Last Minute Reminders for Early Applicants

It's deadline week and we are watching the submission numbers climb as we approach November 1st. I have a few reminders for those who are putting the finishing touches on an application.

1. The Deadline is November 1

If you're someone who does their best work at the last minute, you have all day on November 1st to get your application submitted. 

2. The Deadline is for Your Common App

This is covered in the application instructions, but I realize that a lot of people haven't read them yet (please do!). November 1st is the deadline to submit an early application. It's not a deadline for school counselors or teachers. 

In addition, don't worry about the "download date" in Common App being different from the date you submitted. The automated process for getting applications into colleges' systems sometimes runs in the wee hours, so the date of submission might be different from the date of download. 

3. Almost Everyone is Undeclared

With the exception of students applying to the School of Nursing or the Kinesiology program, everyone comes to UVA undeclared.

We have a "getting to know you" question about your academic interests, but you aren't being admitted into those programs. This is covered in the text of the question on the Common App, but is also in the "School Choice and Academic Interests" section of the application instructions.

4. MyUVA Application Portal Credentials are Coming

After our system has your application, it will send you login credentials for the applicant portal. This is where you can monitor required credentials and upload updates. The system can't "read" your updates, so it can't mark them as a certain kind of document. The portal will give you an error message if your upload didn't work, so as long as you don't get an error, your item was added to your file. 

We post decisions to portals, so you'll definitely want to be familiar with yours!

5. An Incomplete Application is Normal

It takes time for documents to be processed and matched. Do not assume items weren't sent if your application is incomplete the first time you log into your portal. Remember #2 above. We'll be in touch later in November if we need anything from you.

6. We have One Email Address

Please use undergradadmission@virignia.edu for all admission inquiries. This is explained on the "Connect" page of our website, but some people still decide to email an admission officer (or several!) with questions. Use the office account and we will route your email appropriately. 

If you have any last minute questions, I'm happy to answer them in the comments. Good luck, EA and ED applicants!

What does holistic admission mean?

One of the interesting parts about being on social media is that you get to see how admission concepts get interpreted by people still learning about the process. Recently, I came across a discussion on a forum in which a student proposed that colleges with holistic application reviews admit students for random reasons. They suggested that admission officers look for students who share their personal hobbies, interests, or beliefs. This is incorrect. 

Holistic admission means we look at the entire application before we render a decision. There's a story that unfolds when reading an application. We learn about a student's academic journey in high school, their experiences beyond the classroom, their interests, and how they express themselves. In a holistic review, all those components come together to compel an offer. We don't read to find students who share our personal interests. We read to meet the needs of our institutions. If I only admitted students who shared my interests, I think some of the schools and colleges within UVA would be disappointed!

There are no "cut offs" or automatic decisions based on numbers. We review every file before we make our recommendations and double check our decisions before they are finalized. 

Our website has more information about the characteristics and qualities we look for in applicants and our application review process.

We want to know the full story!

Deferral is back for 2024-2025

I just got word that we will have the option of deferring applications during the Early Decision and Early Action cycles this coming year.

If you are just starting the college search, you may not know that we tried a defer-free process last year. The possible decisions for all three rounds of admission were the same: admit, deny, and waiting list. Our colleagues at UNC Chapel Hill have done this for years and while it was interesting to try it out at UVA, we have ultimately decided to go back to the process we've been using for decades. 

The defer information page is back on our website and our FAQs are updated. I'm going to use the "defer" tag on this post you anyone who is curious can read past posts about this topic. 

An Update for the 2024 Waiting List

 If you watch my weekly live q&a sessions on Instagram, you've heard me talk about the waiting list a few times already, but I have an official update for the waiting list from Greg Roberts, the Associate VP of Enrollment and Undergraduate Admission. This update is going into portals and will go out by email momentarily. 

Thank you for your continued interest in the University of Virginia. We are grateful that you chose to remain on the waiting list, and we realize that waiting is never easy.  Thank you for your patience, and thank you - again - for your interest.

You have demonstrated to us that you are more than capable of thriving at UVA and contributing to the education and experience of your classmates. We want you to know that we respect and admire all that you have accomplished, and that we have great faith in your future.

At the same time, after considering the size of the first-year class and the spaces available, we have unfortunately concluded that we cannot offer you admission to UVA this year. I expect this will be disappointing news to receive, and I am very sorry that I have to deliver it.

If your heart is truly set on attending UVA, we are here to help. Many waitlisted first year students earn admission after one or two years elsewhere, provided they let us help them with planning. If you would like to talk to an Admission Counselor about transfer admission, or how you might begin your college career at the excellent and welcoming UVA Wise campus in southwest Virginia, please contact us. We would welcome the chance to answer questions and assist.

We appreciate your interest in the University of Virginia, and wish you the best as you begin your college career.

I hope you can look at your chosen school and move forward with you plans to go there with excitement. Best wishes for a wonderful summer and exciting start to your college career!

Another Waiting List Update

We just shared this message on the waiting list website...

We’re grateful to the many deserving students who remain on our waiting list. We offered admission to a small number of students this evening. These students received an email notifying them of an update to their status in their MyUVA application portal.

Over the next month, we will continue to monitor our class. We expect to resolve the status of all students who remain on the waiting list no later than June 15.

We are thankful all of our applicants for putting their faith in us and for their interest in UVA. We wish you the best as you wrap up your senior year and get ready for what we hope is a fun, safe, and relaxing summer.

Enrollment Deposits Due Today!

The end of the "yield season" is interesting in admission offices. When I was a counselor working at my first school, we'd eagerly wait for the mail delivery and then go through the envelopes to pull out the ones we thought were deposits to add to our count. This was obviously in the paper days when everyone sent a physical check and a form to secure their place in the class. Every once in a while, a student would show up in person to give us their deposit and we'd have a little celebration in the office. 

These days, deposits are submitted online. There's less ceremony and there's more activity at the last minute, with some people accepting their offer at the last minute (just like they may have submitted their application. It's still exciting to watch the class comes together!

Of course, the question that most people want answered is whether we'll go to the waiting list. The answer is...probably. It's highly unlikely that all ten portions of the class (you may see people online call them "buckets") wind up perfectly filled, even if we have the right number of students in the overall class. We'll know more about where we stand when deposits clear and the dean looks at school change requests. 

I tend to share updates more quickly on instagram these days, but I'll keep posting updates here.

A Waiting List Update

We are grateful to all students who remain interested in attending UVA. On Tuesday, April 9, we offered admission to 57 students who were on the waiting list for first year admission. We’ve reached out to these newly admitted students through their application portal and by email. All admitted students, including those offered from the waiting list, have until May 15 to submit their enrollment deposit to secure their place in the class. Enrollment deposit fee waivers are available to students with financial need and deadline extensions are available to those experiencing difficulties with FAFSA submission.

Although we may be able to offer admission to additional students who remain on our waiting list, we do not expect to do so before May 15, and the process may extend into June. Learn more about the waiting list on our FAQ page.

Again, we are grateful to all students who remain interested in UVA and wish all students the very best as they complete their senior year and make their college selection.

Second Round Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars Notfication

The second round of invitations for three of UVA's scholars programs went out on Monday afternoon by email and a short note was added to portals. All applicants to the College of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering were reviewed for a potential invitation to three scholars programs: Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars. 

Echols and Rodman add a few members through a third round that takes place after the first semester (you can self-nominate for that round). 

About 5% of students in the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering are invited to join these programs. You can read more about them on their websites. In addition to showing exceptional academic records, scholars show a love of learning and an extraordinary commitment to academic pursuits beyond the classroom. We see this in transcripts, recommendations, essays, and activities. The review for the scholars programs is not driven by GPAs or test scores. 

Congratulations to all!

2023-2024 UVA Admission Statistics (Unofficial)

I've written a post like this few times per year since 2008. UVA has always been pretty transparent about statistics. The Office of Institutional Research and Analytics website has admission data going back to 1991 and our office shares admission rates broken down by residency in our presentations, publications, on our website, and on social media. If you're familiar with any of those, then these numbers I'm sharing aren't all that surprising. 

 If you are a reporter, please contact the Office of University Communications for current, official information.

Regular Decision Round

Total RD applications: 16,866 (15,828 last year)
VA RD applications: 3,750 (3,413)
OOS RD applications: 13,116 (12,415)

VA RD acceptance rate: 15% (16%)
OOS RD acceptance rate: 11% (10%)

Overall Admission Statistics

Total applications: 58,995 (56,439 last year)
Total VA applications: 16,455 (15,200)
Total OOS applications: 42,540 (41,338)

Overall VA acceptance rate: 25.5% (27%)
Overall OOS acceptance rate: 13% (12%)

 

A few notes:

1. We publish in-state and out-of-state admission rates because residency is a major factor in our review.

2. Schools admit more students than the enrollment goal with yield in mind. Yield is how many students accept an offer of admission. We do not try to figure out an individual student's likelihood of enrolling (or look at demonstrated interest), but yield trends influence the offer rate. For example, out-of-state residents tend to have a lower yield rate than Virginia residents. You can see yield rates by college/school (first tab) and residency (second tab) on our website.

3. Unofficial early decision and early action statistics were shared when we concluded those rounds.

4. Admitted students will get a hard copy of their letter in their offer packet. Unfortunately, I can't predict when USPS will put that in your mailbox.

5. Students offered the waiting list option should read the Waiting List FAQs. That link will be in the decision letter as well. Please share that link with the adults in your life!

6. The Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars program invitations will come out next week. I will post an update when I have one. This review round included all applicants (Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular Decision). Echols and Rodman also allow self-nomination after your first semester. Miller Arts Scholars apply after the first semester.

Good luck tomorrow night! If you get an offer, we are thrilled to have you considering UVA! We will be in touch by email to let you know about virtual and in-person admitted student events. If this is the end of your time with UVA, best wishes for the rest of your college search. There are exciting times ahead for all of you. I have loved interacting with you here, on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, reddit, and Discord. Thank you all for considering UVA! 

UVA Regular Decision Update

  I know why you clicked, so here it is:

Regular Decision results will be posted

Friday, March 15, 2024

This is official. No need to call to confirm!

What time will decisions show up?

The decisions get posted all at once in around 5 PM. There's a technical team that runs through several processes to prepare for the release and load the decisions. I can't predict the exact moment when they will finish their work.

Where are the decisions posted?

You will see a place to review an update in your MyUVA Applicant Portal. You received login credentials for the portal back when you applied. Remember that your applicant portal is different from SIS, which is used for the financial aid process. 

The portal emails you when there's an unseen status update. Decisions are not given out by email or phone. 

Are there early signs of my decision anywhere?

The portal will look different leading up to the decision release as the technical team does their work. These changes are not tied to your decision.

Are scholar notifications coming?

The second round of review for Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars covered Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular Decision students. Notification will be in portals next week. As always, I'll post updates when I have them. 

When will statistics be ready?

I usually receive admission statistics for the round a day before the decision release. As soon as I have data, I'll share it here. 

Midyear Grades Reminder

Regular Decision applicants and students who accepted a spot on the waiting list during the early rounds were asked to submit midyear grade reports by February 15th. This is a required item and we can't make an offer of admission without it! Please be sure to log into your portal to verify that midyear grades are in your file. 

If your midyears haven't arrived, you can use your portal to upload a screen grab of them. We do not need these grades to be sent by your school counselor. 

Remember, all updates are are submitted through your portal with the exception of recommendations. Those may go to the undergradadmission@virginia.edu email account. Please do not email individual admission officers with updates. That slows down the entire process!

Treasure found on the UVA Lawn

Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars Notifications

The Office of Admission reviews all applicants to the College of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering for a potential invitation to three scholars programs: Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars. 

The first round of invitations will go to students who applied during the Early Decision and Early Action rounds. An email with invitations from this first round is going out at 5 PM today and a short note is being added to portals. 

The second round of invitations will include students from all three rounds and will be posted after the conclusion of the Regular Decision process. Echols and Rodman have a third round that takes place after the first semester (you can self-nominate for that round). 

About 5% of students in the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering are invited to join these programs. You can read more about them on their websites. In addition to showing exceptional academic records, scholars show a love of learning and an extraordinary commitment to academic pursuits beyond the classroom. We see this in transcripts, recommendations, essays, and activities. The review for the scholars programs is not driven by GPAs or test scores. 

Congratulations to our first group of scholars for the Class of 2028!

Enrollment Deposit Deadline Changed to May 15

It should come as no surprise that colleges are making adjustments in light of the delayed transmission of FAFSA data. At this time, colleges will begin to receive FAFSA data in the first half of March. This means financial aid packages might not be available until April. We are moving our enrollment deposit deadline to May 15th as a result. This is on our website and we have emailed all of our admitted Early Action students with the information.

UVA Student Financial Services, the group that oversees the financial aid process here, has created a Financial Aid Guidance Page that is being updated regularly (they're instagram is @uvasfs if that's of interest). You might also bookmark the FAFSA Issue Alerts page, when the Department of Education is documenting known problems with FAFSA submission. 

On your side of things, you should be working on your CSS Profile and FAFSA (or the Commonwealth of Virginia's VASA if you aren't eligible to do the FAFSA). Student Financial Services was able to work on preliminary aid packages for the Early Decision group with CSS Profile information. Obviously, the rest of the documentation has to arrive to finalize packages. 

If you have questions about the financial process that aren't covered by the website I linked to above, you can email that office at sfs@virignia.edu or call them at 434-982-6000.

2024 #UVA Early Action Admission Statistics (Unofficial)

I've written a post like this few times per year since 2008. UVA has always been pretty transparent about statistics. The Office of Institutional Research and Analytics website has admission data going back to 1991 and our office shares admission rates broken down by residency in our presentations, publications, on our website, and on social media. If you're familiar with any of those, then these numbers I'm sharing aren't all that surprising. 

These numbers were up to date on Thursday afternoon. If you are a reporter, this data is unofficial and you should contact the Office of University Communications for information.

Early Action Applications

Total number of Early Action applications: 37,642 (36,459 last year)
Total number of VA apps: 10,109 (9,511)

Total number of OOS apps: 27,533 (26,948)
We use completed applications in our statistics.

Early Action Offers

Overall offers: 6,519
Total VA offers: 2,854 (28% offer rate)
Total OOS offers:  3,665 (13% offer rate)
Enrollment Goal: ~3,970
It's misleading to average these offer rates together because residency is a major factor in our review. If you are going to share these numbers, cite BOTH offer rates. 

Some notes:

1. I do not have additional statistics. I know people want to see how many students were admitted without testing. I was not given that number. 

 
2. If you are offered the waiting list, you must submit a form in your portal if you'd like to be considered again. This form takes the place of a "letter of continued interest" or LOCI. Please follow the directions on the waiting list student page about what you may add to your file. That page also tells you what you should not do. Following directions is important and it saves busy students time and energy. 

3. Admitted students will get a paper copy of the offer letter by mail via USPS. I'm pretty excited about this year's mailing!

4. The first round of invitations into Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars, will probably be posted in the portal next week. I will post an update when that happens. A second round will be posted after the Regular Decision process is completed. Echols and Rodman also allow self-nomination after your first semester. Miller Arts Scholars only apply after the first semester.

#UVA Early Action Update

  Let's just get to the reason you clicked through. 

Early Action notification will be 

Friday, February 2, 2024 

This is official. Please do not call our office to confirm it. 

Where are the decisions posted? 

You will see a place to view your decision when you log into your MyUVA applicant portal. Remember that the MyUVA portal is different from SIS (those who applied for financial aid are using SIS to monitor that process). You received login information for the portal back when you applied. Decisions are not sent by email, but the systems sends an email when you have an unseen status update.

What time will decisions show up? 

The decisions will get posted all at once to portals around 5 PM. There's a technical team runs several processes to get the portals updated and I can't predict the exact time that they'll finish their work. 

Why is the portal changing? Is it a sign of my decision? 

The portal will look a little different throughout the day as the technical team prepares for the release. The changes are not tied to your decision. 

 As always, I'll have a post with admission statistics before decisions go up. 

Why February? (An Early Action Update)

I've gotten a lot of questions lately about the timeline of the Early Action process. The timeline on our website says we'll have decisions for you on February 15th and that's true -  if you log into your applicant portal on February 15th, I promise your decision will be there. If we finish earlier than that, we will post the decisions and we always let you know here, on our social media accounts (@uvadeanj and @uvaadmission), and by email (the system automatically emails when there's a status change that you haven't seen*).  

The volume of the pool determines the calendar. The last time we were able to release in January, we had 25,000 Early Action applications. We have over 36,000 this season. Of course, we've added staff over the years, but reviewing the number of applications we're getting these days takes time. 

For those who want to predict the future, there are years of posts to explore using the menu on the right side of the page. 

So here's what you need to know if you applied Early Action to UVA:

1. Decisions will be posted by February 15th.
2. All decisions are posted at once.
3. We always announce updates to the calendar.

Hang in there, everyone. We still have some work to do!

*A couple parents messaged me after the Early Decision round because their student didn't get the status change email from the portal. That's because the student checked their status before the system could send the email, so there was no "new" status to see. I imagine there was some rapid refreshing involved!