Recently I have been calling around to different schools that offer 3D Game Art/Design programs. During this process I made the horrible mistake of requesting information from Westwood College. Shortly after putting in the online request for some information to be sent to me by mail I received a phone call from the school. The guys name on the other end of the line was Mark. At the time that he called I was about to head out the door, I didn’t expect a phone call, since all I requested was info thru the mail. I get to talking to Mark for a while, going over what the school has to offer and what it is that I am looking to do. I made it very clear from the beginning that I was only looking for basic information, since I wanted to see all my options before deciding on one school. The conversation at this point has been going on for over an hour.

My girlfriend, who has been waiting on me to leave has by now taken off her shoes and laid down to wait for me. I try numerous times to try and end the conversation by just giving short answers and sounding disinterested. This wasn't working. Mark finally gets down to business and tells me to go online and set up a login to check out the programs and such. I agree and go online and set up an account so I can log in. Towards the end of the account set up Mark finally decides to tell me that now I should apply, since I have spent this much time and set up the account there is no reason not to apply. A $25 step. I had no intentions on applying at this point, as I had mentioned to him before. This is a recap of the conversation as much as I can remember-

Mark - "Now all you need to do is apply and we can get the financial work underway"

Me - "Ya, I don’t want to apply right now, I still want to do more research on other schools and figure out what I want to do."

Mark - "Well we have been on the phone for a while and it sounds to me like we have the program you should be in so all you need to do is apply."

Me - "Ya it all sounds great but like I said I still need to do some more research so thanks for the help but I have to go."

Mark - "Well what’s the problem? Is the application fee to much? I mean you can tell me.. its ok."

Me - "Ha ha ha, no trust me its not a problem of money, I just don’t want to set anything in motion until I am sure of what I want to do."

Mark - ""Well we have been on the phone for a while and it sounds to me like we have the program you should be in so all you need to do is apply."

Me - "Uh.. ya but like I said, I am not ready and I need to do more research. Thank you for the help but really I have to go."

Mark - "Well all you have to do is one more step to apply and then we are finished."

Me - "I told you.. I am NOT ready to apply"

Mark - "Well we have been on the phone for a while and it sounds to me like we have the program you should be in so all you need to do is apply. I was hoping I was gonna be able to go to my division supervisor and tell him that I had a promising student applying."

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At this point the phone is on speaker, so my girlfriend can hear.. and she is getting PISSED, telling me to just hang up. Now normally I have no problem getting out of something I don’t want to do. But for some reason I just couldn’t bring myself to hang up on Mark. I don’t know why. For some reason I had the feeling that if I left the conversation in a bad way, that Mark would go to his supervisor and they would get a bad image of me. Now don’t read this wrong.. normally I wouldn’t have given a flying rats ass what they thought. For some reason though I actually cared.. and I couldn’t get my self to get off the phone. Now I could continue to list the conversation, but it would basically look just the same as above copy and pasted. Mark kept pushing, I kept trying to leave. I got to the point where I was so fed up with not being able to get out of the conversation MY way....

that I paid the $25 just to get Mark off the dam phone. For the entire rest of the day I felt so out of place. I have never... NEVER been in a situation like that before. I have never not been able to end something that I am uncomfortable with it. The best way that I can describe it is that I felt like I was mentally raped. Though I have to admit, he deffinitly was good at his job.

Now this is only half the story.

A few days later the next week Mark calls back for a follow up. I was at work at the time so I used that to get out of the conversation. Later that day I called Westwood myself and told the admissions office to remove my application and to no longer contact me. They told me that they would add the notes to my profile and would no longer contact me. Since that time I have been called by 7... seven different financial officers from Westwood asking if I had time to set up my financial aid paperwork. Each one I told that I had withdrew my application and to no longer call me. They would tell me that there was nothing in my notes saying that I was not to be contacted. SEVEN TIMES!! How many people does it take to get the message across? Each time someone called I was a little more pissed and a little more rude..

Westwood - "Hi, this is INSERT NAME. I’m calling to see if you have a few mins to start up your financial aid work.

Me - Hi INSERT NAME. I don’t know if someone forgot to put it in my notes not to call me or if you just choose not to read it but I have removed my application and request that you no longer contact me."

Westwood - "Oh I don’t see anything in the notes about that, sorry for that, I will add it to your notes. Thanks have a nice day."

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Take the above conversation and multiply by seven. THEN I received an email from mark... asking why I withdrew my application. I told him why and I think I have finally got the point across to these people.

All together, my experience with Westwood College has been one of the worst experiences I have had in this type of area.

Just a warning to other prospective student who consider Westwood, if you change your mind... its gonna be like trying to cancel an AOL account. You have been warned.

Chris.