West Virginia University is a DISASTER!!Financial Mismanagement, Zero Transparency and an Arrogant Attitude, story of how they SCREWED me over!

I have always believed in the value of a good education. Sure, with advancing technology, especially AI, the conversation always revolves around, "Are Universities redundant?"...Perhaps some vocational skills could now be done using advanced robotics but the arts, sciences, will always need humans and their unique cerebral minds. I also strongly believe that education is the greatest leveler and a good degree is the best possible way to climb up the social and economic ladder. I know people like to give examples of Billionaire Harvard Dropouts like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, but it would be wise to note that there are richer billionaires like Bezos and Musk who graduated with Electrical engineering and computer science degrees from Princeton and Economics and Physics degrees from Wharton respectively.

As child my interest ranged from Politics to Medicine to Business to everything in between. I was fascinated by arts, history, fashion, cinema, literature, music, geography, astronomy, physics, you name it, it enamored me. I would spend hours daily vociferously reading up on any of these topics and when the time for my formal education came, I decided to do my bachelors in Dentistry and Masters in Business administration. I had a BDS, MBA but my insatiable curiosity and academic rigor felt unsatisfied. In 2020, the COVID pandemic hit and the world turned topsy-turvy and I decided its now or ever if I wanted to plunge back into the realm of academics and pursuing PhD in political science felt like the perfect capstone.

I did my MBA from Saint Leo University in Florida. I initially thought I would either apply to UF or FSU because of my love for the sunshine state, but I thought I should step out of my comfort zone and learn more about the Appalachian region and their politics. So many industrial areas of the Midwest like Ohio have been decimated and created a unique set of problems that affect life and politics. Higher suicide rates, drug addiction, alcoholism, this vicious cycle seems to have no end. I was keen to study this and have a formal education in politics which underwent these changes and were left behind. I zeroed in on West Virginia University which had a pretty good political department and I applied for PhD in Political Science in October 2020. At that time, I had no idea of the mess that was about to be created. This was the calm before the storm so to speak.

On December 2020, I received an email from the Office of Graduate Admissions of WVU stating that I have been admitted to the PhD Political Science program. I was elated to say the least. Finally my long held dream of a formal education in politics was becoming a reality. A week or two later, Dr. Matthew Jacobsmeier who was the then Director of Graduate studies of the Department of Political Science reached out to me via email apologizing for an error and that I have been admitted to MA in Political Science and not PhD. It was apparently a glitch in the system. I didn't really understand because I had applied for PhD not MA and how I got accepted into that program was a mystery. Whilst it was weird, I didn't think too much about it as I was considering a variety of other universities and would make a decision closer to March regarding which school to finally chose.

By Mid March 2021, I got an email from Dr Matthew again and I quote," Glad to admit you in the PhD program of Political Science with tuition waiver". I emailed him again to confirm if I was admitted to the PhD and he replied in the affirmative. I was ecstatic. This was great news. First I was told, I was admitted to PhD, then I was told it was an error and it was MA and after three months, I was told again that I got into PhD with tuition waiver. Fantastic. Little did I know that my happiness would be short lived and things would start getting murkier. We kept emailing back and forth regarding details of the course and everything seemed to be going smooth until it wasn't.

A week later since I wasn't an American Citizen, I get an email from the Director of Admissions and operations regarding my I-20 Document and it was again mentioned 'Admitted to MA Program', not PhD. At this time I was perplexed and confounded. What the hell is going on? Is it some sick game? I write again to Matthew who profusely apologized for his error and confirmed that he made a mistake and its not PhD, but MA. I was angry, hurt, pissed, annoyed. I didn't know what to feel. At this point in time, I had narrowed down to Appalachia and wanted to see and learn first hand the politics of West Virginia and understand many of the frustrations of people that were left behind. But WVU were playing what I could only describe as Jedi Mind tricks. Totally unprofessional and not a shred of integrity. Little did I know at the time that things would only get worse.

At this time, the deadlines for accepting other PhD programs had passed as my choice was WVU and I was in a real predicament. Should I take this offer of MA or wait for the next cycle of admissions and apply for PhD again? After much thought, against my better judgement I decided to accept the offer of MA Political science from WVU even though they messed up the whole process so much because time was of the essence and I honestly felt it was now or never situation if I ever wanted a formal education in politics. Due to pandemic restrictions and lockdowns, the normal requirement of mailing official transcripts was waived and one was allowed to just send a scanned copy. However, due to COVID-19, the embassies were extremely short staffed and to get interview dates was such a hassle and I got a late date whilst difficult was still in the window to get everything done. It was going to be tight, but I knew I could make it.

In the midst of all this, I get an email that I have to register for courses and must send my official transcript at any cost. This suddenly came out of nowhere and despite great difficulty I managed to, but due to slowdown in global delivery, but document reached WVU two days after the deadline and now I was back to square one. Things seemed getting from bad to worse. I wrote to the Registrar at the time, Aimee Pfeifer requesting an extension and she wrote a lovely and kind email saying SHE WOULD EXTEND THE DATE by a week for me to register the course which would be more than enough. I thanked her profusely thinking finally things are getting on track, but little did I know, misery was lurking in the darkness, waiting to creep on me.

I then email Matthew saying I have been granted an extension and he was skeptical and said it would not work. I could sense a disturbance in the force if you will, that again the cycle of cruel games about to be played and finally the straw that broke the camel's back came in the form of a rude and condescending email from Jessica Deshler who at the time was the Interim Assistant dean for Graduate studies and she bluntly told me, despite whatever the registrar may have said, they won't extend the deadline and that I should defer to 2022. It was written with such ferocious callousness that I decided enough is enough and put a stop to the whole process.

Two years go by and WVU have come in the news again and its all about President Gordon Gee announcing gutting of art programs, entire foreign language courses, doctoral courses in math's and so on, all in the name of budget cuts. I mean, look at the arrogance. He had all the data he needed. Promised to increase enrollment to 40,000 students to make up for the shortfall in budget which never came to pass ( Anyone with an iota of knowledge would realize that enrollment rates were dropping, where did Gordon Gee get such special information) and now in a haste to act, WVU is doing the unthinkable, treating the art programs as disposable. What a travesty. I think the whole institution is rotten and corrupt starting from the Dean to the professors to the entire university. From my own experience, it shows there is no accountability, they have they anything goes mentality, its like the wild wild west there. No academic or fiscal discipline. In the end, its the locals and students like me who suffer.

What happened to me and the rest of the students in West Virginia University is a real shame and one can only hope that serious changes are instituted. While President Gee comfortably retires in 2025, he has decimated the higher education landscape of West Virginia, particularly for those who don't have financial means and those in minority groups without much opportunities. As for me, I am still hoping to finish a formal education in politics someday, but it will never be at WVU. Perhaps the University of California, San Diego someday. I hope I get the chance. West Virginians deserve better. The current system and politics of public education has failed us all. Shame on WVU and Gordon Gee!!