We Can't Do That

Last Friday, I thought I was all on schedule for applying with early action to the University of Chicago. Then, I noticed an old paper in a stack on my desk. I glanced at it, and saw to my horror that I was supposed to have turned in a request for senior packet form (the senior packet is the transcript plus a lot of unnecessary stuff), along with an unusually shaped envelope, three dollars, and a secondary school report form, to the records office two weeks before the application deadline. That was the previous Friday! Well, there was nothing that I could do at that point, but prepare all of those things (it was not easy to find the kind of envelope that they asked for) and bring them in on Monday. This morning before school started, I walked into the records office with my forms and envelope and money, and asked the woman behind the desk if they could process my request for senior packet in less than one week. I told her that it was due on October 17.

She was shocked. "No, we can't do that," she replied with a look of disgust. I persisted, and she asked me whether I had given my other things to my counselor, such as my senior information sheet. I told her that I had, and she said that she could say that there was a rush, but that it was nevertheless impossible to process my forms with such little notice. In the end, she asked for my form, which I handed to her.

"Wait," she said, "this says that the deadline is November 1."

"Yes," I responded. "But the deadline for the records office was two weeks earlier than the college deadline."

"Oh," she said, "I thought you meant that the college deadline was October 17. That's no problem. By all means, we can process your forms." So my strange encounter ended in relief.


-Philip