Have anyone ever been denied admission to a program and appealed?

U.S.A. Florida

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Have anyone ever been denied acceptance into a program and appealed? My friend applied to a university, has a gpa of 3.65 program gpa, an advanced degree, additional pre-reqs and was denied. Here are the quick facts, she emailed the nursing admin co-ordinator who is in charge of compiling the applications several days before the deadline inquiring whether her transcripts were received/paperwork- she emailed her sevral times a few days after she turned in her packet.

This is the only method of contact as you cannot see the person or call them. My friend emailed this person multiple times and never received an answer. The school also sent my friend an email that her file was complete 3mths after the deadline. They claimed that they also sent a follow up one several hours later stating that it was an error. The thing is at this university, you can not talk to anyone face to face or talk to anyone on the phone. youhave to mail everything or drop in a box or email.

I told her to continue to push the issue because they should have answered her email to let her know that this one paper was missing and that they are not following their own appeal process which speaks to school error and extenuating circumstances.

Bottom line, she got an appeals denial-with no reason given. She has asked them to explain the reason and is trying to get someone to explain to her what the reason is. The transcript was not a college transcript. There is more to the story re counselor retalitation etc but i don't want to go into all of that. It has been very hard for her to get anyone to respond to her at all.

Can you guys give my friend any advice or have any of you been in the same situation? So far, there is a spirit of cover up, it's been hard for her to get any responses, the college is not admitting any wrong doing or responsibility for not answering the emails.

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Specializes in Tele.

wow!

that is terrible that this university is doing that to her.

if everything is done by e-mail & you don't have a one-on-one conversation with a person maybe this school is not legit.

If I was in the situation, i would apply to every community college I could, or a private university-- that has a campus with ppl i could speak to.

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the university is legit and accredited by their communication system is horrible. The only way that one can check on anything related to your application is by email to this person. The thing for her is that in her area it is almost impossible to get into another program and to reapply would be another year waste.

She has been advised to keep fighting as the college should be accountable for non-response which clearly impacted her. I told her i don't understand nursing schools or nursing departments, they seem to operate under their own rules or they make them up.

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Well, three thoughts spring to mind immediately --

1) Nursing programs are incredibly competitive these days, purely because of the huge number of people trying to get into nursing. Schools are forced to be incredibly picky. Frankly, applicants with your friend's profile are common and they can't all get accepted. You'd be amazed at the people who aren't getting into nursing programs.

2) Is there really any future in trying to force a school that doesn't want you to accept you? You're certainly going to be starting off on the wrong foot, and will probably be under extra scrutiny and "behind the eight ball" for the entire program.

3) If the nursing application/admissions process is this poorly organized and administered, the nursing program itself probably is, too. Maybe your friend's denial is a blessing in disguise, and she would end up regretting it if she did get in. If it were me, I would take the experience you describe as a strong indication that I don't want to have anything further to do with these people, and move on. It's a big world out there, and there are lots of other nursing programs ... :)

Best wishes to your friend!

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Best Wishes to your friend. But, I'm affraid her GPA probably wasn't high enough. The cutoff at MDC this last semester was 3.85. I know this for a fact b/c I am friends w/ one of the Professors.

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Specializes in Tele.
Well, three thoughts spring to mind immediately --

1) Nursing programs are incredibly competitive these days, purely because of the huge number of people trying to get into nursing. Schools are forced to be incredibly picky. Frankly, applicants with your friend's profile are common and they can't all get accepted. You'd be amazed at the people who aren't getting into nursing programs.

2) Is there really any future in trying to force a school that doesn't want you to accept you? You're certainly going to be starting off on the wrong foot, and will probably be under extra scrutiny and "behind the eight ball" for the entire program.

3) If the nursing application/admissions process is this poorly organized and administered, the nursing program itself probably is, too. Maybe your friend's denial is a blessing in disguise, and she would end up regretting it if she did get in. If it were me, I would take the experience you describe as a strong indication that I don't want to have anything further to do with these people, and move on. It's a big world out there, and there are lots of other nursing programs ... :)

Best wishes to your friend!

I agree! I was denied at MDC five times, and ended up completing RN program at BC.

if your friend lives in miami area, maybe she should try BC.

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Someone I knew was told that they missed the deadline with a missing transcript. When they went to the office in person, the transcript was the first document found in their folder. Nothing could be done. They went elsewhere.

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Specializes in Tele.

I would go else-where instead of fighting a school where i am only able to communicate by e-mail.

there are many schools in miami-- mdc, barry, fiu, keiser, nova su (now in kendall), city college, bc to name a few, those schools you can go see a person, not wait for e-mails.

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well my friend definitely had the gpa, the gpa was almost 3pts higher than the floor acceptance gpa so that was not the issue- the problem in her arear is that the surround counties won' t accept an applicant unless they live or work in the area, colleges in south florida are out of the question, some of the other universities gpas are ridiculous and the other schools would put her one year from getting into a program.

I advised her to fight as that is what an appeal process is- i can not get over these health schools, it's like they are playing gods.

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Someone I knew was told that they missed the deadline with a missing transcript. When they went to the office in person, the transcript was the first document found in their folder. Nothing could be done. They went elsewhere.

most schools at least public schools have appeals process and if it is a school error, your friend would have gotten in if she had fought. The problem is most people give up and don't fight or don't put in the time to read the school's policies. That sucks for your friend. I hope that things worked out for her.

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well my friend definitely had the gpa, the gpa was almost 3pts higher than the floor acceptance gpa so that was not the issue-

But the catch is that nursing programs are so competitive these days that, even if the published minimum GPA to be eligible is, let's say, 3.0, the schools have so many applicants with higher GPAs that nobody with a 3.0 actually gets in. There are plenty of schools where a 3.65 GPA would not be considered competitive. In the last BSN program in which I taught, the published minimum GPA to apply was 2.0 -- but the school administration was v. proud of the fact that none of the nursing students had less than a 3.6 GPA coming in. And I can pretty much guarantee you that, with the number of highly qualified applicants we got, they probably turned away as many "3.6 people" as they admitted. Nobody with anything less than a 3.6 had even a possibility of getting in, despite the published minimum (and this was not a particularly distinguished or prestigious program -- just an average, run-of-the-mill state U).

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But the catch is that nursing programs are so competitive these days that, even if the published minimum GPA to be eligible is, let's say, 3.0, the schools have so many applicants with higher GPAs that nobody with a 3.0 actually gets in. There are plenty of schools where a 3.65 GPA would not be considered competitive. In the last BSN program in which I taught, the published minimum GPA to apply was 2.0 -- but the school administration was v. proud of the fact that none of the nursing students had less than a 3.6 GPA coming in. And I can pretty much guarantee you that, with the number of highly qualified applicants we got, they probably turned away as many "3.6 people" as they admitted. Nobody with anything less than a 3.6 had even a possibility of getting in, despite the published minimum (and this was not a particularly distinguished or prestigious program -- just an average, run-of-the-mill state U).

I understand what you are saying but the school had a published 2.5 gpa to apply, for the class that she applied for, the lowest gpa that they accepted was either 3.3 or 3.4, my friend's gpa was right around 3.6. what I am trying to say is that her gpa was even higher than the lowest gpa that they ACCEPTED into the program so gpa was not her issue.

Regarding the school that you taught, that is pretty much the expectation at most universities now, especially public ones....shame but so few sits with so many applying.

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