DoctorTruth61

Review of UMass Boston

When I applied for the Spanish/English translation...

When I applied for the Spanish/English translation program I was told that I should wait for the entrance exam results before enrolling in the University and I was informed I would receive a pass/fail grade of that exam in approximately 3 weeks. Although the enrollment deadline would have been the 15June for transfer students, the entrance exam wasn t made available until 22June and I completed it on the 23June. The exam consisted of 3 parts via an online platform; a resume, a translation and an essay. I saw that my resume was graded very promptly and given a mediocre grade of 75% as I waited to see the grades of the other parts of the entrance exam. As I continued to check the online system their was no evidence the other portions were graded and I inquired to the University about a month later. I was told by the dept. that they would look into it and I would hear something back, which I never did.

As the beginning of the program was near I sent another email this time to the director inquiring toward the end of August after I noticed that I no longer had access to the online platform. I received a reply on the 26th of August finally telling me that I didn t qualify for the program and that I was previously sent a message in regard, that I apparently never received. I expressed my concern that the results were based on only my resume because I never saw or heard any evidence that my translations nor essay were ever looked at. It seemed to me that current students were the target participants since the entrance exams weren t given until after the transfer student enrollment deadline.

I was later told that all three parts of the exam are graded at the same time, that I met all of the certain traits they look for in students and my results were based on my translations; this raised the question of why my resume grade was mediocre and no other parts of the exam showed as being graded. After further inquiry, the University was either unwilling or unable to provide the pass/fail score I was originally told I would receive nor able to tell me exactly when or to which e-mail address their original message was sent to; a message that cannot seem to be reproduced. Furthermore, When I finally received information that I didn t qualify for the program it would not have been possible for me to enroll as I had already missed the enrollment deadline.

The circumstances surrounding my application and entrance exam seem questionable at best. Furthermore, I could have used the 2 months that I was waiting to hear from the UMB to search for other programs which was crippling to my academic endeavors. I find it very hard to believe that my translations were ever graded considering I had checked the online platform where I never saw the message that I am skeptical was ever sent, nor was there ever a grade entered for my translations or essay, only my resume was scored. I don t believe I was ever given a fair chance to participate in the program and the university seemed disinterested in my valid concerns.