Looking through their website, Paskill Stapleton & Lord does actually do a fair amount of work for not just CGA, but all the academies. Apparently the video about the 5 academies that gets shown at Congressional academy fairs is their work. Their website says that they've been working with CGA since 2004 evaluating their marketing and outreach programs. A lot of the questions on the survey were similar or identical to the questions people got asked on the phone. Is this possibly related / the same thing?
 
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