One of the fun parts of working in social media is watching new channels emerge. It became clear this year that students preferred to interact on Instagram and TikTok, so I have spent a lot of time on those apps trying answer questions and respond to comments. If you didn't know, I host a live question and answer session every week on Instagram (I think this is my third year of doing that and I started saving the recordings to IGTV a year or two ago) and post there and on TikTok several times per week.
Adding another channel to my workload had led to this little blog being less active. I may move to monthly updates here, except around decision releases, when I know people expect more posts (especially those statistics posts).
So here are some notes from the past month.
1. Early Decision and Early Action Numbers
We had about 3,400 Early Decision applications and 31,000 Early Action applications. I'll post precise numbers around the time we release decisions for each group. Last year, we had about 2,900 applications for ED and 29,000 for EA.
Once upon a time, our applicant pool seemed to be split fairly evenly between Early Action and Regular Decision. Now, we get more applications during the early rounds. Whether those higher numbers above mean the shift is continuing or if they mean we'll have a larger pool overall remains to be scene.
We are not a school that craves big jumps in application numbers. Our classes are growing, but not at the same rate that the pool seems to be. That makes for some tough decisions when reading applications. Our staff doesn't grow at the same rate, either, which is part of the reason why the release of EA decisions moved back into February a couple years ago.Which leads to the next point...
2. Decision Notification
We read all of our files (no computer sorting here) and that takes time. We promise to finish the Early Decision review around December 15th and Early Action review around February 15th. As soon as we can post a more specific date for decisions, we will do so on this blog, on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Follow me at @UVADeanJ or the office at @UVAAdmission.
All decisions for a round (Early Decisions or Early Action) are posted en masse in applicant portals.
3. The Applicant Portal
By now, ED and EA applicants should have logged into their portals to verify that all items have been received. Your login credentials for the portal were emailed to you within a few days of us getting your Common App.
Application updates are submitted via the portal, not by email. Please follow our directions on this! The portal will take a Word/Pages doc, PDF, JPEG, and probably some other file formats I can't think of right now. The portal can't read the file and assign it a category. It just files the item with your application. If you didn't see an error message when you uploaded the file, the item was accepted. Please don't send multiple copies of documents.
Student Financial Services uses UVA's Student Information System (SIS) for their process. Please be sure to check those accounts if you applied for aid. The faster you respond to their requests for missing or supporting documents, the faster they can do their work.
4. Demonstrated Interest
This is not part of the review. Your application is proof that you are interested in UVA! You have a lot on your plate as a senior and don't have to spend time and energy showing interest. You did that when you put together your application.
5. Application Instructions Revisited
A lot of the questions I'm getting this year are covered in the application instructions or our FAQs. Please be sure to take a look at those!
As always, I'm happy to answer questions in the comments.