I have applied to the Teaching of Writing graduate program at the University of Colorado at Denver twice and been rejected twice. I feel it necessary to share the negative experiences I had.
Elaine Beemer, the department secretary, has been unprofessional every time I have been in contact with her. The first time I applied, my application was transferred from the Humanities Department. The Humanities Department delivered the application through the campus mail; however, according to Elaine, it never arrived at the English Department. I contacted the Humanities Department to confirm they had transferred the application, the application was sent. The Humanities Department, then, walked a copy of the application to the English Department in order to hand deliver the application to Elaine.
Recently, I have been waiting to hear about my second application, I received a message on my phone from Elaine informing me that my application was refused AGAIN and I will receive a letter in the mail. This is not the appropriate way to do this! I received a letter in the mail about my first application and was expecting the same for my second application. Elaine's message was one of the worst, most unprofessional acts I have every experienced. I feel she is a bad representative of the English Department.
I spent months researching different masters programs for English composition. I think this program was one of the best ones I found. I took a few classes, two teachers, Dr. Ying and Dr. VanDeWeghe, provided a preview of how challenging and rewarding the program would be. However, the application process and the people involved in it prove to be unprofessional and difficult.
I received a letter of rejection for my first application. I phoned Nancy Ciccone to speak with her about why my application was refused. She put me on hold for at least 5 minutes. She did not actually have my application in front of her and fumbled through explaining why it was refused. She gave no additional information how to improve my chances of being accepted. My dream was to be a college professor teaching composition at the community college level. I could not give up that dream after only one try.
The second application surprisingly was received without incident because I contacted Nancy Ciccone directly and unfortunately was replied to by Elaine Beemer. I never received the post cards sent with the application to show me everything was in order. This is not a model of excellence for your customer service aspect of your business.
I attempted to contact Bradford Mudge, who evaluates the applications; he failed to return phone calls and emails in a timely fashion. Yet again, the responses to my questions provided no assistance or guidance. If I am not mistaken, he does not teach any of the classes required for this program, correct? He does not know the students as future teaches, he only evaluates them by numbers and paperwork. Your application process disappoints me because the people who choose which students are admitted do not get to know the students in the classroom and therefore cannot assess if the student will be an asset to the title of teacher rather than a liability.
I do have a few suggestions for you in the hope that some action is taken before a good program with a few great teachers dissolves. I would like to see a committee evaluate the applications, a committee made up of teachers who actually know and teach the students applying to the program, and add an interview allowing the members to get to know the students.
When it comes down to it, you are a business. I work for a company that demands its customers experience our world class customer service. Your department has failed me as a customer. I will not recommend the University of Colorado to anyone; instead, I will inform them of my negative experiences.
The only response I recieved from them was a "poor me" list of excuses blaming lack of staff, lack of funding, and a 52% increase in student population.
My suggestion go to Metro instead, they are more interested in getting a student their desired degree rather than pretending to be the "Yale" of the downtown campus.
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