The National Candidate's Reply Date is upon us!

Admission deans around the country have been pacing the floors for the last month, asking for new numbers every 30 minutes, and analyzing past data in attempts to predict what will happen by the end of the day on May 1st.

Before midnight on May 1st, you need to pay a deposit at one of the colleges on your list. If you have questions, you have until 5 PM to call admission offices and up until 11:59 PM to post questions online in the various forums students use to talk about admission. If you actually expect responses to your question, I'd post it a little earlier. I won't be at a computer for most of the day on Saturday, so get the blog-worthy questions in tonight.

Simply hitting the "accept" button on our offer page doesn't put you in the Class of 2014. You must continue on to the payment process (turn off your pop-up blocker to do this) to become and official member of the class. The payment system is a secure, e-check system, so you have to type in the routing and account numbers on a check to pay the deposit. You can use a credit card, but I believe the credit card company's fee is passed on to you and I'm pretty sure one brand of card (Visa?) doesn't work with the system.

Good luck to those who are trying to make a last minute decision! If you have any questions about UVa, don't hesitate to post them here. If you have technical problems, email 4help@virginia.edu or call (434) 924-HELP.

CavDog wishes you were here

Let me address one practice that is not acceptable: double depositing. There are some people out there who encourage students to pay deposits at two schools, thus buying them extra time to make their final decision. These students sometimes remain deposited at two schools for weeks. Some even attend more than one orientation session.

I think double depositing is unethical and it drags out the waitlist process many more weeks than it should last. Most of the time, waitlist movement trickles down in a fairly predictable fashion, with most schools finishing up their offers by the end of June. Double deposited students sometimes cancel much later than that and some schools have resorted to keeping an extended waitlist to ensure spots that open late in the summer can be filled.

If a student double deposits, we usually hear about it from their school when two final transcripts are requested. Many guidance officers are quick to make sure we know that a student was not advised to double deposit by their high school.

EDIT at 6:30 PM: I got an email from someone who confused double depositing with being on a waitlist. It is perfectly acceptable to deposit at one school while remaining on the waitlist at another. Someday, perhaps the admission process will allow for some sort of first step before a final commitment is required, but for now, you have to pick one school.

Wherever you go...

Wherever you wind up next year, regardless of what you decide to study, please ignore whatever apprehension you may have and

GO

SEE

YOUR

PROFESSORS

Thank you so much to Brianne, a Darden student who posted this on her blog this morning. The staff shown are from the Darden Graduate School of Business at UVa.

The Welcome Book is online!

The Office of Orientation and New Student Programs publishes a beautiful booklet each year that serves as a great introduction to student life at UVa. The book just went up online, so you can take a peek at it now (you'll get a copy in the mail later in the summer if you enroll). You can flip through the book using the buttons at the top of the frame on the orientation page. If you've started to get digital copies of magazines, you're probably familiar with the format already.

Enjoy!

Happy Earth Day!

I thought I'd share a few videos that show big and small efforts to incorporate sustainability into life at UVa.

First up is a video about the 4th EcoMod. EcoMod is a collaborative project between the School of Engineer and the School of Architecture. The mod is built at a hanger near Lake Monticello and then transported to a site where an eager family will live in it. A resident of an earlier EcoMod once said that the energy monitoring is extremely precise in these homes, so living in one provides a bit of an education about consumption.

EcoMod 4 is a few blocks from my own home and it's a pretty cool looking house!




Here's a video that was just posted yesterday about student efforts around Grounds to recycle and make decisions with the environment in mind. With the Foxfield horse races coming up this weekend, I thought it was interesting that some students are opting to bike to the event. I imagine they cruise right past cars that have to wait in line at the gate.

By the way, there's a cameo by Noble, the official dog of the University. He lives on the Lawn. :)



Here's one more video, a little older than the others, about storm water management here. Many people assume the pond near the Curry School of Education is decorative, but it's part of the management plan.

How to join the Class of 2014

With May 1st around the corner, I want to make sure you're aware of a few things.

1. You are not officially part of the Class of 2014 until you hit the accept button and pay your tuition deposit. Hitting the accept button without paying the deposit will put you in a little limbo zone where you are deemed to be intending on depositing.

2. You have to turn off your pop-up blocker to pay your deposit.

3. Deposits are made online. The system is an e-check system (you'll have to type in the routing and account numbers on your check, just as you do on your tax return if you get a refund). You can use a credit card, but the fee will be passed onto you and the system will not take Visa cards.

4. If you have any technical problems, call (434) 924-HELP or email 4help@virginia.edu. Do not post a comment here...I don't have any access to the e-check system. My response will be to call 4-HELP.

Hope that helps! Good luck with those final decisions!

Last admitted student chat TONIGHT!

The very last of our online chats for admitted students is tonight! The chat will run from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM and you are welcome to stop in for a minute or for the entire chat. There will be current students in the chat rooms to answer questions about life at UVa. We hope this will be yet another chance to get some of those lingering questions answered before your reply is due on May 1st.

Admission Chat Room

DOTL Wrap Up

The last Days on the Lawn of 2010 has just begun. We've enjoyed having you here so much!

Part of our job is making sure you have the information you need to make your decision. If you have lingering questions, don't hesitate to call us or post here. It's hard to believe, but May 1st is around the corner!

For those who are curious, the columns of the Rotunda are covered for restoration work.

Three years ago, CavDog was afraid of the marching band. Not any more!

CavDog is going to miss all of extra attention (in the form of belly rubs) he gets during DOTL.

One request: if you realize that you belong at a different school, please be sure to decline your offer of admission as soon as possible in the SIS so we can assess where the class stands and plan for the waitlist process.

Waitlist students, I will post an update when I know more about what will happen with the list this year. Unfortunately, it's too early to know where they may be room in the class.

More from Youtube

I got a little lost on Youtube again.

The UVa Youtube channel has videos I have never seen before. I'm going to have to subscribe to stay on top of things from now on.

I love how this student says AccessUVa is the "greatest gift" anyone has ever given him. I also like that he showed off the list of residents who have lived in his lawn room before him. I always imagine that the first few days in a lawn room are spent googling those names.


One of the related videos is an interview with an Iraq war veteran who transferred into UVa.


I was really happy to learn that we have a sustainability coordinator working with the dining halls. Who knew all of our apples are local? Our bananas and coffee are fairly traded? Nice!



I wish I had seen this back in December. It includes some great pictures from 2009, including ones of our late Dean of Admission, Jack Blackburn.

For our friends at Virginia Tech

Beta Bridge, April 17, 2007

This message stayed on Beta Bridge longer than any other message. Most messages are painted over within hours. This one remained until June 9th, when members of the Virginia Tech community painted over it with their own message.

Beta Bridge, June 9, 2007

More...

Once you deposit

Once you pay your deposit, you should click on the link for incoming students on the front page of the SIS.

Within 72 hours, you'll be able to take the responsible computing quiz, which will activate your UVa email account. After that, comes orientation registration! Exciting stuff!


There are no benefits, registration wise, to coming to an early orientation session. Seats in classes are saved for each session. So, a class will look full to a student at one session once the seats for that session are full. When the next session starts, seats will be released and the class will appear open again.

Also know that you will probably shift your courses a little bit during the drop/ad period at the beginning of the year. You aren't locked into the schedule you create at orientation. There will be room for adjustments once classes start in the fall.


By the way, keep an eye on the deadlines on the orientation page:

Housing Application Deadline: June 4
Student Information Form (CLAS) Deadline: June 16
Student Information Form (ARCH) Deadline: Postmarked by June 16
Dining Contract Deadline: July 28
Tuition and Fees Deadline: August 12
Student Health Record Deadline: Postmarked by August 31

Foreign Language Placement Exams For French and Spanish, take your exam online before Summer Orientation. First-year students interested in taking German, Latin, or Russian will be tested during Summer Orientation. Transfer students and all students needing to take any other language placement exams will be tested during Fall Orientation.
French: online before your session
Spanish: online before your session

Youtube break

I thought I'd post a few UVa related videos for your enjoyment. First up is a video that was created by Global Student Council for international students. This group includes US citizens who have lived abroad (Virginia has many government/military families, so this might be more common here than elsewhere) and non-citizens. I was particularly charmed by the comment about singing at football games and the description of trick-or-treating on The Lawn, which must seem a bit odd to students from cultures that don't celebrate Halloween.


Here's a neat little video that was taken on one of the busiest sidewalks on Grounds.


I got a little lost in all the great videos on Youtube that show the UVa Jazz Ensemble in action. If you watch this, be careful that you don't lose half an hour to look at the related videos.


I may have posted this video in the past...I just love how it was filmed.


Here's an extremely cute slide show put together by a student in the Mainland Student Network featuring CavDog (!), a massive ice cream cone, the cutest mini-CavMan, Dean Parke Muth, and President Casteen.


No collection of videos would be complete without some a cappella. Here's a clip of the Hullabahoos with some of their alumni.


This just popped up on Youtube today...a reference to UVa on The Simpsons.


This video is a bit more random, but it has had people laughing. A few weeks ago, UVa loaned the parking lot outside the basketball arena to local car dealers who put on an event that they called "Car Wars". The promotional video for the event is definitely the most random video filmed on Grounds that I have ever seen.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Jefferson!

Happy Founder's Day! It's been a busy month for visits, between juniors coming to Grounds during spring break and seniors visiting us as they make their final decisions. It's been so much fun to meet you at Days on the Lawn, both those who came over knowing who I am and those who approached wondering why there was a dog at DOTL. CavDog has enjoyed the attention so much that he seemed a little sad that he wasn't coming to the office today. Friday will be here in no time and he'll be greeting another group of visitors then.

We're still working on reading transfer applications, but are also starting to make updates to the UVa supplement to the Common App for next year. It's amazing to think that the next application cycle will begin in just a few short months.

Days on the Lawn redux

Days on the Lawn is more popular than ever! Every DOTL date filled up by the beginning of this week. While we really want to keep the crowds manageable, we've just added a few more slots for the 12th, 16th, and 19th.

Remember, these events are for students who are trying to make a final decision about coming to UVa. There have been times in the past when students have shown up after already depositing. They're on a victory lap of sorts. While we are happy to see you and I'm especially excited to meet anyone who read or commented on the blog, make sure the undecided students get a chance to have their questions answered. If you are already committed to UVa, it might be a nice gesture to let the undecided students pick up an extra class to attend (at registration, we have "tickets" for any classes that still have spots open in them).

Be sure to check the DOTL website for parking information. You have two options. The free option involves a 10 minute walk (or a bus ride). The other option is closer, but there is a fee involved.

When you arrive (please don't arrive too early...our students are up at the crack of dawn to get things set up for an on time start), you'll check in and get a folder full of information. Some of it will be repetitive if you have read the DOTL website. After the morning mingle time, some students will head to class. Others will go with their parents to sessions about each of the colleges (you can divide and conquer if you have interests in multiple schools, of course). After that, parents are free to attend a number of sessions about different aspects of UVa. There will be financial aid officers on hand to meet at that point.

Throughout the day, our staff will be around Grounds and in the Office of Admission to answer questions. There will be tours of three kinds of residence halls (traditional, suite style, and residential college).

You can see specific schedules on the DOTL website. If you have any questions about any of the logistics, post them in the comments.


By the way, someone recently asked if they could attend two Days on the Lawn. You can only register for one event. Please remember that while we try to pull out all the stops, we are on a budget and resources are limited. If you want to make multiple trips here, consider requesting an overnight with the Monroe Society.

CavBunny

We've been away for a few days, but will be back to chat tomorrow. I'll try to cover some Days on the Lawn, Orientation, and some other topics that would be of interest for admitted students in the next few days. If you have a topic you'd especially like covered, feel free to post a comment about it.