A Few Status Notes for #UVA22 Early Action Applicants

Our Early Action applicants are obviously keeping a close eye on their status pages. I thought I would go over some of the most common questions that come up when viewing a SIS account as an applicant.

1. The SAT and ACT scores don't come quickly.

It takes the SAT and ACT folks up to two weeks to send your scores to us once you make your request. Once the score files arrive electronically, it can take a few days for scores to be matched up with applications. One common issue we've seen is that students are applying with a different name or address than the one they used with the SAT or ACT. This probably affects international students and those at boarding schools the most. If you know that you used a different name and address with the testing agencies, drop us an email to inform us.

2. We know your mid-year report isn't ready.

If you attend a school on a semester system, we know mid-year grades aren't ready yet (see the "After You Submit" section of the application instructions). We leave the mid-year report on the to-do list so you know it will be expected. Once a file is marked complete, students often stop checking their SIS account (until decisions get released!). If we waited until the end of the semester to add the mid-year report to checklists, may students wouldn't see that new requirement.

By the way, international students in IB programs can send predicted grades as their mid-year report.

3. Just because something is missing doesn't mean someone dropped the ball.

If something is missing from your file, please don't assume a the document was never sent. Though the USPS works very hard, sometimes the mail goes astray or a document fails to upload. Do not worry! We will work with you. No one is going to throw an application away because a credential is late. We want to get your file to complete so we can read it.

4. If you have to resubmit an item

Please use the dedicated email account for application updates when sending anything you want considered with your file. Do not email documents to individual deans or groups of deans. We're just going to forward the email to the account above the next time we check email (we are not on email all day...we're reading!). Sending things to the deans just slows down getting those items into your file. The folks in charge of the dedicated account are on the administrative team that files documents and they will get items into your application quickly!


If you have questions about your status pages, I'm happy to answer them in the comments!

Thank goodness we don't have paper files anymore!

Happy Thanksgiving from #UVA!

I've been a little quiet on the blog lately. My personal goal for this week is not to read on Thanksgiving Day as I have in year's past, so I wasn't posting much on social media for the last week. I'm always happy to reply to requests for help, even if a blog post is a few days old, though. Please don't hesitate to post your questions in the comments.

Our office will close on Tuesday at 5 PM and reopen on Monday, November 27th at 8:30 AM. We will not have any tours or information sessions during the break. If you are planning a visit to Charlottesville during this time, please keep in mind that the UVA vs. Virginia Tech football game will be on Friday evening. Traffic is apt to be heavy on Friday and Saturday morning as Hokies and Hoos from all over will be in town for the big game.


 By the way, did you know that plenty of students don't go home for Thanksgiving? Students can sign up to attend one of several Thanksgiving dinner parties that happen both on and off Grounds. If you're a current student who wasn't aware of this, there are still spots open if you'd like to have attend a dinner!

Happy Decorative Gourd Season!

Preliminary #UVA Early Action Numbers

We are already deep into the review process! Transfers applying for the January term had an October 1st deadline, so Early Action students are actually the second group of applicants this season. I thought I would share a few numbers to tide you over for a while since I'm not always able to post regularly in November.

21,393 students submitted applications for Fall 2018 under the Early Action plan. When I post admission statistics at the end of the EA process, you will definitely see a smaller number. Some applicants won't complete their application, though we'll email them plenty of reminders!


Keep in mind that we are still processing applications. There's a lot that has to happen between the time when you submit your Common App and when admission officers get to read it. Applications are downloaded and added to our system, documents that arrive electronically are matched up with applications, and anything submitted by mail has to be scanned into the system and manually linked to the correct applicant's file.

It will take several weeks to process all the documents that are arriving in our office right now. Please do not worry about your status page at this time. Once we are caught up on filing, we'll start contacting students by email about missing items. I know some of you have read this multiple times at this point between our application instructions and the blog, but it's important to get this information to as many students as possible!

Back to reading...

Five Important Deadline Day Reminders for #UVA Applicants

Ah, deadline day. We're fielding the usual "what time is the deadline" questions. You have until 11:59 PM in your time zone to submit your application. We DO NOT recommend waiting until the last few hours to submit. The Common App team stays up all night on deadline nights, but you can't expect instant help if something goes wrong with submission since there are apt to be scores of students submitting requests for help.


I have five important reminders for Early Action applicants:

1. We don't get your application instantly.
We pull applications out of the Common App and into our system in batches. As long as you submit your application in Common App before the deadline, you are set. Don't worry about the download date.

2. There is one VERY important email addresses: undergradadmission@virginia.edu
As covered in the "After You Submit" part of the application instructions (please read them!), you will get a confirmation email with login credentials for the student system. You will monitor your status in that system.

3. Do not worry about your status page in SIS yet.
When you log into SIS, you'll see a bunch of items on your "to-do" list. They'll just be labeled as "Initiated" right now. It means the item has not been filed in our office yet. Keep in mind that we have a deluge of documents to file. Don't worry about a missing credential yet. We'll be in touch by email once everything is filed to let you know if we need something from you.

4. Do not worry about your mid-year report until February.
At some point, the mid-year report will be the only thing left on your "to do" list. We leave that on your list because we will need mid-year grades from students who are admitted and deferred. Lots of students don't revisit their status once they are marked complete. If we added the mid-year report later, lots of people probably wouldn't see the addition. 

5. Do not read into "view decision" when it appears on your account.
The Student Information System has a built-in feature that adds a box that says "view decision" at the bottom of your status page when your file is deemed complete and ready for us to read. When you click on it, you'll get a little message saying decisions aren't ready yet.

Early Action Notification = January 31st

(any change will be announced on this blog ASAP)

We release all decisions at once. We've been able to release a little early since 2011, but we won't know the release date until we're almost at it.

Back in the paper days, we knew the release date a good week in advance because the last week was used to print letters and get them into envelopes.  We were basically done with the actual reading. These days, there is no lag time between the end of the review and the release.  When we're done, we can release.  We don't have to wait for letters to be printed.

Good luck, applicants! As always, I'm happy to answer questions in the comments.

Jack is all dressed up for deadline day!