Canadian vs American approach

[hippie]

I know that how nice the admissions office personnel have no effect on someone's chances of being accepted or not. But still I want to vent my frustration with a particular Canadian University which is my own, the University of Ottawa.

 

I emailed one of the American universities to ask if my ties to that state give me some advantage in the admission process. The reply I got was that the dean would be more than happy to discuss this with me if I take an appointment and call him.

 

At the same time I have tried 3 times to meet the dean of admissions at UO to ask how to improve my chances of getting an interview given that I meet the cutoff. My request was refused ( Even that I personally know someone who managed to get to meet him and later got accepted) and the last email I received from them was so rude it said :" Mr. _____, I would like to inform you that there is nothing you can do to improve your chances of getting an interview...."

[Madz25]

yeah..you get the same feeling during interviews. at US schools they treat you so well because they WANT you to pick their school. your day is planned out and everything is so organized (and food!!!). in canada, the attitude is more like "consider yourself lucky that you even got an interview" and the atmosphere tends to be less friendly (not to say that it's completely unfriendly!). anyway, that was my experience throughout the process...

[bane]

hey hippie!! I also went/go to uOttawa. They must have the ****.tiest admin in the country. God, if anyone wants to feel neglected, come to uO.

 

It pisses me off that the admin have jobs to serve the students, and they dont care about them in the least. The way I see it, i'm their bloody employer, paying tuition and all.

 

Oh, and if you cant speak French, they'll lie to you to get you out of their office faster. Worst admin I tell you. Whether the Med schools is as bad, I dont know, but I bet its nothing peachy.

[SSudS]

Wow, It sounds like the two of you went to a very different university than I had. I graduated from UO in 2003 in Engineering (SITE), and for my part, I can say that the administration and dean's office were nothing but helpful during my time there - including going to bat for me with Carleton so I could take a tranfer course there, and for assisting me in selecting the appropriate courses so that I could graduate sooner (I was on the fence between years when requirements were changing for the class coming in). Every email I sent was answered promptly and pleasantly - had to be one of the best post secondary experiences I can think of (including my wife's and between the two of us, we have been at 4 different universities/colleges). Oh to top it off, I'm an albertan through and through and can hardley speak any French - where would I use it here?

[hippie]

Wow, It sounds like the two of you went to a very different university than I had. I graduated from UO in 2003 in Engineering (SITE), and for my part, I can say that the administration and dean's office were nothing but helpful during my time there - including going to bat for me with Carleton so I could take a tranfer course there, and for assisting me in selecting the appropriate courses so that I could graduate sooner (I was on the fence between years when requirements were changing for the class coming in). Every email I sent was answered promptly and pleasantly - had to be one of the best post secondary experiences I can think of (including my wife's and between the two of us, we have been at 4 different universities/colleges). Oh to top it off, I'm an albertan through and through and can hardley speak any French - where would I use it here?

 

Some people are nice others are not, that is a fact of life.

I have no problem with individuals, my particular problem is with the approach, I don' understand why I can't see a dean in my own school, while a dean in a different country offers me to talk to him.