MONDAY MOURNINGS
Welcome back counselors AND ambassadors. And let’s give a shout out to all the ambassadors who haven’t jumped ship to the ambassador only Tumblr. Way to be cool, peeps.
Here’s a great story from a loyal Facebook fan. A little long but so worth the read.
Preface: I work at a Catholic university.
One Friday afternoon I was sitting at my desk and I received a phone call from a prospective student who was interested in my school and decided that she wants to get admitted and registered within the next week (aren’t those the best ones?). Upon talking to the student I learned that she wants to go into the science fields, which just happen to be my school’s specialty. She explains that she has been looking for strong science schools since the fall and recently decided it was time to make her decision. We proceeded to talk about the science programs, the clubs she could be a part of, and the requirements for getting in. After about 25 on the phone with the student, she thanked me for my help and said she looks forward to meeting me in the next week. I put the phone down and smiled triumphantly as I had secured another student before the May 1st deadline.
Then the fun began….
Not even 30 seconds after hanging up with the student, I get a call back from that same number. I answered with some witty remark about her forgetting to ask a question, when all I hear is “Yes, this is Jane’s mother. How dare you go behind my back in talking to my daughter about your school.” Naturally I was pretty stunned, but this being Admissions I’m able to shake it off and move on. I apologized (not really sure for what) and explained to the mother that Jane had contacted me and I was just doing my job to fill her in on what the school had to offer. This mother was very no-nonsense and asked pretty blunt questions about the school. No topic remained untouched; dorm life, student life, parties, clubs, parking, employment, academics, we literally covered it all. After literally 56 min on the phone with this mom, she finally starts to wrap up her conversation (I think she had to go light up a cigarette because her smoker’s cough was becoming pretty unbearable). This is the end of our conversation, and yes it’s pretty much verbatim:
Mother: “Well just so you know it’s between your school and JuCo.”
Me: “Oh well we’d love to have Jane here and we’ll do our best to make it a good fit. Also, what JuCo is she looking at?”
Mother: “What do you mean what JuCo is she looking at? It’s JuCo! There is only one! Oh nevermind, you’re from the north, you don’t understand us hillbillies.”
Me (baffled): “Oh…well, again we’ll do our best to get her registered here.”
Mother: “Thank you very much for your help. You’ve been very helpful and knowledgeable about your school. You’re the best car salesman I’ve ever spoken to. And I’ve bought a lot of cars in my time.”
Me: “Thank you?”
Mother: “One last thing, you didn’t lie to us at all about your programs did you?”
Me: “No I did not lie. The information I gave you is the best to my knowledge.” (although I may have stretched the truth a little)
Mother: “Well good, because if you lied to us…well let’s just say I have this little doll and I’ll stick pins in it if you lied to us. Do you know what that is called?”
Me (again, pretty freaking baffled): “Umm…a voodoo doll?”
Mother: “Yes, a voodoo doll and I bet your school doesn’t teach voodoo does it?”
Me: “No mam, we do not.”
(Mom hangs up)
So as you guessed, I was pretty stunned when that phone call abruptly ended. The student ended up coming out to campus a few times, but ultimately did not end up registering for classes because one week after our phone call she decided she wanted to major in culinary. And yes, during the week after her decision, I had a pretty bad pain in my side.
So many comments.
(a) We’ve never had to deal with a crazy voodoo mom, but are you really supposed to tell people if and when you decide to practice voodoo on them? Isn’t that like telling someone you’re going to stalk them (therefore rendering it useless and futile)? But you did feel a pain in your side, so… Also, if there is an institution out there with voodoo studies, please let us know.
(b) Collegiate-level Sciences to Culinary. Enough said.
(c) The simple fact that the mom called herself a hillbilly is indication enough that this wouldn’t end well. Unfortunately, that was after 56 minutes. Damn.
Great story, counselor. Hope you’ve recovered from all mysterious ailments. And thanks for sharing your story.
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yoknapatawphagentleman likes this
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admissionsproblems posted this
