Peabody is the building, Jack is the dog, and I'm Dean J (she/her, btw).

There are years of posts here. The search box works well, but please consider the age of the posts when you find them. The college admission process changes every year!

References to emailing updates to your application are from the years when we didn't have the current applicant portal. Please follow the instructions in your portal to submit all updates.

Welcome to the blog and thanks for reading!

Friday, February 26, 2016

Internet Rumors about UVA Admission

If a random stranger walked up to you on the street and started telling you how UVA admission operates and makes decisions, would you believe them? Of course not. You'd want to know how they learned the information and about their connection to the Office of Admission. So when an anonymous person on the internet starts doing the same, why do people believe them?

I know you are anxious. If you have questions about something you've heard, know that we are more than happy to chat. You can call us at 434-982-3200 during business hours, email us at undergradadmission@virginia.edu, or reach out to me here or on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Hang in there. 

How can I help?

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Sending Application Updates to UVA

I'm going to make this short and simple because there is a lot of reading to do. Many students want to update their files right now. This is totally fine. On our contact page, the page where people fine our email addresses, we have this statement:

Application updates are sent [2019 update: via portals]
and not to individual admission officers.

 If you send an application update to an admission officer, they forward it along to that address. To speed things up, just send the updates directly. We are reading all day and into the night and many of us stay off email so we can focus on applications. 


Nobody available to play because they are reading files!

Thursday, February 04, 2016

Days on the Lawn: Admitted Student Open Houses for #UVA20

If you've planned a visit to UVA, you know that we have visitor programming every day and allow students to visit class any day of the week. In addition to those daily options, we have several open houses for admitted students each spring.

Students admitted during Early Action will be getting an email shortly about Days on the Lawn, these admitted student open houses (on the UVA Grounds, we just say DOTL).

A photo posted by Dean J|UVa Office of Admission (@uvadeanj) on


DOTL is not required, but it's a chance to experience UVA in a deeper way than you may have if you visited us to attend an information session and take a tour. Admitted students can attend classes, tour residence halls, eat in the dining hall with a current student, and meet with staff members from different offices around the Grounds at a resource fair. There are also sessions about academics, student life, and resources for parents during DOTL (since parents don't go to class with the students).

Admitted students will get an email when registration opens. Keep in mind that a portion of the reservations for the April events will be set aside for RD students. For now, think about which DOTL dates might fit into your schedule if you want to make a return visit to UVA before May 1st. DOTL has always started bright and early at 9 AM, but we are going to offer one program that starts in the afternoon this year.

2016 Days on the Lawn 
Monday, March 21
Monday, March 28
Monday, April 4
Friday, April 8
Monday, April 11
Friday, April 15
Monday, April 18 (AM and PM)
One of the things that I love about DOTL is seeing students who "met" each other via the UVA Class of 2020 Facebook page or other social media channels getting to spend time together in person. I feel like our classes show up more connected to each other than ever before because they get to know each other before they step foot on Grounds!



This year will be the first one in 8 years without CavDog at DOTL. He went from being scared of the large crowds as a pup to being so excited by all of the extra attention he got. So, UVA20, a cycle starts anew with you. Your DOTLs will be Jack's first ones and we hope you'll bear with us as he gets used to attending.

A photo posted by Dean J|UVa Office of Admission (@uvadeanj) on