Study abroad rant!

If you're not accepted into UCL because you're not qualified, and Edinburgh doesn't offer the equivalent classes, I would formally complain to the office at ASU to get your money back. Or ask if you can use that money towards your application fee in your junior year.

I'm thinking that is exactly what I will do. I just got a call back from my ASU adviser and he said he was "surprised" to hear about my problem with UCL. I had an extremely hard time not exploding at him on the phone. He should have known that I was not academically qualified. Even if it was a GPA issue, which it's not, they would have denied my application or just told me flat out not to apply at all. Now I'm being told that he is "surprised" by learning I'm not qualified?! This is completely ridiculous!

he is "surprised" by learning I'm not qualified?!

Uh, hello!? That's your JOB!!! I'm sure his boss won't be too happy to hear from you....

Uh, hello!? That's your JOB!!! I'm sure his boss won't be too happy to hear from you....

Oh no kidding. And you know what's the icing on the cake? I just found out that he's a NEW GUY! This is his first semester doing this, and he was being trained by the other guy who used to do his position and may already be gone. Fanfreakingtastic!

Boy will THAT be a great conversation when I call them.
 

If you're not accepted into UCL because you're not qualified, and Edinburgh doesn't offer the equivalent classes, I would formally complain to the office at ASU to get your money back. Or ask if you can use that money towards your application fee in your junior year. They shouldn't have allowed you to apply if they knew you wouldn't be qualified.

I agree.

It's so stupid that they didn't say anything to you at all about the requirements for acceptance. I imagine that most UK universities will have the same restriction on sophomores being accepted because they need be able to match your abilities with suitable classes for you - you would probably be put into a particular year of study and have to take the classes provided for that year, rather than picking and choosing from different years.

Well for now, I won't be able to find anything out until tomorrow because UCL and Butler are now closed because of time zone differences. I really have no doubt that I won't be going to UCL under any circumstances no matter what he finds out. What's funny is that I did mark on my Butler application that my academic status would be a sophomore when I would be attending UCL but they still had me fill out more paperwork after they received the initial stuff. So now I'm angry at both, especially when the UCL Butler person said UofE might not take me either, and the UofE person goes ahead and sends a verbatim same email asking me to fill out more paperwork without even saying anything about whether I qualify or not. This is damn ridiculous. I don't blame UCL at all in this, and I understand why they wouldn't want to take sophomores now that you've explained it some, but I'm still angry at both ASU and IFSA Butler.

Have you spoken to UCL personally about the possibility of study abroad there?

Maybe you should call their study abroad office tomorrow and ask them explicitly if they accept sophomores... and you could call UofE as well. That way you wouldn't have to go through several people to get your answer and the people in the study abroad office are likely to know what they're talking about.

Have you spoken to UCL personally about the possibility of study abroad there?

Maybe you should call their study abroad office tomorrow and ask them explicitly if they accept sophomores... and you could call UofE as well. That way you wouldn't have to go through several people to get your answer and the people in the study abroad office are likely to know what they're talking about.

Probably not a bad idea. I have not spoken to anyone at UCL or UofE because I've mostly been going through ASU and Butler. I am worried about how much it will cost me to call though! Yikes!

It shouldn't be too expensive...although I guess that depends on your telephone provider. You could buy an international calling card and call the UK for only a few cents per minute (AT&T cards are the most expensive at 20 cents per min).

I'm really sorry to hear about your troubles!  I hope they all get sorted out soon.  If you don't get to study abroad, I'd definitely complain!  It's horrible you are having to go through this!  ((((hugs))))

I'm really sorry to hear about your troubles!  I hope they all get sorted out soon.  If you don't get to study abroad, I'd definitely complain!  It's horrible you are having to go through this!  ((((hugs))))

Thanks... I think I just need to go home and have a good cry. Maybe I'll find more out tomorrow. Right now I'm stuck in the middle with no information at all and it makes me feel so helpless. I've jumped through every hoop they told me to and now I'm not qualified and they should have KNOWN that! I wish I could throw cyber rocks at them. 


ETA: I've had a thorough look over the UofE website and can't find any info about what level (Sophomore, Junior, Senior, etc) you have to be in order to be eligible to apply. It's either hidden somewhere I didn't see or it's not posted. They do say they have a "freshman" program for recently graduating seniors from HS, so maybe they are more open to accepting lower level students. Who knows? I guess I'll find out more tomorrow.

Hey, just wanted to let you know - I'm looking into doing conservation at UCL as well (they really are one of the top in the world for that, I can see why you wouldn't want to give up on them) but for my Masters.  Anyway, I'm in London now and I've been calling for some information on my situation so if you want, I can call for info on yours as well if you don't want to pay international fees.  I'm sure you want to speak to them personally but if you can't find a way to do it, just let me know specifically what you need to know and I'll find out what I can

So yesterday I noted that I was passed off from the third party (Butler) UCL coordinator (because I absolutely 100% don't qualify and won't be accepted there) to the University of Edinburgh coordinator. She send me a word-for-word email that was a duplicate of the one the UCL coordinator sent me asking me to fill out more paperwork, without even telling me if she knew if I was qualified academically or not. In fact, it looked like she didn't even check because it was so close to the end of the day. I would have rather received a "Hi! I have your info, I will be emailing you tomorrow with more details on what I discover" but instead I got a lazy email asking me to fill out more paperwork without knowing if it was even worth it or not.

She emailed back this morning:

Hi Rebecca,
 
It may be best to discuss your application over the phone as there are other universities that will be possible, however it will depend on what and where you would like to study.
 
Please call me at your earliest convenience at 1800-xxx-xxxx.
 
Have a good day,

XXX

To me, that pretty much implies that I can't get into UofE either and she's now trying to fit me in to whatever random place will take me. I'm angry and I'm not going to stand for that. Depending on what I hear from the ASU adviser today, I'm asking for my $350 deposit to be returned and I'll inform them that maybe I'll try next year.

Maybe I should rename this thread to "Roller Coaster of Doom!!!!"

They're JUST NOW telling me that I should have sent, all along, my transcripts for my associate degree.  ASU said not to send them because they're not accredited the correct way, but Butler is now saying if I send them, UCL will see me as a junior at the very least.  This means now that the only thing I have to worry about is UCL's History of Art department not thinking I have enough "history of art" classes under my belt to be eligible, even though with my transcript I would have 3 total. We'll see.
 


So there's still a chance. A small one, but still one is there.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm so tired of this and just want it to be over already!!!

ETA: Now that I'm looking at these transcripts (I got an unofficial copy for myself to look at also), I'm thinking that a lot of these classes might be borderline art history/theory classes in their eyes.

Examples:

Color Theory, Traditional Typography, Graphic Symbolism, Analysis of Form, Visual Indication, Art History (obviously), then a very generic one called Humanities.

Maybe I will get lucky. Those titles do sound like they could be related to art history in terms of theory type classes.

Here's hoping you get in!  I have my fingers crossed for you! 

Here's hoping you get in!  I have my fingers crossed for you! 

Thank you! I think it will be another 3 weeks or so before they give me a yes or no! I hate the waiting