Notes from Peabody: The UVA Application Process

Days on the Lawn 2012

2012-01-26T21:22:00.000-05:00

DOTL 2011

It might seem a little early to be talking about our admitted student days, Days on the Lawn (DOTL), but there have been some requests for the dates.

At DOTL, undecided students and their parents get to tour Grounds, attend info sessions about each school, visit a resource fair, and tour the residence halls. Admitted students also get to sit in on classes and have lunch with current students while their parents are at a few sessions.

Days on the Lawn are a great way to figure out if UVa is the right place for you if you haven't gotten "that feeling" yet.

Registration for those admitted during Early Action is open (and you must register to attend). There is an attendance cap for each date, so please have a back up date in mind in case your first choice is full. If your schedule doesn't allow you to attend any of these or the one that works for you is full, you can schedule an overnight visit on a better date and attend classes, too.

2012 Days on the Lawn:

Monday, March 19th

Monday, April 2nd

Monday, April 9th

Saturday, April 14th

Monday, April 16th

and

Friday, April 20th

If someone in your party has a disability that requires an accommodation, please call us at (434) 982-3200 as soon as you make your travel plans. We want to arrange a comfortable experience for your family.

CavDog takes his DOTL duties very seriously

Juniors and sophomores, if you are planning to visit us in March or April, please do not visit us on Days on the Lawn days. The Grounds are packed full of visitors and parking is very, very difficult as a result.

Oh wait! One more thing. People often ask us how they are supposed to dress for DOTL. Dress as if you're going to be walking around Grounds all day. Remember that we're not interviewing you, you're interviewing us. We'll dress up. You be comfortable.

Class of 2016 Facebook Page & Group

2012-01-22T22:09:00.005-05:00

Years ago, an enterprising young college student had an idea to market a business to college bound students through Facebook in a new way. Through made up Facebook accounts, he or his unpaid interns became administrators for hundreds of "Class of 20xx" Facebook groups.

Back then, most admission folks let Facebook groups grow organically. Some excited student would start a group for their class and others would join as they got their admission decisions. I shared that view. After the made up accounts were connected by a group of admission officers interested in social media, what was happening got picked up by the media and dubbed "Facebookgate." The full story unfolds on the Squared Peg blog, but you can read a quick synopsis on this blog.

Each year since, that same enterprising, young man has tweaked his practices and tried again, more recently for his roommate matching website. In 2010, even The Choice blog at the New York Times covered what was happening.

Why am I telling you this? So you understand why I stepped in a few years ago to create class groups on Facebook. I have absolutely no interest in tracking you on the internet or looking at your profiles. My interest is in creating a page and group for each class where content won't include advertisements and your information won't be mined (my worry with groups that are tied to a company).

Over time, I developed a plan for each class' Facebook groups. I would create the group (and more recently, a page and a group) for each class. Once the class was enrolled, I'd turn administration of the group over the current First Year Class Council, who would best answer questions and give advice. When the incoming class elected their Class Council, class officers would become the new administrators. I'm happy to say that most of the groups I created over the years are still in use.

I've already sent an email to see if we can get the First Year Class Council to take over the Class of 2016 page and group. I hope they'll be on board in a few days. Until then, you'll see my name on the groups, but know that I'm far too busy with the application review process to keep up with your conversations there.

Click the images to go to the group and page for the Class of 2016:

By the way, if you're interested in how housing works, check out this post from last year, written by the Director of Accommodations in the housing office here. He shared a ton of info about requesting a roommate or going through the roommate matching survey/process that his office runs. It's a really fantastic post!

Oh, one more thing. Every year, the Alumni Association has a logo made for the incoming class and it becomes the avatar for the Facebook group. So, don't be alarmed if the image changes at some point.

ETA: Groups that overlap can definitely co-exist on Facebook. In past years, I've seen groups created by incoming students from a certain country or students who are in the scholars programs. I think that's a great way to foster community, if there's an interest in them.

Let's Talk About Decisions: The Early Action Offer

2012-01-20T16:55:00.002-05:00

Admitted students can use this entry to talk.

You have until May 1st to make your decision about whether you'll come to UVa or not. If you decide to go elsewhere at some point in the coming weeks, I hope you'll decline the offer immediately via your self-service page.

Just below your letter are buttons to accept or decline your offer. If you accept, you will see a button to let you pay your tuition deposit online*. After you deposit, it's time to sit back and wait for the Regular Decision group to get admitted. Once that group admitted, I'll post information about signing up for summer orientation and a reminder to have your final transcripts sent.

You may want to like the Class of 2016 Facebook page. This page will be turned over to the First Year Class Council on May 1st and they will hand it off to your Class Council when your class elects officers.

I hope you'll stay on the blog and chime in as students ask questions about the process!

Congratulations! We are so lucky to have you considering UVa!

*We have an e-check system for deposits. You'll type in the numbers on the bottom of your check, much like the system used when filing taxes. The system will take certain kinds of credit cards, but it's primarily an e-check system. Be sure to turn off your pop-up blocker when you go to pay the deposit!

Let's Talk About Decisions: The Defer

2012-01-20T16:49:00.001-05:00

Students offered a spot on the defer list can use this entry to talk.

There's no way around it. This is probably the toughest decision (or maybe it's a "non-decision") to get from a school after applying under Early Action. In most cases (there are 3,150 of you), we have deferred students when we think senior grades are needed before making a final decision. At this point, you should simply make sure your mid-year report is sent when the grades from the first semester or second trimester are ready. Most of your counselors will do this automatically.

Feel free chat here. You should have already seen the link to the defer FAQ page, which answers the most common questions.

CavDog hopes you find a peaceful place to wait

Let's Talk About Decisons: The Early Action Deny

2012-01-20T16:41:00.003-05:00

Denied students can use this entry to talk.

I'm so sorry this sort of entry is needed. I hope you all can look at your options and get excited about one of your other schools. If your immediate reaction is "I'll transfer", don't let that plan keep you from getting involved in campus life at the school you choose. I think many students come to think of their next choice as "home" and can't imagine leaving it after a little while.

I hope you'll read this post and remember that this decision is probably about our numbers. You didn't do anything "wrong" (a common question). I'll leave you until tomorrow, when I'll be back to answer questions.

Please be polite and respectful of others when posting.

BTW, if you signed yourself up to read the blog by email and don't want the messages anymore, there's an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the page.

CavDog wishes he could make this easier on you

Early Action Echols, Rodman, & College Science Scholars Invitations Coming on SUNDAY

2012-01-20T12:28:00.001-05:00

Looks like the folks involved in the reviews for the scholars programs aren't going to be done today. They just told me that they will be emailing invitations on Sunday evening.

The Arts Scholars are not finalized until the end of the Regular Decision process.

A note of thanks and an apology

2012-01-20T11:38:00.000-05:00

It's become a tradition for me to write this post on notification day...

Some of you won't be visiting after today, so I feel that this is a good time to say thank you for being part of this blog. This blog is successful because you read it and you write comments. I'm thankful for the opportunity to interact with you here.

It's exciting to know that we're going to make some of you very happy this evening, but that excitement is tempered by the fact that we're going to make many more of you sad or upset. One of the drawbacks to this job is that we have to say "no" more often than we get to say "yes". I console myself with the knowledge that you will all have many other attractive offers, some from our 14 public sisters in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Regardless of what your status page says, you are going to be just fine. You are going to attend a great school and you are going to grow tremendously while there. While I obviously think UVa is a great, supportive place for the next chapter in your lives, I believe that what will make your college experiences valuable is what you learn from them, not necessarily your location when they occur.

Remember that your decision is not a statement about your value. With the number of applications we had, we were not able to admit all of the qualified students. Most of our applicants are perfectly capable of doing the work at UVa. Our first-year class just isn't large enough to accommodate everyone.

And now, the apology. This is the first time in a few years that I am not totally devoted to answering questions online on notification day. We have moved into the regular decision review phase and we are all reading files today. I try to reply to every question that comes in on notification day, but I probably won't be able to do that this year.

Best wishes to those who won't be back to the blog after this (if you're reading this by email, you can unsubscribe yourself at the bottom of the email). To the rest, I hope you'll chime in as we move into the regular decision period.

The big day is finally here! I'll be here at 5 PM and will be thinking about you all. Good luck!

Give the EA students a hand, CavDog!
They gave us some great applications to read!

Happy Early Action Notification Day!

2012-01-20T08:22:00.001-05:00

Happy Day!

You made it to EA notification day! Hooray!

I have a few notes about what's going to happen this afternoon. I'll be posting a few more times today, so check back later for more information.

1. The release of decisions is set for 5 PM Eastern. The SIS has been tested many times and we have never had any problems with it on notification day. Click "View decision" and you'll be taken to the decision letter. If you don't have a login, you can generate the information yourself on the front page of the SIS.

2. I will post entries for you to talk about offer, waitlist, and deny decisions. I will step away from the blog after that to let you chat. I'll be back late tonight or tomorrow.

3. Notification Day brings a lot of joy, but there are going to be some hurt feelings as well. While I want you to be happy and celebrate your successes, I hope you'll be gracious around classmates who might not get good news. If you don't get the good news, I hope you'll be happy about the options you DO have.

4. You all have done a great job of moderating yourselves and I trust you to be respectful of each other in the comments. I caution you about posting statistics in comments. As I've written before, GPAs are meaningless without context, so trying to compare your stats and decisions doesn't make much sense.

5. There have been times when a reader has written about another school in a comment (as in "I'm going to go to ____ instead.") and they have been chastised by other readers. I don't think you should put down the other options that you or your peers have. Be proud of the offers that you've received!

6. We have switched to Regular Decision review, so I have a full day of reading ahead of me. I might not reply to comments right away, but I will reply eventually. Check back on Monday if you post a question.

Good luck, everyone!

Early Action Admission Statistics

2012-01-20T07:19:00.001-05:00

Here are some numbers about the class. Please understand that I do not have additional statistics. I am giving you all I can right now. Questions usually come in consistently throughout notification day, but unlike previous years, I am reading files today. I'll try to reply to comments over the weekend.

The Office of Institutional Assessment is the source of all official statistics about UVa. They take a census in October to determine the final statistics for the class. You can see statistics from decision days in prior years by hitting the "statistics" tag at the bottom of this post. You can see admission data from the last twenty years in the data digest part of their website. Another part of their site has data going back to 1977! Obviously, what happened decades ago isn't going to tell you too much about this year, but some people have fun playing around with the different charts on their site.

Total number of Early Action applications: 11,753
Total number of VA apps: 3.514
Total number of OOS apps:8.239

Overall offers: 3.184 total offer
Total VA offers: 1,547 offers (44%)
Total OOS offers: 1,637 offers (20%)

Enrollment goal: 3,360 first-year students total (between EA and RD)

SAT Mean (of the offer group): 2119
% in the top 10% of their high school class (offers only): 98.3%

The offers numbers for VA and OOS are similar because yield for OOS is generally lower.

Early Action Notification Update!

2012-01-17T09:23:00.000-05:00

I just got back from our weekly staff meeting and I have exciting news! It looks like we are going to have decisions finalized this week. That means the big day is moving up.

Early Action Notification is moving up!

Decisions will post at 5 PM Eastern

Friday, January 20, 2012

I'll try to answer questions and post some fun information to pass the time, but please remember that we don't stop reading. We have about 17,000 Regular Decision applications to read.

If you haven't logged into SIS yet, now is the time to verify that you know how to get to your status page. If you don't know what SIS is, read this.

A Moment of Zen from CavDog

2012-01-13T10:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! I hope you can put college admission talk aside for the weekend and enjoy a little time with friends and family.

Preliminary application numbers

2012-01-11T08:17:00.000-05:00

For the last few years, we've heard about other schools having huge increases in application numbers. Our application numbers have gone up a little bit each year, but we've never had the18, 20, or 44 percent increases that others have reported (here are some numbers from 2010 and 2011). Seeing applications numbers jump at other schools for the last few years made me wonder if the same would happen at UVa at some point.

I'm still waiting for a final number for the regular decision pool, but it looks like we'll have around 17,000 regular decision applications this year. That means the overall application number is somewhere around 28,000. That's up from 23,982 applications (23,587 ultimately completed) last year.

I'm still waiting for all of those applications to make it through the Office of Virginia Status' process, which determines whether an applicant is a Virginia resident or not. My hypothesis is that the increase is on the out-of-state side. I imagine I'll have more information about how the pool breaks down in a couple weeks.

So there you go. I have reading to do.

CavDog trying to manage a really big stick

A quick note about your "to do" list in SIS

2012-01-10T08:17:00.000-05:00

We're processing right now. We're going to be processing for a few weeks. While we're working on that, I thought I'd make a list of things you should worry about and things you shouldn't worry about right now.

Things you should worry about:
-your school work

Things you should not worry about:
-your status on the UVa SIS
-your status on the UVa SIS (seriously)
-your status on the UVa SIS (really, I promise)

It will take us a few weeks to process everything we have gotten. Right now, your "to do" list on the SIS may have items on it that have already arrived in our office, but haven't been checked in and matched up to your file. I heard about a school that doesn't even let students check their status until February. Part of me thinks that's a great idea. Part of me thinks it would drive students crazy! I wonder if it prompts more calls/emails from people who want to verify that items have arrived. That reminds me...

Please do not call asking us to verify receipt of credentials.

Our staff needs to process. They can not check on documents for you. This is what the SIS will be for at the end of the month.

Oh, and here are photos of the two things college admission folks hate the most at this time of year:

Staples are not welcome in paperless offices! If you send us paper, we have to scan it into our imaging system. That slows the process down right there. Adding staples (and for some reason, few people stop at just one staple) slows the process down even more. Skip the staples.

Special packaging is a waste of money and materials. Anything that arrives like this gets yanked right out of the folder or binder so we can scan the contents. Please, please save your money and stop using these things!

"View Decision" = Ready to Read in SIS

2012-01-04T09:16:00.000-05:00

I've written about this a few times in blog posts and in my responses to comments (did you notice that I respond to comments?), but I think I need to make a really simple blog post about it.

The Student Information System has a built-in feature that adds a box at the bottom of your status page when your file is deemed complete and ready for us to read.

Here's what it looks like:

If you see that box show up, it might cause a little excitement because "view decision" shows up in the box. Alas, when you click on the words, you get a little message saying decisions aren't ready yet. Because they aren't.

Early Action Notification = January 31st

Regular Decision Notification = April 1st

(any change will be announced on this blog ASAP)

We release all decisions at once and we aren't done with the EA process yet. RD applicants, you'll probably start seeing these boxes pop up in early February, at which point I'll probably repost this entire entry. :)

That's the Reader's Digest version (does that phrase even make sense anymore?). The long version is that student information systems are built by companies that are in the information management business. The company that built the system that we use did a lot of things right. However, there are a couple things that those of us "on the ground" don't love and that is to be expected.

The "view decision" box works for lots of admission situations (many undergraduate and graduate programs use a rolling notification). It just doesn't work for schools that admit a class as a big group. Our SIS does a lot of things really well, but this one feature doesn't work perfectly for us.

I have a feeling that if you have an offer on the big day, you'll be pretty happy with SIS. Without it, you'd be standing by the mailbox, waiting for the postal service to bring your decision the way I did a long time ago.

Last call

2012-01-03T09:48:00.004-05:00

Are you tired of seeing this graphic? Apparently, about 1,000 RD applicants didn't see it.

So here's what we're going to do: We're going to email those people today and let them know that they have to submit what's missing from their part of the application by noon on Thursday. If they don't submit what's missing (payment, supplement, or Common App) by then, we're going to assume that they didn't mean to apply.

Once that's done, I'll know more about our total application number. Determining residency stats takes longer since the Office of Virginia Status has to evaluation their part of the supplement (admission uses the first half of the supplement and status uses the second half). While status does their thing, we continue to work on the Early Action process.

I can tell you that this is the direction that the total application numbers went:

That picture is NOT current. We haven't had any snow accumulation yet this year.

When we tell you about the number of students who applied to UVa, we're talking about people who submitted all three part so of the Common App. There is no "part 1" and "part 2" scenario here where you get counting for submitting one item of the three. We are set up so that we only get your application from the Common App folks when you have submitted the Common App, the UVa Supplement, and the payment (or fee waiver). Aside from covering this on the blog multiple times, it's also in the application instructions.

Deadline definition

2011-12-31T06:24:00.005-05:00

There's always a little confusion about the specific moment of our deadline. Back in the days of paper applications, the deadline was whatever time your local post office was willing to post mark an envelope. These days, you have a little more time. With online applications came permission to procrastinate just a few more hours.

Our deadline is January 1st. Technically, you could submit an application at 11:59 PM on January 1st and meet the deadline. I strongly encourage you to hit submit before that final hour. There is obviously a lot of traffic on the Common App servers on that final day and while I'm sure they can handle it, I can imagine the panic you'd feel if your internet connection cut out during those final moments of deadline day.

In addition, if you have questions for the Common App people, I imagine you'll get a faster response to a help ticket submission if you are asking during normal business hours. If you submit a help request at 10 PM, you'll probably be one of many doing the same thing and therefore won't hear back for a little while.

I know this is an extremely stressful time. I imagine there is some freaking out going on. Do yourself a favor and made a personal deadline that's before the official one.

Good luck! As always, you can post questions here and I'll do my best to answer them quickly!

Some last minute application information

2011-12-30T06:01:00.006-05:00

The January 1st deadline is around the corner! Inevitably, there will be last minute questions. Here's how to get answers.

First of all, any trouble with the Common Application can only be fixed by the Common Application staff. If you have any problems with your Common App, submit a help ticket. If you don't know how to do that, see #2 here. If you wait until the last minute, you have to expect a delay in the resolution of your problem. Don't freak out! Don't submit something that's half finished or incorrect in a panic. Wait until you get an answer.

Once you submit your application (all three parts, the Common App, Supplement, and payment must be submitted for anything to be sent to us from the Common App system), it will take a couple days of processing to prompt a login email for UVa's Student Information System (SIS) to be sent to you. If you are about to leave for college, you should be able to follow the directions in the email and log into our system successfully. You can do it!

When you log in to UVa's SIS for the first time, scroll to the bottom of the main page and become familiar with the different areas of the status page.

Don't be alarmed by your to-do list at this time.

Credentials may be in our system, but not yet linked to your file. It may take a few weeks to get through all the applications submitted in these last few days, so please be patient! If your transcript arrived a month ago, it was scanned and put in a miscellaneous credentials file. A script and/or a staff member must link that transcript to your newly submitted application. This takes time.

We will contact you when we are through the bulk of the processing if we are still missing documents. This will happen at the end of January or beginning of February. Don't freak out. Seriously. It will be okay.

That being said, here is how you can get answers to last minute UVa questions (not Common App questions) now that our office is closed for the weekend:

Send me a tweet - the fastest method, I'll have my iPhone on me all weekend
Post a comment on this entry - the second fastest method, comment alerts are sent to my phone
Post on the UVa forum of College Confidential
Instant message me through Google Chat (UVaDeanJ)

I won't be logged into all of those at every moment between now and deadline, but I will have my phone on me all weekend (hence Twitter and blog comments being the best ways to reach me). If I don't reply right away, I've either busy or am answering questions for another student.

Good luck with those last minute edits! Try not to submit at the very last minute!

Regular Decision deadline is around the corner!

2011-12-29T09:53:00.000-05:00

The Regular Decision deadline, January 1st, is around the corner. I thought I'd go over a few notes that might help those getting ready to hit submit.

1. There are three parts to your part of the application.

We don't see anything until you submit all three parts via CommonApp.org.

The three parts are the Common App, the UVa Supplement, and the payment.

2. We can't fix problems you have with CommonApp.org.

Every single page on the Common App website has a "help" link.

Hit the "help" link if you are having trouble and submit a help request.

3. Do not wait until 11:59 PM to submit.

If you have trouble, understand that the Common App team will have many help tickets to answer.

I'll be checking for questions in the comments every day between now and deadline, so fee free to post questions. I'll also be on Twitter (UVaDeanJ).

CavDog and I are rooting for you!

Good luck!

Family roles during the application process

2011-12-28T17:53:00.014-05:00

Someone shared a video with me the other day that lead me down the Youtube rabbit hole (when you find yourself watching way too many "related" videos). I landed on this video from a teen show that I don't know, but I think it's pertinent to what is happening right now.

There are days when almost every call that comes into the office is from a parent filling out the Common Application for a student. To be frank, I'm disappointed.

I am going to assume that the vast majority of applications are filled out by the applicants. I imagine that we don't hear from them because a) our applicants are web savvy and can figure out the Common App pretty easily and b) students are more than comfortable with hitting the "help" link when they have a problem. Adults might not feel the same way, so they pick up the phone and call us. I myself have been guilty of calling a business about an online problem without consulting their FAQs and support pages first. I imagine younger folks are apt to check the online resources first and pick up the phone only after exhausting those resources.

I'm not saying parents shouldn't be involved during application season. In fact, I think this process is a great one to tackle as a team. Adults should be providing guidance and that second set of eyes that might catch a typo or an awkward phrase in an essay. I do not think they should be assuming their child's identity online. College bound students, even busy ones, can fill out the forms. It might cut into their Facebook time over the winter break, but they can do it.

If you are headed for UVa, you should be more than capable of completing the Common Application. I also hope that you only allow your name to appear on work that is yours.

If you have questions before or after the deadline, just post a comment and I'll reply as soon as possible!

Application forms can be tedious...but a student bound for UVa can handle it.

Early Action Notification (a "no update" update)

2011-12-07T07:35:00.000-05:00

We've been promising to have Early Action decisions released by the "end of January" ever since we announced a return to this early process. Right now, assume that January 31st is the big day.

Please understand that we are working as quickly as possible. We'd love to be done right now, but we'd be shortchanging a lot of applicants if we rushed through this process.

Hang in there.

Admission Chat TONIGHT!

2011-12-01T06:27:00.001-05:00

The UVa Chat rooms will be open from 7 PM to 9 PM tonight. We'll have students and admission officers in the rooms to answer questions about UVa or the admission process. You'll have to register a username to participate and you can do that now or just before entering the chat.

Hope to see some of you there!
UVa Chat Rooms

Art Supplements 201

2011-11-30T09:00:00.002-05:00

The Regular Decision arts supplement deadline is Decmeber 1st. Here are the most frequent questions I received and how I answered them:

Who should submit an arts supplement?
Anyone who intends to major, minor, or be significantly involved in the arts at UVa should think about submitting an arts supplement. Submission is not required for anyone.

I don't think I'm going to be involved in the arts. Can a supplement help my application anyway?
I guess you could submit a supplement, but consider the fact that your supplement will be reviewed alongside those of students who are going to major/minor. Submission alone doesn't help you. The review by faculty is what could help you.

Can I submit ________ as part of my supplement?
Each type of arts supplement has specific instructions regarding format, length, and submission. There are forms for visual art, dance, drama, music, and marching band. Follow the directions on the form that corresponds to your discipline.

Can I combine a few areas into one supplement?
The supplements go to different departments for distribution and review, so if you want to submit a music and marching band supplement, you need to submit two supplements. One will get sent to the Marching Band Office and the other will go to the Department of Music.

The deadline is really early. Can I submit late?
The deadline early because faculty need to review the supplements and send their notes to the Office of Admission in time for our review. We don't encourage late submissions.

What about the Common App Arts Supplement form?
For now, we want you to use our forms. We don't want recommendations (those are mentioned on the Common App's Arts Supplement form). Just follow the directions on the UVa forms.

What questions do you have about arts supplements?

Important Links

The Arts at UVa

UVa Application Instructions (deadlines and basic info)

Arts Supplements Submission Iinfo & Forms

Missing document emails going out today!

2011-11-29T09:09:00.001-05:00

A little over 400 Early Action applicants will be sent an email today about having an incomplete file. If you get one of these emails, log into SIS to look at your to-do list to see what specific item is missing. We aren't mad and you aren't in trouble. Do not panic. Calmly, but quickly, get us the missing item.

If getting the missing item to us requires a visit to your counselor, consider the possibility that the item was sent, but lost in transit. I cringe at the thought of someone flying into the counseling office in a panic, accusing staff of not submitting credentials.

If your application is incomplete and the missing item is something for which you were responsible, get it done today. We aren't going to throw out your application because you didn't have your SAT/ACT scores sent. Unfortunately, you're going to have to rush missing test scores and that's going to cost a some money. I had hoped that addressing this earlier would have avoided that. Regular decision applicants, follow that link to see why you need to send your scores soon!

We want you to complete your application. We aren't going to penalize you because you forgot one part of the process.

If you do not get an email, relax. Do not send us a document unless we have asked for it. Sending duplicates slows down the processing of documents we really need to complete other students' files.

The only kind of duplicates we like (CavDog has 11 siblings)

Admission Chat TONIGHT!

2011-11-29T06:27:00.001-05:00

Hope to see some of you there!
UVa Chat Rooms

Some notes about what you see in SIS

2011-11-17T10:21:00.002-05:00

Let's talk about your status pages. When you log into UVa's Student Information System (SIS), you should see a check list on the right side of the scree showing items that need to be submitted to make your application complete. Here are some notes about your status pages:

-"Initiated" in a term used by our SIS to show that an item has been added to your to do list. It means the item has not been completed yet.

-Mid-year reports come out whenever your first semester or second trimester is over. The timing is different from one high school to the next. SIS can't discern whether your school will have them before or after Early Action decisions are released. The item is there for everyone. If you are an Early Action applicant who just has the mid-year report on the check list, don't do anything more. You're done!

-Below the chart where you list other schools attended, the Common App had one question asking if you are sending transcripts from all of those schools. Ideally, you'd be able to select yes or no for each school. Since you can't, that question doesn't really help us. SIS is going to ask for transcripts from every school you list as having attended. If you want that transcript taken off your to-do list, you can email uvaapplicationinfo@virginia.edu about it. Put "Checklist Adjustment Request" in your subject line with your name. Be sure to include your date of birth day high school in your email. Do not include your Social Security Number.

-Once your application is complete and it moves to the "ready to read" mode, you'll see a box pop up at the bottom of the status screen. "View decision" will appear in the box. It doesn't mean your decision is ready. That's just something that's built into the computer system. If you hit "view decision", you'll just see a note about decisions not being ready at this point. When decisions are ready, we will release them. I promise! We are always excited to get to notification day!

-If you ever forget your SIS password or want to change it, you can follow the steps in that first email you got to generate a new password.

Do you have questions about your SIS status page?

Caption this: What is CavDog doing?

2011-11-17T04:14:00.001-05:00

Admission officers often read applications at home a few days each week. It helps to get away from email, the phones, and unannounced visitors and concentrate on giving each file a thorough review. Usually, CavDog sits next to me while I read. This year, something changed.

Part of the day is spent doing this:

So, for those of you who are looking to take a break from the waiting (or preparing of Regular Decision applications), let's play "caption this." Give that photo a caption.

If you aren't familiar with "Caption This" entries, check out these ones from past years.

Admission Chat TONIGHT!

2011-11-16T06:26:00.001-05:00

Hope to see some of you there!
UVa Chat Rooms

Outreach chat TONIGHT!

2011-11-15T06:36:00.001-05:00

The UVa Chat rooms will be open from 8 PM to 9:30 PM tonight for a diversity chat hosted by the Outreach Office. We'll have students and admission officers in the rooms to answer questions about UVa or the admission process. This chat is meant for seniors. You'll have to register a username to participate and you can do that now or just before entering the chat.

Hope to see some of you there!
UVa Chat Rooms

Admission Chat TONIGHT!

2011-11-08T06:26:00.002-05:00

Hope to see some of you there!
UVa Chat Rooms

Preliminary Early Action numbers

2011-11-02T10:37:00.000-04:00

I have very early numbers for you. Please understand that I don't have any other statistics to share right now. Once we process all the applications that were submitted last night, I'll have more information.

We have 11,415 Early Action applications right now. About half of those were submitted this week and 2,000 were submitted yesterday.

The Early Action application period is now closed. If you started your application with EA in mind, but now are planning to apply under Regular Decision, go to the "Future Plans" part of the application and change your response about how you're applying to reflect the change.

We have a lot of work ahead of us! I'm going back to reading...

Happy deadline night!

2011-11-01T19:23:00.002-04:00

Our deadline is tonight at midnight. Technically, you could submit an application at 11:59 PM and meet the deadline.

The Common App has a grace period to account for time zones and in case there are technical problems, but I strongly encourage you to hit submit before that final hour. There is obviously a lot of traffic on the Common App servers during these final hours and while I'm sure they can handle it, I can imagine the panic you'd feel if your internet connection cut out with minutes to go.

Once you submit all three parts of your application (the Common App, Supplement, and payment must be submitted for anything to be sent to us from the Common App system), it will take a couple days of processing to prompt a login email for UVa's Student Information System (SIS) to be sent to you. The email is coming from uvaapplicationinfo@virginia.edu. Add that address to your contact list so the email doesn't go into your junk/spam folder. Just follow the directions in the email and log into our system successfully. You can do it!

When you log in to UVa's SIS for the first time, scroll to the bottom of the main page and become familiar with the different areas of the status page.

Don't be alarmed by your to-do list at this time.

Credentials may be in our system, but not yet linked to your file. It may take a couple weeks to get through all the applications submitted in these last few days, so please be patient! If your transcript arrived a while ago, it was scanned and put in a miscellaneous credentials file. A script and/or a staff member must link that transcript to your newly submitted application. This can take a little time.

We will contact you when we are through the bulk of the processing if we are still missing documents. Do not send duplicates of any credentials unless we contact you asking for them. Don't worry about those status pages right now.

Good luck, everyone!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T23:14:00.001-04:00

I thought I'd take a little break from the admission talk and share a few pictures (and a video!) from this afternoon's trick-or-treat even on the UVa Lawn. Every year, hundreds of children flock to the Lawn for a few hours of trick-or-treating. Students and faculty who live on the Lawn provide a constant stream of candy and other students set up activities in the amphitheater.

I've missed the even for the last two years due to my travel schedule and I was so happy to make it this year.

Roll that beautiful bean footage!

The costume with the most UVa spirit

The scene at one of the faculty residences...I have no idea what's happening here.

CavDog making friends with a banana

There are always lots of dogs, but I never saw pigs on the Lawn before!

While the entire event is a tradition, in recent years, this viking ship has become a tradition of its own. The students from Agape Christian Fellowship haul this huge, wooden boat to the Lawn and dress in costumes to match. They always seem to have a great time and children flock to them.

After they did their routine, one little boy decided to get in on the action...

CavDog was a little concerned when this student threw himself on the ground.

We had a little trick-or-treating in Peabody Hall, too.

Happy Halloween!

Let's talk about rumors

2011-10-27T18:43:00.001-04:00

Every year, people who have never stepped foot in our office or even worked in education come up with little nuggets of information about admission that floor me. I usually hear the latest rumors while making the rounds during the fall travel season.

There was the rumor that the younger sibling of a non-Virginia resident will pay the in-state tuition rate. There are a ton about how many AP courses are "required" for admission (the numbers stated is always all over the place). There are the rumors about advantages given to students who can trace their lineage back to Jefferson or Jefferson's friend or Jefferson's friend's neighbor.

I'm actually thrilled when people repeat the rumors to me. It means they probably suspect that they are, indeed, rumors. I worry that for every rumor shared, there are others that aren't shared and there are people spreading that bad information as if it were fact.

So...does anyone want to share a rumor that they've heard about UVa admission? Feel free to share them in the comments.

Who comes up with this stuff?

*I hope it's obvious that the rumors I posted are NOT true.

300+ phone calls yesterday about sending test scores

2011-10-21T09:50:00.000-04:00

I'm a little worried. With the deadlines coming up, I think you should be putting the finishing touches on your essays and checking over your Common Applications to make you've found a place for all the important information you want us to know. Based on the number and tone of the calls we got yesterday (and so far this morning), some of you are freaking out about sending test scores.

When it comes to testing, here's what you need to do:

1. Send your test scores.
2. Move on to other parts of the application.

Is testing important? Of course. It's the one component that the entire pool has in common. In a time when there are many different grading scales, styles of curricula, and ways to calculate a GPA, it's nice to have something that's standardized across the pool.

However, this is a holistic review process. We read the entire file to determine our decision. Remember that we are trying to see you in the best light possible.

I fear Score Choice has really complicated the process of sending scores. We look at the best combination of scores. When I open a file, our system automatically plucks the best scores out of your record for me to consider. You don't have to over think sending the scores. Send them and the system will pick out the best ones.

Stay cool, my friends.

Deadlines looming

2011-10-20T13:10:00.001-04:00

The Early Action deadline, November 1st, is around the corner. I thought I'd go over a few notes that might help those getting ready to hit submit.

1. There are three parts to your part of the application.

We don't see anything until you submit all three parts via CommonApp.org.

The three parts are the Common App, the UVa Supplement, and the payment.

2. We can't fix problems you have with CommonApp.org.

Every single page on the Common App website has a "help" link.

Hit the "help" link if you are having trouble and submit a help request.

3. Do not wait until 11:59 PM to submit.

If you have trouble, understand that the Common App team will have many help tickets to answer.

I'll be checking for questions in the comments every day between now and deadline, so fee free to post questions. I'll also be on Twitter (UVaDeanJ).

CavDog and I are rooting for you!

Good luck!

Admission Chat THIS MORNING!

2011-10-20T05:02:00.000-04:00

The UVa Chat rooms will be open from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM this morning for an international student chat. We'll have students and admission officers in the rooms to answer questions about UVa or the admission process. You'll have to register a username to participate and you can do that now or just before entering the chat.

Hope to see some of you there!
UVa Chat Rooms

Outreach chat TONIGHT!

2011-10-18T06:36:00.002-04:00

The UVa Chat rooms will be open from 8 PM to 9:30 PM tonight for a diversity chat hosted by the Outreach Office. We'll have students and admission officers in the rooms to answer questions about UVa or the admission process. This chat is meant for juniors and seniors. You'll have to register a username to participate and you can do that now or just before entering the chat.

Hope to see some of you there!
UVa Chat Rooms

Admission Chat TONIGHT!

2011-10-12T06:25:00.002-04:00

Hope to see some of you there!
UVa Chat Rooms

UVa Admission and regional quotas

2011-10-10T21:46:00.000-04:00

Many rumors grow steam, get debunked, and fade away. One rumor about the admission process at UVa never goes away: the rumor about regional quotas.

There is one quota that affects the admission process at UVa. The Commonwealth of Virginia mandates that 2/3 of the students at the University be Virginia residents. Beyond that, there are no quotas with respect to regions, counties, or high schools. There are trends in the population here, of course. Densely populated areas of the state tend to have many high schools and send many students to UVa.

Obviously, most admission offices want to bring in an interesting class that has people from many backgrounds, but we have not been handed target numbers for different regions, counties, or populations beyond that 2/3 : 1/3 ratio.

If you want to see admission statistics by residency, check out this chart on the Office of Institutional Assessment's website.

On the road in Northern Virginia

2011-09-30T05:39:00.003-04:00

It's almost NOVA time! I'm on my way to Northern Virginia for three weeks of appointments in October. I've heard that some schools send rookie admission officers to NOVA as an initiation because of the notorious traffic and the advanced questions that get asked there. I personally love my time in northern Virginia, probably because I grew up in an area just like it. I enjoy being asked questions about topics that are far more interesting than SAT scores and deadlines. Hearing the current rumors that are getting passed around is interesting, too.

I'm so excited that I was able to work visits to most of the public schools in Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun into my schedule. There's a third week of travel that I haven't posted yet, so don't worry if your school isn't listed. Also, we don't use "demonstrated interest" in our application review, so coming to see me during my visit doesn't have any affect on your application. Come if you'd like to ask questions and hear my advice for the process.

The daytime high school visits are for students who attend each of the schools below. If your school is on my schedule and you'd like to come see me, you already know the drill. Your Career Center Specialists have probably made you aware of the sign up procedure you need to follow to get a pass.

So, here is where I'm headed for the first two weeks. I'll post my last itinerary next week.

Monday, October 3rd
8:30 AM    Yorktown High School
10:00 AM Washington-Lee High School
11:30 PM Wakefield High School
1:15 PM     Stuart High School

Tuesday, October 4th
9:00 AM    Falls Church High School
11:45 AM TJHSST
1:00 PM     Robert E. Lee High School
2:30 PM     George Mason High School

Wednesday, October 5th
9:00 AM    James Madison High School
10:30 AM Oakton High School
11:45 AM   Fairfax High School
1:30 PM     WT Woodson High School

Thursday, October 6th
8:00 AM     Robinson Secondary School
9:30 AM Lake Braddock Secondary School
11:00 AM   West Springfield High School

Friday, October 7th
9:00 AM    Marshall High School
10:30 AM Langley High School
12:30 PM    McLean High School

Tuesday, October 11th
10:00 AM Annandale High School
6:00 PM   Freedom High School College Fair (Woodbridge)

Wednesday, October 12th
10:30 AM   NOVA Annandale Transfer Fair
2:00 PM     Episcopal High School College Fair
7:00 PM Ballston Commons Mall College Fair

Thursday, October 13th
10:30 AM NOVA Alexandria College Fair

Friday, October 14th
7:30 AM    South County Secondary School
9:00 AM    West Potomac High School
11:00 AM Edison High School
1:00 PM    Mount Vernon High School

Admission Chat TONIGHT!

2011-09-29T06:22:00.002-04:00

Hope to see some of you there!

UVa Chat Rooms

On the road in Richmond

2011-09-27T06:05:00.038-04:00

I offered my colleagues the opportunity to share their travel plans on the blog and Merav Frazier has already taken me up on the offer! Aside from being an admission counselor in our office, Merav coached the UVa Color Guard, part of the Cavalier Marching Band for a few years. If you have questions about the band, she'd be a great resource!

There is another staff member visiting other schools in the area, so please don't worry if your school isn't on this list.

Here's Merav's schedule in Richmond:

Thursday, September 29^th

8:30am Saint Gertrude High School

11:00am Saint Christopher's School

12:15pm Saint Catherine's School

2:00pm Powhatan High School

Friday, September 30^th

7:45am The Steward School

9:00am Collegiate School

10:30am Trinity Episcopal School

Wednesday, October 5^th

8:15am Thomas Dale High School

9:30am Lloyd C. Bird High School

11:30am Benedictine College Prep School

1:30pm Goochland High School

Thursday, October 6^th

7:30am James River High School

10:00am Midlothian High School

11:30am Cosby High School

1:00pm Clover Hill High School

Recommended test dates for Early Action

2011-09-26T09:54:00.001-04:00

We talked about recommended test dates in the comments on the Early Action post from earlier this month, but I thought I'd address that again.

The last recommended SAT test date for Early Action applicants is October 1, 2011. If you list UVa in advance as a school that should receive your scores, we should get them on October 20th (we get everything electronically). When you registered for the exam, you should have had the option to designate four schools to get your scores. Here's the score report timeline right from the ETS website:

From CollegeBoard.com

If you wait until you see your scores to send them, they might not get to us in time. The ETS people say that it takes FIVE WEEKS to send scores to colleges after you submit your request. On top of that, there's a fee involved to send scores after the test date.

From CollegeBoard.com

If you pay even more money, you can have scores rushed, but the price to do it is $40.50. I just cringed when I looked that up. The test costs $49 to take in the first place. Don't wait. Use the free reports that you get up front and save yourself some money.

For those of you who are already planning for the Regular Decision deadline on January 1st, the last recommended SAT test date for you is December 3, 2011.

What are your questions about the application timeline?

Arts Supplements 101

2011-09-22T08:35:00.001-04:00

While serving as "Dean of the Day" on Monday, I got quite a few calls about arts supplements. The Early Action arts supplement deadline is October 1st, so I imagine most callers were hoping to submit portfolios in the next week or so. Here are the most frequent questions I received and how I answered them:

Who should submit an arts supplement?
Anyone who intends to major, minor, or be significantly involved in the arts at UVa should think about submitting an arts supplement. Submission is not required for anyone.

I don't think I'm going to be involved in the arts. Can a supplement help my application anyway?
I guess you could submit a supplement, but consider the fact that your supplement will be reviewed alongside those of students who are going to major/minor. Submission alone doesn't help you. The review by faculty is what could help you.

Can I submit ________ as part of my supplement?
Each type of arts supplement has specific instructions regarding format, length, and submission. There are forms for visual art, dance, drama, music, and marching band. Follow the directions on the form that corresponds to your discipline.

Can I combine a few areas into one supplement?
The supplements go to different departments for distribution and review, so if you want to submit a music and marching band supplement, you need to submit two supplements. One will get sent to the Marching Band Office and the other will go to the Department of Music.

The October 1st deadline is really early. Can I submit late?
Yes, October 1st is early because faculty need to review the supplements and send their notes to the Office of Admission in time for our Early Action review. I don't think late submission will help an Early Action application.

What about the Common App Arts Supplement form?
For now, we want you to use our forms. We don't want recommendations (those are mentioned on the Common App's Arts Supplement form). Just follow the directions on the UVa forms.

What questions do you have about arts supplements?

There will inevitably be another stretch of calls closer to the regular decision arts supplement deadline (December 1st), so I might have to write an "Arts Supplements 201" post.

Important Links

The Arts at UVa

UVa Application Instructions (deadlines and basic info)

Arts Supplements Submission Iinfo & Forms

Outreach chat TONIGHT!

2011-09-20T06:33:00.004-04:00

The UVa Chat rooms will be open from 8 PM to 9:30 PM tonight for a diversity chat hosted by the Outreach Office. We'll have students and admission officers in the rooms to answer questions about UVa or the admission process. This chat is meant for juniors and seniors. You'll have to register a username to participate and you can do that now or just before entering the chat.

Hope to see some of you there!
UVa Chat Rooms

Fall admission chats are scheduled!

2011-09-12T06:28:00.016-04:00

The UVa Chat room schedule is set for the next few months. We have students and admission officers in the rooms on designated nights to answer questions about UVa or the admission process.

Fall chats (7-9 PM):

Thursday, September 29th

Wednesday, October 12th

Monday, October 24th

Tuesday, November 8th

Wednesday, November 16th

Tuesday, November 29th

Thursday, December 1^st

Outreach chats (8-9:30 PM):

Tuesday, September 20th

Tuesday, October 18th

Tuesday, November 15th

International Student chat (8:30 - 9:30 AM Eastern)
Thursday, October 20th

I post a reminder on the morning of each chat.

Headed to New England

2011-09-09T06:38:00.012-04:00

On Monday, I'll be meeting up with old friends from Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, and UC Berkeley for the first of four evening program in New England. If you're on any of our mailing lists, you probably already know this because we mailed and emailed invitations to these programs last month. However, if you'd like to join us this week, you can RSVP via links on our "UVa Visits You" page.

Our evening programs:

Monday, September 12 - Noble and Greenough School (MA) - I think this session is full!
Tuesday, September 14 - Providence Marriott Downtown (RI)
Wednesday, September 15 - Darien High School (CT)
Thursday, September 16 - Farmington High School (CT)

We'll also be hosting counselor breakfasts each morning for your guidance staffs, who also received invitations by mail and email last month.

Hope to see some of you next week!

Let's talk about Early Action

2011-09-08T10:26:00.001-04:00

The 2011-2012 application season will be our first with Early Action. It'll be our first year with two deadlines since 2006, when we got rid of that other kind of early deadline (I'm not going to mention the exact term so you don't associate it with us).

I have to admit that I liked having one deadline. I thought it was the right thing to do in light of complaints about the admission process creeping earlier and earlier recent years. Everyone was in the same pool. Everyone was evaluated together. I didn't read files on Thanksgiving for a few years. It was nice.

Alas, we got an earful. You want an early process. So, we're giving you one. We offer the basic early action program. There are no restrictions. We don't dictate how you apply to your other schools. Of course, if you get in to another school through a binding early program (see, I'm not mentioning the D word so you don't associate it with UVa), we expect you to withdraw your application to UVa.

I know many of you see Early Action as a way to get out in front of the pack (which isn't all that far behind). Some of your perceive Early Action to be an easier way to be admitted. That isn't going to be the case here. We are going to read files the same way throughout the application season. We don't have any statistics about Early Action at this point, so you can't use that as a factor when you are deciding whether to apply in the early or regular rounds.

Instead of consulting stats to make this decision for you, you need to think about what kind of application you can present in November and what kind of application you can present in January.

If you think you had an amazing junior year and your application is rock solid without the first semester of senior year on your transcript, consider applying early. If you had a little stumble early on in your junior year (which sometimes happens when you step up the number of advanced classes* in your schedule, maybe you should apply under Regular Decision, when we'll have some senior grades to consider (my expectation is that you rebounded in a big way).

Feel free to post your questions about Early Action in the comments!

CavDog staying ahead of the pack

* I use "advanced classes" a lot because there are different options out there. I'm referring to the top classes at your school, often the AP or IB courses.

Sneak peek...

2011-09-02T15:45:00.002-04:00

This is just a teaser for a post that's coming. We went over to the new Hunter Smith Band Building, which just opened this week. As far as band facilities go, we're told it's one of the best and most modern ones in the country.

I'll share some photos soon, but for now, you can watch a few of the deans try to carry the drum sets that the students in the UVa Drumline wear during games and performances. They're heavy!

Let's talk about the weather

2011-08-25T15:44:00.000-04:00

We've gotten calls from a few anxious parents who want to know if we will still be having information sessions and tours tomorrow and Saturday. At first, I thought people were assuming that our buildings were damaged by the earthquake on Tuesday (all is well). I didn't realize that people thought we'd be cancelling the sessions and tours because of Hurricane Irene.

Rest assured, the sessions and tours will happen as scheduled. We're just about three hours from Virginia Beach, so while we expect rain, we aren't shutting down or evacuating.

If you ever need to know if UVa is in session or closed, just click on the "What's Happening" bar on Virginia.edu. A box will drop down that will show you all the information you need.

You can also follow UVa on Twitter for minute-by-minute updates about what's happening on Grounds. Even I follow UVa on Twitter so I can be aware of events and activities.

If you are thinking of visiting us this weekend, the sessions and tours will happen. Just make sure to bring your rain jackets.

Live from Peabody Hall

2011-08-23T15:21:00.002-04:00

If you're reading this from almost anywhere in the east, you probably felt the same earthquake that we did this afternoon. Despite being about 30 minutes from the epicenter in Mineral, the damage at UVa seems minimal so far. Everyone seems to be going about their day. Students are going to class, libraries are open, and power is on.

We felt the shaking for about 40 seconds at Peabody Hall and I think we've had an aftershock already. The only damage I've heard about has come from Larry Sabato, who lives in a pavilion on the UVa Lawn.

I also saw this picture of the destruction posted by Charlottesville based photographer Tom Daly:

Did you feel the earthquake?

Summer is over

2011-08-19T16:06:00.001-04:00

We're really happy to have students coming back to Grounds right now. The one drawback to the beginning of the semester is the end of our time with our summer student guides. We had a fantastic group of students working in Peabody Hall over the last few months. They gave up to three tours each day and never complained about being outside during a heatwave or a rain storm.

I think CavDog will be missing the students the most!

Pardon the blurriness...there was a lot of wagging and petting going on when I snapped this shot!

They're coming!

2011-08-19T08:00:00.012-04:00

Looking north on Emmet Street during the 2010-2011 move in

The new UVa Bookstore

2011-08-10T08:42:00.002-04:00

If you've toured colleges during the summer, you probably know that summer is construction season on many campuses. When the students leave, the tradespeople and craftsmen go into high gear to get projects done before move-in in August.

I had to run over to the UVa Bookstore yesterday to pick up some software and stopped in my tracks when I walked in the door. The first sign of the summer construction season coming to an end was in front of me. The bookstore extension that was started when the students left last year is almost done. I snapped a few pictures with my phone...

The bookstore has always had plenty of UVa gear, from embroidered khaki shorts to UVa Snuggies, but there is probably twice as much product now.

The kids' section is probably three times as big as it was before. Too bad most of the nephews and nieces have parents who attended our ACC rivals.

Girls have loved the Clinque counter and Vera Bradley section in the bookstore, but there are now many more cute dorm room decorations on display. There are plenty of things embroidered or painted with Greek org letters, for those who like to display their affiliations.

I couldn't help take a few pictures of the dog section, which used to take up the edge of one shelf. CavDog already has a collar and lead set, a tennis ball on a UVa lanyard, and a water bowl. Do you think he needs a stadium jacket for chilly Days on the Lawn mornings?

I didn't take a pictures of the new Cavalier Computers store inside the bookstore, but it's gigantic. It's so large that I had to ask someone to help me find that piece of software I needed.

The only project that seemed incomplete was the new Java City counter. It'll be great to see that open and have the lovely woman who staffs it back.

Not exactly the honor of honors

2011-08-08T22:43:00.000-04:00

When this arrived in my mail a few weeks ago, I couldn't help but laugh. If you're a junior or senior in high school, you've probably gotten letters that look a like this.

All I had to do was visit a website and provide personal information (that would probably be sold and result in a lot more "honors" arriving in the mail). I'm sure there's a fee involved, but I didn't visit the website to see about that.

Now that you know I was accepted into the National Association of Professional Women, are you more likely to heed my advice? Probably not.

Common App 2011-2012 is live!

2011-08-01T08:45:00.000-04:00

Last night, a few hours ahead of schedule, the Common Application for the 2011-2012 academic year launched. I posted the essays that would be on the UVa Supplement to the Common App back in June and I hope that if you want to do anything early, you'll start to think about how you'll answer those questions.

The launch of the Common App also means the start of the new year for people in the Office of Admission. We've started travel planning already, but it's time to start solidifying those plans. In the coming weeks, I'll let you know where I'll be going this fall. You can also keep an eye on the "UVa Visits You" page on our website to see where else we'll be going.

As always, we'll be on the VACRAO college tour circuit in Virginia.

CavDog turns four

2011-07-05T13:06:00.000-04:00

Summer is often a bit quiet on the blog...last year's readers are now thinking about orientation and moving into the residence halls at the end of August. The next group of students hasn't really started prowling the web for admission tips just yet. There isn't much news, but I thought I'd share that CavDog has just turned FOUR years old!

At Days on the Lawn this year, one father commented that he was at CavDog's first Days on the Lawn with one of his older children, back in 2008. It's kind of fun to think about CavDog having attended the DOTL for every student who current attends UVa.

Tuttle Hall comes down

2011-06-17T12:16:00.000-04:00

This isn't admission related, but I thought I'd share a few pictures of Tuttle Hall, one of the Alderman Road residence halls, being demolished yesterday.

These are just iPhone pictures. A photographer friend was there, so perhaps I'll be able to update this with better images soon.

2011-2012 essay questions

2011-06-07T17:57:00.000-04:00

The Common Application for 2011-2012 doesn't launch until August 1st. If you want to work on something application related over the summer, I suggest you think a little bit about how you'll approach your personal statements. You don't really need to practice filling out your biographical information, but it might be smart to do some free writing on a few essay topics so you aren't scrambling for ideas as the deadlines approach.

Here are the prompts for the two required pieces of writing you'll have to do for your UVa Supplement to the Common Application. Pay attention to the information about how long these should be. These aren't term papers. You should be able to answer the questions in half a page. Part of being a good writer is being a good editor, so you really shouldn't go too far beyond the recommended length.

2011-2012 UVa Supplement Essay Questions

1. We are looking for passionate students to join our diverse community of scholars, researchers, and artists. Answer the question that corresponds to the school or program you selected. Limit your answer to a half page or roughly 250 words.

College of Arts & Sciences: What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?
Engineering: If you were given funding for a small engineering project, what would you do?
Architecture: Discuss an experience that led you to apply to the School of Architecture.
Nursing: Discuss experiences that led you to choose the School of Nursing.
Kinesiology: Discuss experiences that led you to choose the kinesiology major.

2. Answer one of the following questions in a half page or roughly 250 words:

What is your favorite word and why?
Describe the world you come from and how that world shaped who you are.
Discuss your favorite place to get lost. (This question was written by U.Va. students who live in one of residential colleges, Brown College at Monroe Hill.)
Discuss something you secretly like but pretend not to, or vice versa.

For more essay advice, click on the "essay" tag at the bottom of this entry!

The Class of 2015 is complete

2011-06-01T10:48:00.001-04:00

We made a last round of offers to students on the waiting list yesterday. The student I called gave me his answer right away, which was fun for me. With those students, we have filled our incoming class.

Emails are going out today to let everyone on the waiting list know that we are releasing the list.

I know some will ask if they can remain on the list just in case someone from the class cancels, but I encourage you to turn your sights on the school where you've deposited. Thank you so much for being part of this blog...longer than most students have been. It's been a pleasure talking with you throughout this process.

Ideally, a year from now, you will be happily engaged in a school you can't imagine leaving. However, if you still feel you belong at UVa, perhaps you'll enjoy reading the transfer blog, written by one of my colleagues.

Waiting list update #3

2011-05-18T08:01:00.000-04:00

Today, we are going to release the waiting list for the School of Engineering. If you've been following the blog, this isn't much of a surprise, as I wrote that I didn't think we'd be many any offers to engineers back at the beginning of the month.

At this point, we've made some offers to students who applied to the other schools. We give students a 4-5 days to think about their offers, which is why this process moves slowly. I often explain this process has having rounds. Right now, we're waiting for the ball to bounce back to us.

The call volume right now is high and most students/parents seem to have seen this blog already, but want to know what they should do to improve their chances. The waiting list FAQs that we gave you back at the end of March still apply. When updated grades are available, send those along. That's all you should really do now. Calling or showing up in person is not going to move this process along more quickly.

I imagine we'll continue to release different portions of the list as the different parts of the class fill up. We're close to the targets.

Waiting list update #2

2011-05-09T16:01:00.001-04:00

We made a few offers to students who were on the waiting list last week and those students have until tomorrow or so to make their decision. I made a couple calls myself just now and the students with whom I spoke have until Friday to make their minds up.

Making this calls is a lot of fun for all of us. Making a waiting list admission call is the closest thing we have to every admission officer's dream: seeing a student get their decision (I'm surprised people haven't started video taping the moment when they check their status!).

What I said about the different schools in the last update holds true. I don't think we'll be making any offers to the School of Engineering, but we'll be making some to students on the waiting lists for the other schools. I still believe the number of waiting list offers will be lower than in years past.

A sad CavDog before a charity fashion show

Waiting list update

2011-05-04T14:21:00.001-04:00

It looks like we are very close to our targets for the Class of 2015. We will be making a small number of waiting list offers. I don't have an exact number for you right now, but my sense is that the total number of offers will be lower than in previous years and the offers will most likely be to students on the waiting lists for the College of Arts & Sciences, Architecture, and perhaps Nursing. I do not anticipate there being any offers made to engineers.

We generally make offers by phone and that's followed by a status update in SIS. The responses we get are varied, but if you need a little time to think about the offer, that's okay. Usually, we get a big response on the phone, which is fun for us.

As I wrote before, the numbers are still settling (there were a few cases of people who didn't have any internet access for various reasons). As always, when I have more information (hard numbers), I will share them here.

If you have decided that you are no longer interested in UVa, you can remove yourself from the waiting list by going back to your decision letter and hitting the "decline" button.

After the deposit is paid

2011-05-03T16:19:00.000-04:00

Some of you who deposited have called us to ask what happens next. Well, I'm sad to say that it's time to pass you off to our friends in the student affairs world. The Office for Orientation and New Student Programs has a fantastic website for you to use as resource during this time. It lists out things you need to think about doing now and things that you'll want to get done over the summer, before you arrive on Grounds (Can you believe it!?! That's going to happen in a few months!).

Get over to the Summer Orientation website and start working on those items.

BTW, make sure to check your email so you know what you need to get done this summer. It's important, capisce?

We have a class...sort of

2011-05-02T09:49:00.000-04:00

The day after the deposit deadline is a clean up day. Everyone who was offered admission, but never hit the "accept" or "decline" buttons in their SIS account gets moved to the decline status (with a note that there was no response to our offer). Those who hit the "accept" button, but never followed through on paying their enrollment deposit have until midnight tonight to submit that payment. After that, they get moved to the decline batch as well.

Once this clean up happens, we'll know where we are numbers wise and I'll have some news about how we'll proceed with the waiting list. I now it's been a long wait. We're almost there.

I don't have a caption for this one...feel free to make up your own!

A student's note about diversity

2011-04-26T15:43:00.000-04:00

May 1st is around the corner and we've been getting lots of interesting questions at the Office of Admission. A while back, you gave me topics you'd like to see covered here and one of them was diversity. Daniel Grimes, a member of the Class of 2012, wrote this note to those of you who are interested in diversity here.

Congratulations on being admitted to the University of Virginia! You all are about to embark on one of the most exciting times in your life. Now on to my main purpose today and that is to discuss the issue of diversity at the UVA. Before I begin, I caution you to not generalize my experiences to the entire student body; I am only one person coming from one vantage point.

Diversity is an all encompassing word that can mean so many things. There is diversity in terms of race, gender, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, etc. This blog is not long enough for me to discuss all of those in detail so I will try to give you an overarching sense of what diversity means at UVA. For those of you who are into statistics and factual evidence, you will be happy to hear that UVA is actually the most diverse school in Virginia. Just read this special report from WDBJ7 that discusses this issue more in depth.

To get straight to the point, UVA has a lot of different types of people just like any other university in the world. The greatest thing about the University is the fact that there is an outlet for all of these different people. If you are an African American who wants to be in an all black organization, then you are certainly welcome to do so. In the same vein, if you are someone who wants to venture out of the comforts of your race, then there are organizations available to you as well. The University Guide Service, the A Capella community, drama productions, and the student council are just a few organizations that are available for you to do so.

I always seek to have a wholesome experience with whatever I undertake and so I chose to participate in various organizations. I am a Peer Advisor for the Office of African American Affairs and am also a member of the Academical Village People, an all-male A Capella group at UVA. These different organizations have their separate purposes, but both manage to fill voids in my life. And that is the answer to the diversity question. UVA is what you make it. It is diverse if you want it to be diverse. In fact, that is true with wherever you decide to spend the next four years. There will be resources available at any school to fill the various voids in your life, but it is up to you to be proactive and fill those niches. I am positive that if you continue to be open minded and perform as well as you did to get into UVA then you will have an enriched college experience.

Days on the Lawn #6 today!

2011-04-25T08:13:00.001-04:00

Today is the Days on the Lawn that we added to the end of the schedule in light of losing Friday, April 15th. We were celebrating the inauguration of our President, Teresa Sullivan, on that day.

The program is almost identical, though we have a later start time and we couldn't pull the resource fair together at the last minute. Rest assured, there will be deans and current students in Peabody Hall all day to answer any questions you may have.

Here's the schedule:

9:00-11:00 AM - Registration at Peabody Hall

11:00-11:15 AM - Welcome address in Old Cabell Hall Auditorium (with Dean Roberts and a student)

11:15-11:45 AM - Student Panel in Old Cabell Hall Auditorium

11:45-12:15 PM - Faculty Panel in Old Cabell Hall Auditorium

12:15-1:15 PM - Lunch Buddies (students will be in Old Cabell's lobby to take visiting students to lunch)

1:30 PM - Walking Tours

1:30 - 2:30 PM - School of Nursing Information Session at Claude Moore Room 1120

1:45-2:45 PM - School of Engineering Tour (starts in the lobby of Thornton Hall)

3:00-4:00 PM - Information sessions for Architecture, Engineering, Education, and Leadership & Public Policy Schools (see schedule for various locations)

*Class visits will go on throughout the day*

You can attend the whole day or go off on your own. Just remember that we'll be in Peabody Hall if you need anything.

CavDog is here. He'll be in Peabody most of the day with intermittent fetch sessions on the lawn in front of the building.

Days on the Lawn #5

2011-04-22T10:56:00.001-04:00

It's the fifth Days on the Lawn! I can't believe the DOTL season is coming to a close. CavDog has had a great time meeting all the visitors (though some have no idea who he is and why he's here). I brought him to Grounds hoping we would avoid the rain and so far, we've only had a few sprinkles. If the weather holds, we'll be outside Peabody Hall at lunch time, when he'll be thrilled to get a little more quality time with students.

If it starts to rain, I'll be inside Peabody Hall with CavDog all afternoon. Feel free to come in and say hello!

If you've already visited, I hope you have fond memories of your time here and I hope your visit has helped to narrow down your options. May 1st is around the corner!

It's DOTL #4

2011-04-18T08:19:00.000-04:00

It's the fourth Days on the Lawn today. The news websites are saying it's going to be a beautiful day, but I don't have first hand knowledge about what it's like in Charlottesville right now. Some of us are missing today.

Grounds will be full of students and folks eager to help you discuss your college options. However, three of us are tucked away in a hotel in the suburbs of Baltimore for the annual PCACAC conference.

The morning session at PCACAC is about to start.
That's Eric Hoover from The Chronicle and Jim Jump from St. Christopher's School.

PCACAC is the regional chapter of the professional organization to which college counselors and college admission officers belong. We get together once each year to talk about the state of college admission in the area.

I wish I was in Charlottesville this morning to greet our visitors and I'm sure CavDog is wondering why he isn't going to Grounds today, but we know you'll have a wonderful time without us.

Have a wonderful day! I'll be back on Grounds on Wednesday. Until then, feel free to leave a comment if you have a question for me.

The dreaded overlap continues

2011-04-12T15:15:00.001-04:00

Remember when I mentioned that March was the start of the overlap season? Well, it's in full force right now. We have scores of admitted students on Grounds for Days on the Lawn (and we even saw one denied student wandering around during DOTL the other day), but it's also spring break at a lot of schools right now.

Once an information session is full, it disappears from the reservation system. So, if you are planning a last minute trip to UVa next week, please understand that all three sessions (8:30 am, 10:00 am, and 1:00 pm) are full for most days. We added those 8:30 am sessions to handle extra visitors.

CavDog is thoroughly exhausted after going to three Days on the Lawn in four days. He'll be rested and back in action next week.

DOTL #1 is underway (and it's not raining!)

2011-04-08T09:42:00.001-04:00

The weather was on our side this morning. Despite the weather folks citing an 80-90% chance of rain, we had a chilly, but sunny morning on the Lawn for Days on the Lawn. CavDog, CavMan, and the Drumline from the Cavalier Marching Band were on hand to welcome all of our guests.

If you're here, I hope you're having a great day. If you're making plans to visit us for a DOTL in the near future, we can't wait to see you on Grounds! Have a wonderful day, everyone!

DOTL Logistics

2011-04-07T11:32:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow marks the start of a busy few days for us. The first DOTL is tomorrow, Scholar's DOTL is Saturday, and there's another DOTL on Monday (it will probably be the largest one). There are hundreds of students working behind the scenes to make this happen and they are so, so excited to meet you all. I thought I'd write about a few things to keep in mind for your visit.

Parking: I hope you've read the parking instructions on the DOTL website. We have reserved the entire Emmet & Ivy parking garage for visitors. You can park there for free. The catch is that you have to take a shuttle or walk up to the Lawn for the start of the day (there is a closer parking garage, but it's a little expensive and some construction is taking up some of the spaces). Once you get beyond the first intersection, it's a nice walk. You'll walk along the tennis and beach volleyball courts, then pass the back of Alderman Library before crossing McCormick Road to go to the Lawn. If you've visited before, McCormick Road is where the Office of Admission and is located. You'll probably see the chapel and realize where you are.

We'll have some student volunteers (look for orange shirts) and staff members at the garage to point you in the right direction. If you want to take the shuttle bus, look for those orange shirts. They'll be standing at the spot where you can hop on.

Timing: Registration will start at 8:00 am and lasts an hour. You don't have to be here at 8:00 am on the dot. Please don't arrive too early! Our staff and students will be running around trying to set up and get prepared for the day up until 8:00 am.

There is a full schedule of activities, both academic and non-academic. None are required. You can opt to go to everything (many families split up with students going to class and a parent going to the resource fair or panels) or you can do your own thing. Try to get over to do the residence hall tours at some point. You'll be escorted through three different styles of dorms (traditional, suite, and residential college) in small groups.

Food: If you want to eat with a current student, we have a Lunch Buddies program (see your agenda when you register). There are a number of dining spots on Grounds. The Lunch Buddies will probably take you to one of the main dining halls (maybe Newcomb?). There are some smaller cafes tucked here and there that might be convenient if you are trying to fit many activities into your day. If you have extra time on your hands, you might want to explore the Corner.

The Greenberry's Coffee in Alderman Library (across from the chapel) and the West Range Cafe at the curve of McCormick Road are good, central spots to rest if someone in your party wants to have a little down time.

Getting Help: If you need help during the day, there will be student volunteers (again, look for the orange shirts) at kiosks around Grounds. Most students realize what day it is pretty quickly and are happy to help if you are a little lost. Just ask!

You can always stop by the Office of Admission at Peabody Hall if you need to talk to us.

Dress Code: People always ask what they should wear. You need to be comfortable! You're going to be walking around Grounds like a normal student does. There's no need to dress up. The vast majority of students wear jeans. You can certainly wear jeans.

Rain Plan: Unfortunately, it looks like it might rain tomorrow, April 8th. If that happens, we will have to split the group into two for the 9:00 am welcome. Half of the group will move into Old Cabell Hall's theater (Old Cabell is the building that faces the Rotunda on the lawn) and the other half will go to the Newcomb Hall theater. It's not ideal, but we have speakers lined up for both groups. After that, the day goes on as usual.

Just a heads up: CavDog doesn't usually come to DOTL if it's raining. That's usually a game time decision.

If you have questions, please post them in the comments. Safe travels!

DOTL Arts Receptions!

2011-04-06T12:45:00.000-04:00

I have more DOTL news (scroll down for the update I posted this morning).

If you have an interest in the arts, consider attending the arts receptions that will be held on Days on the Lawn. The locations vary from week to week. Here's the schedule:

Friday, April 8th (3 PM) - Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library
Saturday, April 9th (3:30 PM) - Ruffin Hall
Monday, April 11th (3 PM) - U.Va. Arts Museum (on Rugby Road, a short walk from the Rotunda)
Friday, April 22nd (3 PM) - U.Va. Arts Museum (on Rugby Road, a short walk from the Rotunda)

Please be sure to RSVP if you plan on attending!

DOTL update

2011-04-06T11:15:00.001-04:00

As many of you are away, the response for Days on the Lawn has been amazing. We hit capacity for each date except Scholars Day pretty quickly. We opened up some more spots on each day, but most of those filled up (there are still a few spots open for this Friday, April 8th).

The crowds at these events are going to be large. We want to make sure you're aware that there are other days you can visit and have a great experience. Check out the Plan a Visit page on our website to see what you can do if you visit on a non-DOTL day. You can still attend classes (we have open classes most of the year) and the Monroe Society is happy to take overnight visit requests.

In addition, we have planned an admitted student program on Monday, April 25th. The program will include a tour of Grounds (the guides change things up a little bit for admitted students, by the way), sessions run by the schools of Engineering, Architecture, and Nursing (like the ones they have on DOTL), and a student and faculty panel discussion. We'll have our usual tours and information sessions on those days as well.

We've set up a special registration site for for the Monday, April 25th program.

A guest blogger from the Housing office!

2011-04-04T13:15:00.002-04:00

I'm so happy to share some words from John Evans, the Director of Accommodations in the Housing Division at UVa. Be sure to check out the first year page on the housing website. It has a lot of the information you're probably seeking (floor plans, pictures, FAQs). First, here's some general information about residential life at UVa...

Congratulations on your admission to UVa! That is a big accomplishment and a strong endorsement for the work you’ve done to this point in your education. We look forward to meeting you and helping with your continued academic success and personal growth and development. I will try to give you a general overview of issues related to Housing and where you will live once you arrive On Grounds.

Where you live and who you live with are a big part of the first year experience that you will have… but that doesn’t mean that it’s something that you need to be stressed or worried about. I want to first assure you, that no matter where you are assigned to live, you will love it. Every year we get lots of calls about every imaginable question or concern from people who are stressed because they believe that if they don’t control all of the variables, the outcome won’t be what they want.

Roommate choice is at the top of that list for many people. Fortunately, a lot of research has been done on roommate matching and roommate success. I can tell you that, as important as it seems, statistically, all types of roommate matching produce the same results. You need to decide what you are comfortable with. The University of Virginia matches first year students, unless you and another student both select each other as roommates. We believe that the experience of spending your first year here, living with someone that is new and different from you is a valuable experience. I also want to assure you that in most cases, it turns out just fine to let your roommate be a random selection. Many in-state students do have friends coming here and many decide to be roommates. I don’t want to discourage you from doing that, but I would ask you to consider that during your first semester and year away from home, you will make a lot of changes – more than almost any other periods in your life. Sometimes that process can be difficult when you live with someone who feels that they know who you are/were when you were in high school. If you don’t live with those friends, you have someone that you can still hang out with and spend time with, but then you both will have a new circle of friends that you can share with each other and expand your connections.

The roommate matching that we do asks some basic questions about your life style. People want to believe that this should be more extensive and sophisticated so that no one will ever have a bad roommate experience. There aren’t any instruments that can do that. I joke with groups sometimes that the divorce rate is about 50% in this country and that the screening process I hope that most of us go through before we commit to getting married is pretty intense and personal. We all have to be willing to discuss and work through our differences, compromise and be sensitive to each other’s needs. If you are willing to raise issues and give your roommate a chance to respond to your needs when issues arise, in most cases, you will be fine. If you let things fester, passively live with things you don’t like and don’t give your roommate the chance to make a change, then you will have problems. That’s why the University feels that the experience of sharing a room is so valuable for you. All of your potential roommates are people who have just successfully completed the same admission process as you. You are the same age and are going through the same changes and challenges. You all automatically have a lot in common with each other.

If you feel that a single room is what you need, we also have that as an option. Almost all of the single rooms are in the Gooch/Dillard complex. This complex will contain all first year students for the first time this year. The buildings contain mostly 6 person suites and there is room for over 600 first year students in the complex, so you can have your private space and still be a part of a close knit group. There are also a small number of “stairwell” single rooms in the McCormick Road complex.

The programs you can choose from are also a regular topic of concern. For first year students, there are really two different options that you can choose from. Almost all of the class will live in one of the three complexes that are exclusively for first year student housing. These include the Alderman Road, McCormick Road and Gooch/Dillard complexes. In these areas, all students are assigned randomly. You cannot designate preference for an area. This is also part of the University’s making sure that you have as diverse a living experience as possible. Above the roommate level, we do not allow students to group themselves. This is something that will be new for any parents who are alums, but it is something that they have to get used to.

Within the Alderman Road complex there is space set aside for scholars housing. The students who are a part of the Echols, Rodman and College Science Scholars groups will automatically be assigned to the spaces reserved for those programs.

The other choices that first year students can apply for are in the University’s three Residential Colleges. These colleges are interdisciplinary social living communities that are student self-governed and that have live in faculty members and faculty fellows that interact with students in the programs around the theme selected by the community. Brown College focuses on individual creativity (generally), Hereford College is focused on issues related to sustainability and the International Residential College (IRC) is focused on international issues (it is not housing set aside for international students). In each of these communities, 20% of the space is set aside for first year students. The rest of the space is filled with upperclass students. If you are accepted into one of these programs as a first year, you can continue to live there throughout your undergraduate career.

Location seems to matter more here than any other university I’ve worked for. I’m not sure why. In the first year areas, students and parents seem to want to believe that a difference of a few minutes in how far they have to walk each way to the center of grounds will make or break their experience or will hinder people from participating in an activity or resource somehow. That is clearly not the case. From my frame of reference (think Big 10 schools/campuses), this is not a large campus and the bus service is excellent. The same bus lines run past all of the first year areas and most students make one main trip to the center of grounds and back each day. You’re young and you can adjust. Walking is a good form of exercise. Everyone wants to live as close as possible to the center of Grounds, but it just isn’t possible to have all of our facilities in equidistant locations. There are old beliefs based on which student groups used to select to live in the different first year options (you’ll still hear University Guides use the phrases “new” and “old” dorms), but those old patterns no longer exist since the selection process was randomized. Don’t worry about the location of where you live. Once you move in and meet the other students, it becomes the best place for you to live – no matter where it is.

If you have medical needs, it is important that you contact the Learning Needs and Assessment Office. Not all of the first year housing is air conditioned and with all of forest surrounding Charlottesville, this is an area that can be hard on allergy sufferers. We will make every effort to accommodate your individual needs so that you can be comfortable and successful here.

The University has a lot invested in helping you be successful here. One of the most important resources available to you is your Resident Assistant. This is an upperclass, undergraduate student who lives with you. They have been trained to work with your needs and to be knowledgeable about the University’s services. They are also a peer who is just a couple of steps ahead of you, so they know what you will be going through. You will meet them when you check in and they are there when you need them. Please get to know them and take advantage of their experience here.

There is also a lot of concern about where to live beyond the first year. There is room in upperclass housing on Grounds for everyone who wants to remain on Grounds. Typically, approximately 50% of the second year class moves off Grounds. If you want to remain in on Grounds housing for your second year, you are guaranteed an offer if you apply by the December 1^st deadline. Many students are anxious to move into an apartment as second years. Fortunately, the University offers on Grounds apartments in several areas (Bice, Faulkner, Copeley and Lambeth). There are also the three residential colleges and there are 12 different language House programs. For information about the Language houses, please go to the web site for the academic department. Information about all of these options, including floor plans, photos and lists of amenities are available on the Housing Division web site.

It catches many students and parents by surprise, but the off Grounds lease signing process for apartments in the community begins around October 1^st. I want to note it here, because it can be a shock, even though this has become typical in University towns across the nation. The local student rental market has expanded dramatically over the past decade. There is now a surplus of space available to students. There is no reason to feel pressured to sign a lease until you are ready. The stampede is always led by groups who feel that their life can’t follow the correct course if they aren’t in a specific, prime, location. Be sure to think through what you want and what will work best for you. Leases in the community are almost all for 12 months, not the 9 months of the academic year. We have bus tours during parents weekend to show you around to all of the upperclass housing options and will be coming to all of the first year buildings during September to give you an overview of the process.

For now, Welcome and Congratulations! Please contact us and also visit the HousingDivision web site and Blog for more information. When you come to Grounds, you will notice that there is construction in the Alderman Road Area. In May, we will be demolishing 4 of the buildings currently standing (Lile, Maupin, Tuttle and Webb). Two brand new and as yet unnamed buildings will be finished in June to replace them. Work will also be beginning on the next three buildings that are a part of the replacement project. The suite style buildings in the complex are being replaced with hall style buildings.

Take care,

John Evans

Director of Accommodations

I'm so thankful that John was willing to guest blog. I wouldn't have been able to cover all of this great information as well as he just did. If you post questions, I'll answer as many as I can and pass the rest on the John. I'll post his replies in the next few days.

What happens at Days on the Lawn?

2011-03-31T12:05:00.001-04:00

Hello. Please register to your left.

As you look at your schedule for April and decide whether you can fit in a visit to Days on the Lawn, I thought I'd tell you a little more about what happens that day.

Keep in mind that coming to Days on the Lawn is by no means required, but it can be helpful for students who haven't made their college choice yet.

We (the admission staff) will greet you on Central Grounds in the morning. After a quick hello from Dean Roberts, you'll hear from either President Teresa Sullivan or Executive Vice President Leonard Sandridge. A fourth year student will also offer some advice for incoming students. I have to admit that the student talk is usually my favorite part!

After this, you'll be off on the academic part of the day. Each school and college has an information session or faculty panel (some also offer a tour of their facilities). The students will break away to head to classes at some point. When you submit your registration for DOTL, you can go to a special page of classes that are available on your chosen day. The levels range from the lower level 1000 courses to more advanced 3000 level courses and there are courses open all over the academic map. When you show up at the registration table in the morning of your visit, you may have the option of picking a second class to attend, if spots are still open. Keep in mind that the options might be more limited.

Throughout the day, representatives from different offices will be available for questions. There's a resource fair in the South Meeting Room of Newcomb Hall (the student union) and the Financial Aid staff will have sessions on the hour (they are usually able to talk one-on-one with people, so feel free to bring some questions).

Different styles of residence halls will be open for tours as well. Last year, students were able to visit Brown College (a residential college), a traditional hall on McCormick Road, and a suite style hall on Alderman Road. These tours are a nice supplement to the pictures and floor plans of first year residence halls on the housing website.

The day ends with a student panel in Newcomb Hall. We usually have students from different graduation years and different academic programs on the panel, so a variety of student experiences are represented.

Any questions about Days on the Lawn?

College Science Scholar notification update

2011-03-29T17:33:00.002-04:00

I just got word from CSS that they weren't able to finish their process today. They will send their emails tomorrow morning.

What's next?

2011-03-29T10:19:00.005-04:00

So, you have your decision in hand and the offers from other schools are either in or on their way. Now what?

Obviously, you can find out about academic departments on the UVa website. What else do you want to know about life at UVa to help you make your decision? In the comments on the entry about admission officers, there's been a request for information about food in Charlottesville, which I'm more than happy to cover. I have a feeling I need to write about the weather since we often get asked about the clothing students wear here. What other topics do you want to read about on Notes from Peabody?

I'm going to keep a running list of topics I need to cover in posts over the next few weeks, as you make your decisions. Suggest your addition in the comments below and I'll edit the list.

Reader submitted topics for future Notes from Peabody posts:

Food
Weather
UVa's Honor Code
Political climate
State funding of higher ed in Virginia and it's effect on OOS students (This might be a bit too complex for my little blog!)
Housing
Transportation around Grounds and Charlottesville
The "personalities" of the different libraries
Class sizes
Faculty availability
Safety on and around Grounds

Let's talk about decisions: The Offer

2011-03-25T17:00:00.036-04:00

Admitted students can use this entry to talk. I imagine you might also want to join the UVa Class of 2015 Facebook group to chat with your future classmates.

You have until May 1st to make your decision about whether you'll come to UVa or not. If you decide to go elsewhere at some point in the coming weeks, I hope you'll decline the offer immediately via your self-service page. That will allow us to move to the waiting list more quickly.

Just below your letter are buttons to accept or decline your offer. If you accept, you will see a button to let you pay your tuition deposit online*. After you deposit, check out the Summer Orientation website for a list of things you'll need to do to prepare for your first year. Don't forget that you must have a final transcript sent to the Office of Admission!

Congratulations! We are so lucky to have you considering UVa!

Let's talk about decisions: The Waiting List

2011-03-25T16:59:00.007-04:00

Students offered a spot on the waiting list can use this entry to talk.

There's no way around it. This is probably the toughest decision (or maybe it's a "non-decision") to get from a school. We have traditionally offered waiting list spots to a large number of students. This is because there are so many different segments to the population here (VA and OOS groups for each of the four schools that take first year students) and we don't know where there will be openings in the class. We have cut the waiting list down a bit in recent years. This means there aren't as many of you feeling like you are in limbo as there were two or three years ago.

We won't know how large the waiting list is until you all accept or decline your offers. Right now, you've been offered a spot on the list. You aren't actually on it until you reply using the response buttons in SIS (you have until May 1st to do this). You will not be ranked. There have been years when we've taken 60 students off the waiting list (2008) and years when we've taken 288 students off the waiting list (2009). Last year, we offered admission to 240 wait-listed students.

For now, you need to look at your other options and think about which one feels right to you. Some of you will want to hold on and see what happens with the waiting list and others will want to fully invest themselves in another school. Either way, you need to submit a deposit at a school by May 1st to ensure yourself a spot in a freshman class somewhere. If you are offered a spot in our class and you decide to accept it, you'll have to write to that other school and withdraw your name from the class (you may lose your deposit at that school). Just remember that you can't "double deposit".

Feel free chat here. You should have already seen the link to the waiting list FAQ page, which answers the most common questions (is the list ranked, what do I do now, what's the time line, etc.).

CavDog hopes you find a peaceful place to think about your options

Let's talk about decisions: Denied

2011-03-25T16:58:00.006-04:00

CavDog wishes he could make this easier on you

Unexpected update: Echols and Rodman emails coming this afternoon!

2011-03-25T16:38:00.000-04:00

Here's an unexpected surprise! The Echols and Rodman Scholars decisions are ready, so we're going to email those tonight instead of tomorrow. They will be sent by 6 PM.

The College Science Scholars will get emails on Monday.

Admission statistics for the Class of 2015

2011-03-25T16:15:00.008-04:00

Here are some preliminary numbers about the class. Please understand that I do not have additional statistics. I am giving you all I can right now and the office is very, very busy today.

The Office of Institutional Assessment is the source of all official statistics about UVa. They take a census in October to determine the final statistics for the class because these numbers always change (especially once we make waiting list offers). You can see statistics from decision days in prior years by hitting the "statistics" tag at the bottom of this post. You can see admission data from the last twenty years in the data digest part of their website. Another part of their site has data going back to 1977! Obviously, what happened decades ago isn't going to tell you too much about this year, but some people have fun playing around with the different charts on their site.

Total number of applications: 24,005 (up from 22,512 last year)
Total number of VA apps: 7,955
Total number of OOS apps: 16,045
(I'm aware there is a discrepancy there...when I figure it out, I'll edit this)

Overall offers: 7,750 total offers (7,212 last year, including waiting list offers)
Total VA offers: 3,562 offers (45%)
Total OOS offers: 4,183 offers (26%)

Enrollment goal: 3,360 first-year students

Middle 50% on the SAT (offers only): 1950-2210 (we're more concerned with each section, not the total)
% in the top 10% of their high school class (offers only): 94.5

The offers numbers for VA and OOS are similar because yield for OOS is generally lower.

A note of thanks

2011-03-25T13:30:00.003-04:00

It's become a bit of a tradition for me to write this post on decision day...

Some of you won't be visiting after today, so I feel that this is a good time to say thank you for being part of this blog. I firmly believe that without comments, a blog isn't a blog. Blogs are supposed to initiate conversation and discussion. This blog is successful because you read it and you write comments. I'm thankful for the opportunity to interact with you here.

Of course, the downside to our interaction is that I get a little attached to those of you who use consistent usernames. It's exciting to know that we're going to make some of you very happy this evening, but that excitement is tempered by the fact that we're going to make many more of you sad or upset. One of the drawbacks to this job is that we have to say "no" more often than we get to say "yes". I console myself with the knowledge that you will all have many other attractive offers, some from our 14 public sisters in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Regardless of what your status page says, you are going to be just fine. You are going to attend a great school and you are going to grow tremendously while there. You're going to have "ah ha" moments like you've never had before. You're going to learn from amazing, inspirational professors. You're going to meet people with whom you will stay friends for the rest of your lives. You're going to pull all nighters studying. You're going to pull all nighters not studying. You are going to have highs and lows, you're going to have great successes and you're going to fail miserably at something, possibly for the first time in your life. While I obviously think UVa is a great, supportive place for those things to happen, I believe that what will make those experiences valuable is what you learn from them, not necessarily your location when they occur.

Remember that your decision is not a statement about your value. With the number of applications we had, we were not able to admit all of the qualified students. Most of our applicants are perfectly capable of doing the work at UVa. Our first-year class just isn't large enough to accommodate everyone.

Thank you for reading and sharing yourselves with me for the last few months. Best wishes to those who won't be back to the blog after this (if you're reading this by email, you can unsubscribe yourself at the bottom of the email). To the rest, I hope you'll chime in now and then while you're a UVa student to give the next group of students a little advice and comfort as they take their turn on this roller coaster.

The big day is finally here! I'll be here at 5 PM and will be thinking about you all. Good luck!

Give the students a hand, CavDog!
They gave us some great applications to read this year!

Happy Notification Day!

2011-03-25T07:03:00.005-04:00

Taken while printing inserts for welcome packets

You made it to notification day! Hooray!

I have a few notes about what's going to happen this afternoon. I'll be posting a few more times today, so check back later for more information.

1. The release of decisions is set for 5 PM Eastern. The SIS has been tested many times and we have never had any problems with it on notification day. Click "View decision" and you'll be taken to the decision letter. If you don't know how to log into SIS or have trouble with logging in, call (434) 924-HELP or email 4help@virginia.edu.

2. I will post entries for you to talk about offer, waitlist, and deny decisions. I will step away from the blog after that to let you chat. I'll be back late tonight or tomorrow.

3. This time of year brings a lot of joy, but there are going to be some hurt feelings as well. While I want you to be happy and celebrate your successes, I hope you'll be gracious around classmates who might not get good news. If you don't get the good news, I hope you'll be happy about the options you DO have.

4. You all have done a great job of moderating yourselves and I trust you to be respectful of each other in the comments. I caution you about posting statistics in comments. As I've written before, GPAs are meaningless without context, so trying to compare your stats and decisions doesn't make much sense.

5. There have been times when a reader has written about another school in a comment (as in "I'm going to go to ____ instead.") and they have been chastised by other readers. I don't think you should put down the other options that you or your peers have. Be proud of the offers that you've received!

6. I will have some statistics to share with you this afternoon.

Good luck, everyone!

Financial aid update!

2011-03-24T20:18:00.007-04:00

The updates keep coming! Here's a message from the folks over in Student Financial Services:

If you have applied for Financial Aid and you submitted all your forms by the March 1st priority filing date, you should be able to see your preliminary award beginning around April 5th. Please don’t call Student Financial Services asking where your award is, as we are hard at work putting them together!

When your award is available, you should receive an email notification informing you of this. After you receive this email, you should then be able to view your award by going into the SIS and clicking “View Financial Aid” under the Finances section. Choose the “2012” aid year.

If you did not get all your required documents in by March 1st, or if you had or still have To Do List items, rest assured that you will still receive a preliminary financial aid award, most likely within a few weeks of your last documents being received by Student Financial Services. Make sure you complete your To Do List items, as SFS cannot complete your preliminary award without them. Awards are processed weekly on Thursdays, so notifications will come out on Thursday or Friday each week throughout the month of April.

Many of the most common questions you will have at this time will be answered on our website, so please be sure to visit here before contacting Student Financial Services.

The Office of Admission and Student Financial Services (SFS) are totally separate at UVa. When I read an application, I don't have access to the financial forms and documents you submitted if you applied for aid. I happen to like this...your finances and tuition bill are between you and SFS. Unfortunately, it also means that I'm not the best person to ask questions about aid.

Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars notification

2011-03-24T16:25:00.002-04:00

Spring has arrived! My favorite tree is in bloom.

The news keeps rolling in! I have an update from the scholars programs for you today.

Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars invitations are set to be mailed early next week. Knowing that some of those invited will want to plan to attend Scholar's Day on the Lawn on Saturday, April 9th, we're going to email all scholars by Saturday afternoon so you have an early heads up.

The email will come from undergradadmission@virginia.edu or uvaapplicationinfo@virginia.edu. Each group is going out separately, so it's possible that a handful of you could get two emails if you happen to be invited into both Echols and College Science Scholars (this is not the norm, but it's possible).

For more information about these programs, click the links at the beginning of this entry. If you are not invited into Echols or Rodman at this time, you can apply to the programs during your second semester.

Days on the Lawn 2011

2011-03-23T12:47:00.008-04:00

DOTL 2010

It might seem a little early to be talking about our admitted student days, Days on the Lawn. In a few short days, you'll have all of your college options on the table and might need to visit a few schools to help you make a final decision. This is why we have Days on the Lawn (DOTL).

At DOTL, undecided students and their parents get to tour Grounds, attend info sessions about each school, visit a resource fair, and even tour the residence halls. Admitted students also get to sit in on classes and have lunch with current students while their parents are at a few sessions.

Days on the Lawn are a great way to figure out if UVa is the right place for you if you haven't gotten "that feeling" yet.

CavDog used to be afraid of the marching band. Not anymore!

Registration doesn't open until offers are released (and you must register to attend), but I'm posting the dates so that you can think about whether you want to make a visit once you have your decision. There is an attendance cap for each date, so please have a back up date in mind in case your first choice is full.

For some reason, the first two days are always packed and the last DOTL is usually much smaller. So, if you have a little flexibility in your schedule and want a more leisurely experience, think about coming on the 18th or 22nd.

Friday, April 8

Monday, April 11

Monday, April 18

Friday, April 22

and
Saturday, April 9 (Scholars' Day for Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars)

If someone in your party has a disability that requires an accommodation, please call us at (434) 982-3200 as soon as you make your travel plans. We want to arrange a comfortable experience for your family.

CavDog enjoying a little quality time with a student at DOTL 2010

There is information about lodging on the main UVa website, but I'm happy to chat about the options and answer any questions you have about travel logistics. There are number of hotels within walking distance of Grounds or on the bus/trolley route. If you will be driving to Grounds, please be sure to read about the parking options. We rent out one garage so there is plenty of free parking available, but that comes with a 5 minute walk to the Lawn.

By the way, don't be afraid to come up and say hello at DOTL! I'll be on the other end of CavDog's leash. :)

There is no DOTL on Friday, April 15th because that is the weekend of our new President's Inauguration. Please do not plan to visit us that weekend. There could be thousands of visitors here that weekend.

Juniors and sophomores, if you are planning to visit us in April, please do not visit us on Days on the Lawn days. The Grounds are packed full of visitors and parking is very, very difficult as a result.

CavDog takes his DOTL duties very seriously

Notification Update!

2011-03-22T13:20:00.004-04:00

I'm just back from Dean Roberts' office and have the news for which you've been waiting.

Decisions will be ready this Friday, March 25, 2011 at 5 PM Eastern!

We are all smiles here. It's been a long reading season and we are so happy that the first year decisions are almost ready to be released. Obviously, some of you will be at your computers at 5 PM on the dot, but know that you can view your decision any time after 5 PM.

Posts are also coming with info from financial aid, the scholars programs, and the Days on the Lawn planning group (those are our admitted students days).

Running towards the finish line

2011-03-21T15:21:00.000-04:00

Visit traffic is up! It looks like rolling Spring Break is in full effect. If you decide to visit us in the next month, just be prepared for larger crowds than normal. Each info session (there are two each day) probably brings about 200-400 extra people to Grounds.

Because of all these visitors, I might not be at my desk for periods during the day. If you don't get a quick response to a question, please be patient (you always have been during reading season, which I appreciate!). I'll try to to work through the comments as quickly as possible.

Someone asked for a picture of CavDog dancing in the Q&A thread. Dogs aren't the most musical of animals (someone actually studied this), so I figured this picture might be an acceptable alternative.

We can pretend that CavDog is gleefully running towards the end of the reading season.

We're not done yet...but I think you all know that we're getting close.

Day of Rest

2011-03-20T10:34:00.001-04:00

In about 20 minutes, after I answer the last few questions that were posted on the Q&A entry this morning, I suggest we start an admission-free Sunday. I don't think any of us have gone a day without thinking and talking about admission since the fall. Let's try our best to spend a some time with our families, get outside to enjoy the sunshine, and maybe watch a little basketball. We can resume the admission talk tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Happy day! The cherry blossoms are out!

Q&A With Dean J

2011-03-15T21:43:00.004-04:00

I've been working from a hotel in Fairfax County this week so I can attend a series of evening programs for juniors. I don't have too much to report at this point, so I thought I'd revive the "Q&A" entries I've had on the blog in past years. In the comments, feel free to ask questions that have been on your mind* and I'll do my best to answer them.

A random entry deserves a random picture.

*Within reason, of course. Don't ask me to do your Calc homework! :)

NOTE: If you do not see a Disqus comment box, hit refresh or upgrade your browser. Three or four people have commented using the old blogger form (which must be showing up for those without updated browsers). Those comments won't post since I've upgraded the commenting system to Disqus.

The dreaded overlap season

2011-03-11T15:38:00.005-05:00

Oh no! It's the dreaded overlap season!

We are now entering the overlap season. This is when we are still working with the applications of the seniors who applied for Fall 2011 admission, but are also starting to talk to juniors who will be applying for Fall 2012 admission. Our information sessions now have two groups of students with different sorts of anxiousness. One group is just starting the college search and is eager to figure out what colleges should be on their list and the other is waiting for us to finish our review so they can move forward with their decision making process.

The juniors want to know what courses will best prepare them for UVa.

The seniors want to know when we'll be done with application review.

The juniors want to know what study abroad programs we offer.

The seniors want to know when we'll be done with application review.

The juniors want to know how easy it is to double major.

The seniors want to know when we'll be done with application review.

The juniors want to see the dining hall, classrooms, and residence halls.

The seniors want to know when we'll be done with application review.

Next week, I'll be working on the seniors' applications on the road so I can attend some mini-fairs and college nights at a few high schools in Northern Virginia. If you're a long time reader of the blog, you know that I love my NOVA trips. I've never made one at this time of year, though. It'll be interesting to work with the seniors (via their applications, of course) by day at my hotel while talking to the juniors at their high schools at night.

Seniors, what advice do you want me to give the juniors about the college search and the application process? What do you wish someone had told you at this point last year? Or, what advice were you given that you think was especially good when you were starting your search?

UVa Engineering Open House on March 19

2011-03-07T19:19:00.001-05:00

I have a soft spot for engineers, so the Engineering Open House is a fun event for me to write about. The Engineering Open House is open to the public and there are demonstrations and activities for all ages, from elementary school children to high school students.

If you've been meaning to come check out the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Saturday, March 19th is a great day to visit. You can register ahead of time on the Open House website, but you are also welcome to drop in.

By the way, this isn't an admission event. I just think it's a fun activity and thought I'd tell you about it. Hope to see you there!

A little perspective.

2011-03-05T00:41:00.031-05:00

Right now, I bet March seems like a pretty long month in light of what's going to happen on April 1st. I thought I'd provide a little perspective about how far you've come.

On August 1st, the Common Application went live. Most of you probably weren't aware.

At some point, you realized it was time to work on your applications and you sprung into action.

You plugged away here and there, trying to meet deadlines.

Goodness gracious, were there deadlines! Would you ever be done with this?

After you hit "submit" on that last application, you still had to keep an eye on your status.

Now you're in the home stretch. Your applications are complete and it's time to wait for decisions to arrive.

You've come a long way. Good job.

Have you logged into SIS?

2011-03-03T12:41:00.001-05:00

Shockingly, there are a couple thousand applicants out there who still haven't logged into the SIS. I can see that they've been sent their login email, but they just never went through the process of setting their password up.

I have a feeling that those students aren't even aware of the blog, but I might as well mention this. Make sure you can log into SIS. That's where you'll be seeing your decisions on notification day. You don't want to be emailing the help desk that night trying to figure out how to get into your status page while everyone else already knows their decision. If you lost the login email, you can send a note to 4help@virginia.edu to get it resent.

Log into SIS. All the cool kids are doing it.

Likely Letters 2011

2011-03-02T08:03:00.003-05:00

If you're a regular reader, you've probably seen references to something called a Likely Letter in comments for the last few weeks.

We are probably going to print two rounds of these letters this year. As I wrote the other day, the majority of files have been looked at a couple times at this point. We're going to print some letters now and probably print some more when the rest of the files have gotten those initial reads. We are by no means done with this process. After the files get their initial reviews, then the work of shaping the class begins.

For now, let's talk about the likely letters...

What is a Likely Letter?
Around this time of year, many colleges and universities send letters to very strong students telling them that their applications are impressive. These letters are commonly referred to as likely letters, but you might also seen them called love letters or early writes.

Why do you send Likely Letters?
In this day and age, it's hard to feel confident about admission. These letters let some of our strongest candidates know we were impressed by their applications. These letters are not specific to UVa. Selective schools around the country send them. Doing a search for "Likely Letter" or "Love Letter" on College Confidential will yield signs of them being sent by plenty of other schools.

How many Likely Letters do you send?
We don't have a target number and I am not permitted to release the number of letters we printed, but it's safe to say that the number is comparatively small each year. I don't have year by year statistics, but I'd say the percentage that gets these letters is in the single digits. So, ninety-something percent of you won't see these letters.

If so few applicants get them, why are you writing about them here?
As you have probably seen from comments posted in the last few weeks, people are already asking questions about these letters. When the letters land in mailboxes, the talk will increase. Despite the chatter, there's little to no official talk of these letters outside of articles in college student newspapers. I'd rather let you know the facts than leave you in the dark. I hope that makes you all worry less than you would if I didn't talk about these at all.

Will I see the Likely Letter on my SIS page?
No. Likely Letters aren't decisions. They won't show up on the SIS.

Does this mean I'm getting into Echols/Rodman/College Science Scholars?
No. There are students in the scholars programs who never got a Likely Letter and there are students who got Likely Letters who aren't in any scholars program. For more information about these programs, see the Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars websites.

I got one! What does the Likely Letter mean? Am I admitted?
Congratulations! The letter means exactly what it says. In a nutshell: we like you! Keep in mind that this is not an offer of admission. Obviously, we aim to only send these to candidates we think are among the strongest in the pool, but there have been times when mid-year grades or some other new piece of information has changed a decision. That's very rare.

We are still a few weeks away from having decisions finalized.

When will I get my Likely Letter?
You shouldn't assume you are getting one. While I like to help with the management of expectations, you have a hand in that, too. If after reading all of this, you expect a Likely Letter, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Try to look at the big picture. Most students don't get them.

For what it's worth, I don't control the US Postal Service, so I can't predict when anyone will get mail.

A quick recap:

Likely Letters are sent by many selective schools to some top applicants
The vast majority of applicants will not get a Likely Letter
Likely Letters are not offers of admission
Decisions are not finalized yet
Getting a Likely Letter does not equate to an offer into one of the scholars programs
Likely Letters are sent via standard mail

Do not read into the absence of a letter.

Please do not call our office to ask about a Likely Letter. The front desk does not have a list of who got them. Similarly, there is no need to reply to a Likely Letter. See it as a pat on the back.

If you have questions, read this post again. If you still have a question, look at the replies I made to questions about these in the past. If you still have a question after that, post it below. Please use this post for questions about Likely Letters only. If you have a question about something else, comment on the next post.

Virginia Society call nights

2011-02-28T18:11:00.004-05:00

I know you're craving information at this point in the process. Unfortunately, we are still in the thick of the application review process and I don't have much to report about that other than to say that at this point, the majority of the applications in the pool have gotten read at least a couple times. There are multiple rounds in this process, so we are still a few weeks away from having decisions ready.

Between now and decision time, the students of the Virginia Society are going to call applicants to chat about UVa. We start this process early so this small, dedicated group can call as many people as possible. Lots of schools do this sort of thing, so in a few weeks, you might get used to the calls. Way back when I was a high school student, I was so surprised by the first call that I couldn't think of any questions to ask the caller. So, here's your heads up so you can think of a question or two that you'd like answered by a current student.

If you happen to get a call (they usually call in the evening), remember that the student isn't an admission officer and won't be taking notes on your conversation. This is just a chance to talk, student to student, about whatever is on your mind.

By the way, I thought it was apparent, but this blog is a first year admission blog.

There is a link to the transfer blog to the right.

Last call for missing credentials!

2011-02-22T10:08:00.001-05:00

We're going to send a last round of emails asking for missing credentials in the next day or so. If you are one of the few that get one of these emails, time is now of the essence. We need to you to quickly get us the item(s) mentioned in the email so we can get your file processed and in front of the Deans and readers.

Most of you won't hear from us at all. No news is good news right now. There will be more to talk about next week. Right now, you should be working on your FAFSA and CSS Profile for the Financial Aid people. You should really get those items filed by March 1st, which is next Tuesday.

I'm going to paste in a few notes from an entry I made a few weeks ago because it seems as though there are some new readers who haven't scrolled down. Remember to use that little search box to the right...a lot of your questions have already been covered!

-"Initiated" in a term used by our Student Information System to show that an item has been added to your to do list. It means the item has not been completed yet.

-Once your application is complete and it moves to the "ready to read" mode, you'll see a box pop up at the bottom of the status screen. "View decision" will appear in the box. It doesn't mean your decision is ready. That's just something that's built into the computer system. If you hit "view decision", you'll just see a note about decisions not being ready at this point.

-When we "flip the switch" for notification (April 1 at 5 PM Eastern), that "View Decision" link will take you to your official decision. We we are able to notify early, I will post about it on this blog.

-While the Office of Admission is paperless, admitted students will be mailed an information packet which includes an invitation to our open houses (Days on the Lawn). You will see your official letter online. The only thing we're putting in the mail is the information packet for admitted students.

-If/when you apply for Financial Aid, their office's to do list will appear on your status page. Our offices are separate, so we in Admission have no knowledge of what's going on with your aid application. Direct all questions about aid to them and all questions about admission to us.

-Financial Aid packages are posted online ONLY. They won't be sending your paper documents. You'll probably want to take screen shots or print out the screen when your aid package gets posted so you can share it with your parents.

-If you ever forget your SIS password or want to change it, you can follow the steps in that first email you got to generate a new password.

Waiting

It's starting...

2011-02-14T09:02:00.002-05:00

The nervous fidgeting has started. You've been pretty calm and cool for the last month, but you're starting to think about the next phase of this process and you want it to come RIGHT NOW! You're starting to hear about what schools send mailings or make phone calls or do whatever they do when they're through the bulk of their applications. What if you get a missing credentials email? What if you don't? What if someone walks by you wearing a UVa hat and smiles? What does that mean?

Here's the thing. We have a pretty small staff and we have this funny hang up about reading every file. There's a common assumption that we sort files to determine which ones will be read and this is not the case. Every file is read. There is no rubric in our process, so while we do look at the statistics you schools send us, we don't base our decisions purely on numbers. Program, methodology (with respect to grading, GPAs, and rank), recommendations, essays, and involvement all factor in.

So, a small staff, a lot of applications, and holistic style of review all combine to make this process slow, but comprehensive. I personally feel good about this. I know you don't feel good about the wait, but it is going to take more than a month to complete this process in a thorough way that is fair to each application file.

Try to hit the pause button when the "what ifs" start to take over. Rest assured that I will let you know when we start to do anything other than read files.

Hang in there!

Pause.