Regular Decision Deadline TOMORROW!

The regular decision deadline is tomorrow at midnight!  My hope is that most of you squared things away and hit submit already.  If that isn't the case, be careful about waiting until the very last minute.  The load on the Common App's servers is apt to be huge and their support team is probably going to be very busy.  For peace of mind, try to put those finishing touches on your applications early.

The deadline is around the corner!

Good luck!

Remember:
1. Check your "future plans" page to make sure you selected the regular decision option.
2. There are THREE items to submit.
3. Use the "help" link on the Common App website if you have trouble. Our office is closed and we can't fix problems you're having with tech issues.

Three Reminders for Regular Decision Applicants

Many of us in Peabody Hall are wonderful where the month of December went.  We are immersed in the early action review, but the regular decision applications are rolling in.  The regular decision deadline is just around the corner!

I have three important reminders for those who are working on regular decision applications right now.  I'll try to keep this short and concise.

1. Double check your choices on the Future Plans page
You probably filled out the future plans page months or weeks ago.  Now that you're deep into the application, you might not even remember what that page was for.  Here's the thing: if you started your application really early and toyed with the idea of submitting for early action, you might need to change the radio button on the Future Plans page. 

2.  You have to submit THREE times.
Every year, there are a few students or parents who call way after the deadline to tell us that they thought submitting a payment would "force" the other sections of the Common App to come to us.  The Common App folks set things up so that you can submit a component of the application when you are done with it and still work on other components.  This is obviously helpful if mom or dad are helping you submit payment, but you want to put finishing touches on your applications.

This should be apparent when you are on the main "My Colleges" page on the Common App website, but I'll repeat it here: there are three items to submit: the Common Application, the UVa Supplement, and the payment.  Submitting one item does not force the others to come to us.

3. Use the "Help" button on the Common App website.
Individual schools can't fix problems that you have with the Common App website.  The Common App has a team of folks ready to help you if you run into trouble. I remember seeing some response time statistics last year and they were able to get back to almost every request within an hour, so they are pretty quick to help.  You obviously don't want to be asking questions in the hours around the deadline, since the calls for support will probably be high.

While admission officers around the country are working right now, many are doing so from home or from dark offices.Calling a school about a Common App problem is not going to get you very far.  Use the help button!

Good luck!

Feel free to ask questions in the comment section.

When the Waiting Gets Hard...

...we play "Caption This" on the blog!  Caption This has become a bit of a tradition on Notes from Peabody.  We're immersed in our application review process and you're eagerly waiting for news.  When I don't have an update, I post a picture and let readers post their best captions in the comments.

So...let's see your best captions for this image, taken at a hotel's front desk:

Happy Overlap Season!

While the rest of UVa is getting ready to go home for winter break, we are starting to head into a time of year that I call the overlap season.  This is when early action applicants are looking for updates about our review process and regular decision applicants are thinking about the January 1st deadline.

Blog posts over the next few weeks might jump back and forth between tips for those who haven't submitted an application and updates for those who have. 

Early action applicants, feel free to hop into the posts for the regular decision applicants if you think you have an answer to a question.

Do you think CavDog stuck his head in the tree or was he at a doggie rave last night?

When Will UVa Release Decisions?

In the middle of my last post, I wrote this:

Early Action Notification = January 31st

(any change will be announced on this blog ASAP)

 

I'm still getting questions in the comments asking when notification will happen.  We are just one month into this process.  Some applications from areas affected by Sandy came in late.  We sent "missing credential" emails on Wednesday, November 28th and students who got them are tracking down outstanding items.

We will remain deep in our review for many weeks. I know the wait is tough. Hang in there.

Slow down! You might break something!