The Caliber of Higher Education

As I had been mentioning a week or two back, I had a frustrating time with college applications. The whole on-line deal was just too much for me -- and I'm a person who spends too much time on-line as it is! So what is a girl to do but to e-mail the place and ask? Yes, a sane, reasonable person, would stop and ask and get some directions before going off on tangents. Or so it seemed. Here is what I wrote to the admissions office at a certain California State University in Los Angeles (I hope you got that):

From: Haemi
Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 3:49 PM
To: Admission's office@a CSU in LA
Subject: Re: California State University, Los Angeles JC

Hi. I received an e-mail after I had submitted my application on-line saying:

"This e-mail acknowledges that we have received your application to California State University, Los Angeles. You can expect to receive a second communication from us through the mail within the next few weeks."

Is this second communication going to tell me how to send the transcripts? I believe the deadline for applications to the winter semester at CSULA is 9/1/04 -- do I need to submit my transcripts before that time, or wait until the "second communication" arrives?

Thank you for your time.

Haemi

Sure, this wasn't in a top form of an e-mail. It sounded plain and without ruffles. But it was straight-forward, no nonsense, no frills. Just a simple question that depicted my dilemma precisely. The response is what made me nearly pass out. Here it goes:

From: Admission
To: Haemi
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 13:01:54 -0700
Subject: California State University, Los Angeles OA-34

I could send in already your transcripts to us if u have them already.

And folks, that is all it said. It did not say who wrote the damned thing. The only thing that is obviously to me is that someone wasn't doing their job, or that someone was chasing the dragon while writing e-mails to desperate students. What does that sentence mean? Is it really appropriate that one of the largest universities in the state would write to a prospective student with the letter "u" to stand for the word, "you" as though he/she were chatting with a homie (is that the correct spelling of the singular term?) from their 'hood?

If this is what happened to education in California, I want no part of it. I may have to inquire outside the state! Sheesh. That one e-mail dissolved all my faith in public education.