I am absolutely livid right now, but I'm trying to keep my cool. My application got both 'waitlisted' and marked as 'incomplete' at a university I really wanted to attend. Keeping in mind for this specific program (2D animation), there's only really 2 choices in Canada that lead to both quality education and good job prospects. And I don't have the sort of financial safety net to afford the insane amount of debt the 4 year school would accrue, so my option is limited to just one. The other schools are private institutions that accept anyone despite making smoke and mirrors about portfolio based acceptance.
From day 1 talking to the admissions department of this uni has been an absolute headache to navigate. They never understand my question, and every time they tried to stonewall me by saying that if I didn't have highschool graduation, I couldn't apply for the program. I emailed the animation department myself before I applied and confirmed with them that a GED transcript is fine. So since Nov last year I was busting my ass studying for my GED exams and graduated in Jan, put a portfolio together and applied to the uni. Since then I was waiting to just hear back for either acceptance or denial, and my anxiety was spiking through the roof when I had heard people had been accepted 2 weeks ago and I still hadn't had a lick of info.
Well, curiosity eventually got the better of me and I figured to try and call up their IT department to ask if I was ever supposed to have a student account since I never had an email for that to be set up. He said yes, set a password for me so I could log in and I find out this entire time my application is sitting in limbo mode where the animation department had apparently waitlisted me but the admissions department was claiming they had never recieved my immigration documents (they were attached in a PDF file, I couldn't have physically sent them my application without enclosing those docs) and also claiming they didn't have my highschool graduation transcripts received... when they had received my GED transcripts. And for any of this, not once was I ever contacted for any sort of notification that these items were "missing".
I had to ask them to look at my application to confirm my documents were there and they removed the requirements for my HS grad. Which is absolutely insane, since that was 12 years ago now and I had an equivalency diploma from this year. The admissions department has a 1 star review on google and multiple people complaining about them. I don't know what their goddamn fascination is with treating animation like you're going to an engineering school but holy shit, I think it cost me an acceptance.
The registration office is useless Everytime I come in there for help they either don't know anything or force me to set an appointment with someone else. I don't why that office exists because they can't answer any questions and won't let me finish any of my sentences. After a year I've learned that this place will literraly solve zero problems you are facing with your program unless you make an appointment and if you don't they will just show you the website which in most cases does absolutely nothing. - Google review
I'm just going to go bury myself with studies and move forward knowing that if I ever have to send this office anything, they need to be babysat for it.