Statistics for the Class of 2013

Here are some preliminary numbers for you to crunch on. 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. Their website will update in time with more data.

First of all, there were 21,839 applications. We expected a jump in applications and a jump in the number of incomplete applications because of the move to the Common App. We had 18,598 applications last year.


Total number of applications: 21,839
Total number of VA apps: 7,663
Total number of OOS apps: 13,764

Overall offers: 6,331 total offers (28.9%)
Total VA offers: 3,276 offers (42.7%)
Total OOS offers: 3,055 offers (22%)

Enrollment goal: 3,240 first-year students

The offers numbers for VA and OOS are similar because yield for OOS is generally lower and we need to offer to more students to get the number that we need to enroll.


International Applications: 2,188
(1,484 last year...might be a sign of UVa's name recognition abroad)

Middle 50% on the first two parts of the SAT (offers only): 1300-1480
% in the top 10% of their high school class (offers only): 91

You can see statistics from past years by clicking the "statistics" tag below.

A few notes about today

Just a quick run down of some things of which you should be aware.

1. The release of decisions is pre-programed. The system will show the decisions at the appointed time. There are people in the Office of Admission and in the tech department who will monitor the system. The system has been tested many times and we don't anticipate any problems.

2. I will post three entries for you to talk about offer, waitlist, and deny decisions. I will step away from the blog until tomorrow so you all can chat about things. I realize that some will want to blow off steam and that's fine. You all have done a great job of moderating yourselves and I will leave you to do that.

3. Blogger, the site that hosts this blog, has some scheduled downtime this evening. The blog might be down for about 10 minutes.

4. I realize that you are going to be seeing decisions for a few other schools tonight. I hope you'll be gracious and compassionate when it comes to sharing your news with classmates.

5. I'll be posting a number of times today to pass the time. I will have some stats to share with you this afternoon.

Good luck, everyone!

Where to click for your decision

I thought a screen shot would help with questions about where to see decisions on the big day. You will not see the area where the link is right now. If you don't know what time that means for you, go to Time.gov and click on the east coast.

The screen shot is from the test side of the system. Your screen might have some different information showing. Don't worry about that. This is just to show you where the link will be.

Click to enlarge!

Good news!

I have been given the final word! Hope you like my hastily put together video. I'm uploading a low quality version for now (uploading the full quality would take at least 5 minutes). I hope you find my iMovie skills slightly better than last time. Good luck, everyone!

Last call for those who haven't logged into the system

We sent an email out a few hours ago to people who had not logged into the system as of yesterday morning. Please be sure to practice logging in so you aren't left waiting for your decision by snail mail.

The staff member who answers the uvaapplicationinfo@virginia.edu email account has seen an increase in emails asking for login info to be resent, so it seems as though a good number of you already acted after reading my last entry about this.

By the way, our Student Council officially recognized Noble, dog of Vice President Pat Lampkin and Vice President Wayne Cozart, as the official dog of the University. CavDog will settle with being the official dog of UVa applicants and the Office of Admission. :)

An admission free weekend

I had hoped that not posting over the weekend would allow most of you to relax and not think about the admission process, but I can see from the comments that this wasn't possible.

Now, the force you to think about something other than your application for a moment, I have a slide show about CavDog's weekend.



No updates yet. As I always promise, I'll let you know when I hear something.

Rodman & College Science Scholars update!

I've been away from my desk most of the day, so I'm sorry for the very late update. The Rodman Scholars Program has begun to email students and the College Science Scholars letters will go into the mail on Monday.

Please understand that I don't know the method Rodman is using to email students. I don't know if they are sending batches of emails or contacting students one-by-one. I don't know the time they started or when they they will be done. As always, I will post updates as I get them.

Notification for these programs is sent early to allow students a little extra time to make travel plans to visit us for the Scholars Day on Saturday, April 4th. April is a difficult time to plan programs because of religious holidays (and we can't avoid every holy day, but we try to), so April 4th we deemed the best day for Scholars Day. We hope you'll be able to make it!

What would you tell the juniors?

I'm sorry for my silence last night. I was in Richmond at a program for juniors and their parents at Cosby High School. This time of year is always interesting because we work with seniors who are at the end of this process and juniors who are just starting at the very same time.

Which leads me to ask the seniors to leave a few comments with words of wisdom for the juniors. What do you wish someone had told you before you started this process? What would you have changed about your college search?


I'm the Dean on call today, so I won't have much time to answer your questions during the day. I'll do my best to respond to the comments that were posted last night and get you an update from the printing room, but I might not be able to post until this evening. Hang in there!

How to see your decision on the big day

There have been so many questions about how decisions will be seen lately! Let's go over how this works. First of all, we won't be emailing you anything. You need to log into Student Self-Service within the Student Information System (SIS) to view your decision. Decisions are posted at 5 PM on notification day (again, I'll post the date as soon as I know it). When you log in that evening, you'll see a link for "Admission". Click the link and you'll come to a page with "View Decision" at the bottom (you might have to scroll down a little if your monitor is small). Click that link and you'll be shown a short statement revealing your decision. Sound good? In the past, I'd sit at my computer and type some code to make decisions pop up. Now, the system is programed to show those links at 5 PM. There is no point in "hammering" the site. In fact, that will probably slow it down. Watch a reliable clock and log in after it hits 5 PM. If you never logged into the SIS, search your email folders. That email contains instructions for generating a password for your SIS account. Follow the steps very carefully...the password generation process is a little tricky. DO NOT email your SSN, high school, address, favorite color, debit card PIN or any other information. Just send your full name and date of birth. It'd be really nice if you made that info the subject line of your email, come to think of it. Send this email NOW. I guarantee that if you wait to send this email until the day before or the day of notification, you will be one of hundreds doing so and the lone staff member who handles that email account will be overwhelmed and unable to reply to everyone.

Practice logging in today to make sure you're ready for the big day!

In case you need some smiles

One reader requested some pictures of CavDog smiling. He's a serious little pup, but I've managed to put together a slide show to fulfill the request. I hope the smiles are contagious!

Update by picture (and What is it? answers revealed)

Undoubtedly, some of you have been waiting with bated breath to hear the answers to the "What is it?" posts from yesterday (okay, maybe not). Here are your answers and some more pictures.

#1 Boxes of letterhead

#2 Toner cartridges ordered specifically for letter generation

We're getting close! When I went to see where we were this morning, I found the printers getting a check up. We would hate to have printing come to a halt because one of the printers broke down.



We're probably a day or two away from printing at this point. We are still working through some decisions.

BTW, students volunteer to hang out in the reception area during their free time to chat with visitors. I just went out into the reception area to find a student dressed as a banana answering a prospective student's questions. Spring Fever appears to have hit UVa.

The essay wall

Some of you have read old posts that mention my essay wall. In the past, when an essay has struck me as particularly good, I've photocopied it and posted it on my door. Now that we've gone paperless, this is a little more cumbersome...I have to take a screen shot, put it into Word or Paint, and print the resulting document. The essay wall isn't quite as big this year as in years past, but as promised, here's a picture:

The topics vary dramatically, from the silly to the serious. The common thread is that they are personal and unique. Thanks for sharing a little bit of yourselves with us through your essays. They really make each application come alive more than forms and statistics do.

The office is very busy right now. I do not have any time to crunch statistics and have already written that I will get to that when I have time. Please don't ask for statistics right now.

Notification Day still not known (Please read!)

Each entry seems to have a comment asking when decisions will be released (nothing wrong with that, I know you're anxious).

We can usually predict if we will be early when printing starts. Our staff has been doing this for so long that as soon as the printers start working, they know how many days printing and stuffing the envelopes will take. Last year, I knew the decision day would be early on March 24th. So, it's possible that by the end of the week, I'll know what day will be The Big Day.

Hang in there!

Notification is around the corner!

Echols notification has begun

Apparently, the Echols Scholars Program has changed their plans and instead of mailing invitations to the program later this week, they have started to email students. If you get one of these emails, congratulations! It means that the suspense is over. You have been offered a spot in the Class of 2013!

As far as I know, Echols is the only group contacting students at this time. If I get information about Rodman or College Science Scholars, I will post it immediately.

Click the "Echols" link above to go to the Echols website and the tag below to read past posts, which explain Echols and how Echols Scholars are selected.

What is it?

What do you think is in these boxes? Post your answer in the comments.

#1

#2

Questions answered

If you go back to a post where you asked a question, you'll probably see an answer. Comments have been closed on those old posts to make it a little easier for me to get answers to you. When I have to check 4-5 different entries, it gets a little time consuming.

I have not forgotten about you!

Dear readers, I haven't forgotten about you. I know that there are many comments that need responses right now. Please bear with me. We are very, very busy right now. I hope to have a few office pictures and replies to post by the end of the day.

I usually end posts made at this time of year with "hang in there" and I think I need to do the same. Let's hang in there together today.

Don't worry...there will be more news soon

CavDog on The Lawn

Amazingly, we're expecting rain and freezing rain today. We went from snow, to a few 80+ degree days, to this! I have a feeling CavDog wishes we were getting snow...

My iMovie skills aren't stellar, so please be kind.
I was thrilled just to figure out how to get music and the fade outs in there.

Offer Rates

Offer rates fluctuate from year to year. Because it seems as though many don't go looking for the stats available on the Office of Institutional Assessment's website (and every one of your schools should have a site where you can see this data), I thought I'd post a few screen shots for you to look over.

Basic math tells you that with 22,000 applications this year, the offer rate will go down. I don't have a statistic for you yet, as we are still working on finalizing decisions. As always, as soon as I have numbers for you, I will post them. The state mandate that 2/3 of our students be from Virginia has not changed.

General admission stats, going back to 1980

Admission stats by residency, going back to 2000

You can get older data on the website. I just posted what I could fit in a screen shot.

Carpe Donut

In an entry about free and cheap entertainment in Charlottesville last year, I posted about Marco & Luca, the dumpling shop on the Downtown Mall that has a cult following. The post has loads of comments about those dumplings and I hope those who wound up at UVa have had a chance to try them by now.

I feel that I must tell you about another snack that Charlottesville residents find addictive because it is parked outside of Peabody Hall right now: Carpe Donut. It's a donut cart. I'm not trying to turn this blog into an advertising vehicle. When a donut cart shows up at your office, it's worth mentioning.


Carpe Donut is a fixture on the Downtown Mall. You can often find it at the Saturday morning city market (a food and crafts market in a parking lot behind the mall), at events at the Pavilion, and parked near the central part of the mall. Apparently, an office here on Grounds hired the cart for a few hours, which is why it's parked outside my building.

If you wind up at UVa and see this thing parked somewhere, check it out. I don't even like donuts and I'm tempted to run out to it right now.

Days on The Lawn 2009

The Days on The Lawn schedule for 2009 has been set and it's a little different this year. DOTL are open houses for admitted students.

Saturday, April 4th will be Scholars Day. This day is set up specifically for the students invited into the Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars programs. You aren't required to attend this day and you can attend a different DOTL if it doesn't work with your schedule.

The regular Days on The Lawn are:
Monday, April 6th
Monday, April 13th
Friday, April 17th
Monday, April 20th

You are not required to attend. In the past, we've had many students show up for what some call a "victory lap", meaning they are already decided and have deposited at UVa. While we love having you here, keep in mind that these events are crucial for students who are still weighing their college options. We want to allow those students to get as much time with us as they need so that all of their questions can be answered.

Juniors and sophomores, if you are planning to visit us in April, please try to avoid these days. The Grounds are packed full of visitors and parking is very, very difficult as a result.

For more info, see the Plan a Visit page on our website. See past entries about DOTL by clicking the tag below this post.

A note about parking: We have rented out the entire Emmet/Ivy Garage for DOTL. For those familiar with Grounds, that is the garage behind The Cavalier Inn, at the intersection of Emmet Street (Route 29) and Ivy Road. The UVa bus has a stop right outside the garage for those who don't want to take the short walk up to Grounds. We will not be validating for the Central Grounds Garage that day. We want that garage to remain as open as possible for people who have other business on Grounds on DOTL days.

Q&A with Dean J

A few months ago, a reader said that it would be fun to know a little bit more about me. I've resisted making this blog a personal journal, but I realize that you may be curious about who I am.

So, to keep you occupied until I'm back in front of a computer on Sunday night, feel free to post any questions you have about me in the comments. Obviously, I reserve the right not to answer some questions if they're a little too personal.

Again, this was another reader's idea for a post. I hope we can have a little fun with it.

Have a great weekend, all!

Out of the Office

I'll be away from the blog until Sunday night, at which time I'll respond to questions that have been posted in the last day or so.

These kids are good: Madison House

I'm watching one of our Public Access channels right now because CavDog was tapped to open a show (the producer shot some video of him on the Downtown Mall this morning) and one of the guests is from Madison House, which is something I haven't mentioned on the blog this year. Madison House is our volunteer clearinghouse, of sorts. Thousands of students are active in this organization, which is student led, with a professional staff of four. The professional staff does not run things. Rather, they train the student leaders early on and support them as they manage the organization. This is yet another example of student self-governance, something that is considered one of UVa's hallmarks.

One of the student directors at Madison House, Stephanie Passman, is a former Office of Admission intern. Stephanie just started a blog to document the service work she's doing this semester. I hope you'll check it out.

Likely Letters, round 2

Another batch of Likely Letters should hit the mail over the weekend. Everything we mail has to go to the central mail services to be sealed and metered, so I don't know exactly when they'll be released to the US Postal Service. Sorry I can't be more specific about the time frame. I don't think there will be another "wave" of these letters.

Read past posts about these letters and then read the following before posting questions:

1. A small number of likely letters are sent each year. There is no set number of letters sent.

2. The letters are sent in waves, not at once. I can't predict when a letter will arrive. I can only tell you when letters left my office.

3. The absence of a letter does not mean you are going to be waitlisted or denied. The vast majority of admitted students never receive one. Assume that you won't get one and then it'll be a little surprise if you do.

4. There is no relationship between likely letters and Echols/Rodman/College Science Scholars.

5. The letter means exactly what it says, no more, no less. It is not an offer letter. We have not made final decisions yet.

6. International students can get one of these letters, but the letters are sent via regular mail, which can take a long time.

7. We do not expect replies to these letters.

Okay...let's hear those questions!

Double eek! My application is still incomplete!

If you are a first year applicant with items on your to do list and you have not gotten an email from us asking for the item, relax.

Do not send unsolicited duplicates of any credentials. Only send additional copies of documents if someone from the Office of Admission contacts you. Please monitor your email and make sure uvaapplicationinfo@virginia.edu is in your address book. You still need to monitor your spam folder, as some staff members will email you directly and not use that general email account.

Frequent, repetitive questions

An anonymous reader asked a question today that I think I'll turn into a full post. The question:

Dean J -- Do you ever get frustrated with the constant, and I'm sure, repetitive questions? I imagine you get all sorts of e-mails and blog posts of students freaking out about this time of year.

-Wondering

In a nutshell, the answer is no.

Application review season is definitely stressful, but I come to the blog to take a break from that. I get email updates when any of you comment and there are times when I'm tempted to take a break sooner than I should to come see what you all are talking about. I enjoy this! If I'm frustrated about something, I usually won't post at all. There are times when I think that I should be using smiley faces and "LOL" to show you all that I'm not annoyed.

The repetitive questions don't bother me all that much, but they sometimes make me wonder if some of our applicants are ready to move on to college, where deadlines aren't as soft as in admission and professors might not be so amused by having to repeat themselves (how many times have I written the words "you will not be penalized" in the past month?).

I really enjoy the comments posted by readers who use a consistent alias (hit the "Name/URL" button when you post a comment and you can pick a name). In past years, I've had a few students come up to me at Days on The Lawn and introduce themselves by their nickname. It's always great to put a face with those names.


I should add that I used to add nice language to "frame" my answers when I emailed or chatted with students online, but feared that my answers got lost. That's why my responses to questions are in the format they are: reader's name in bold, short answer to question. I want you all to be able to zero in on the question right away, without a lot of extra fluff.

Snow Day at UVa

As always, click to enlarge!

Thin Mints & Files

The Grounds are empty. The buses are not very full. Spring Break has started. Wait...that might be haiku. It is haiku! Not very good haiku, but haiku nonetheless.


In Peabody Hall, we're polishing off Girl Scout cookies at an alarming rate and still working on getting each application in front of two different readers. Our administrative staff estimates that they are half way through scanning and linking all the mid-year reports that came in late (for some reason, many high schools sent those late this year).

If MYs are still on your checklist, relax. No need to worry just yet!

Some stats to consider

I won't have this year's admission stats ready for another month or so, but I thought I'd post links to past years' stats to give you an idea of what might happen this year. Keep in mind that applications went up dramatically this year (we're up over 22,000 applications), probably due to our move to the Common App, and it's hard to say if the increase in number also means an increase in quality. Each year, we've offered to over 6,000 applicants to get a class of around 3,200 students. I haven't looked into what the projections are for this year, but will share those when I can.

2007 Admission Statistics
2008 Admission Statistics

Those posts are just my blog entries from past years. If you want the official data for past years (going back quite some time), see the Office of Institutional Assessment's Data Catalog. Each school to which you are applying should have a Data Catalog published. Just google that term and the school name if you want to find stats for the other schools on your list.

Likely Letter questions answered

There are so many questions in the Likely Letter comments that I thought I'd post some responses as a new entry.

Danielle, if the college course you took doesn't appear on your high school transcript, fax the college transcript to 434-924-7674. You don't need a cover page, just circle your name and date of birth on the transcript.

Grateful, thanks for your comment. I hope everyone remembers to use the search box at the top of the blog to find answers to their questions!

XXL, because grading scales vary dramatically from school to school, I can't really be specific about what mid-year grades will affect your application negatively.

Anonymous, there is no rule about spacing admission essays. I personally prefer single spaced essays.

Anonymous and NorthEndWahoo, it's a simple question of weight ratios. Did one of you write an essay about a favorite word being "ni"?

UVa Hopeful, since we have only sent out one batch of Likely Letters, I don't know if the number generated has increased. We we won't know that for a few weeks. I can't generate that stat easily because we are using a different computer system than in years past.

The Virginia Society has started to call students who might be considered for the Echols Scholars Program. They are not calling Rodman or College Science Scholars candidates.

Jesse, our system uses your official ETS score report to pull the highest scores from each section of the SAT. Don't worry about self-reported SAT scores.

Anonymous, we don't read by region. The letters were not sent by region.

Anonymous, see the update I posted to the original entry.

Anonymous, sounds like ETS hasn't sent those scores or they didn't match up exactly to your application. No worries...that will work itself out in time and we'll use the scores on your transcript. Don't worry about that item on your to do list.

Please pick an alias instead of using the anonymous button. As you can see, it's hard to direct replies when half the questions coming from "Anonymous". Hit the "Name/URL" button and fill in a name...it doesn't have to be real.

CavDog Takeover

Hey everyone! Dean J has been sick, but thought you all needed a zen moment, so I'm taking over the blog to show you this awesome stick that I found a few weeks ago when we went hiking. Isn't it great?


Dean J will be back tomorrow. She thinks you should go check out UVa Life, the student blog, while she's away.

Likely Letters have started to go out (2009)

We know time creeps by slowly between deadline and notification. Many schools break the silence by sending "Likely Letters" to a handful of students with strong profiles. For some, the arrival of the letter will be confusing. What does it mean? Is a response in order?

Here's the deal:
1. A Likely Letter is our way of saying we think you're a strong candidate in our pool. It is not an offer letter, but if your mid-year grades are as good as those already on your transcript, you can be fairly confident about you admission decision.

2. There is no set number of Likely Letters, but comparatively few are sent. As I've written in the past, it's safe to assume you won't get a Likely Letter. Don't look for it. If it comes, it's a pat on the back.

3. There are times when mid-years arrive and show a drop in curriculum strength or grades that prompts us to change our decision.

4. Likely Letters go to domestic and international students, but they are put in regular mail, so they will not get to some students in foreign countries. They will not be posted online.

5. Please don't call to ask about Likely Letters. They mean exactly what they say. There is no need to respond to these letters.

Questions?

2/21/09 Update:
I posted this elsewhere and figured I'd post it here, too.

Last year, I believe we ran the letters three different times during the reading process. There are still plenty of applications to read and more letters will be run at some point in the future. I'll let you all know on this blog when they get sent out again.

We are still "first reading" applications at this point. The administrative staff that has been scanning and linking mid-year reports is also trying to contact students and schools about missing documents to get nearly complete applications ready to read.

We are still over a month away from having decisions ready. Hang in there!

Weekend Topic: Basketball

I took a quick video at the Clemson game today (the Hoos won in overtime, 85-81) to show you where you'll get to sit at basketball games if you come to UVa. Keep in mind that this video was taken at halftime and the game was early this afternoon. John Paul Jones arena is not always as quiet as this!

Entrance to sporting events is included in student activity fees, so there are no tickets to secure for sporting events. At basketball games, students sit in the section behind the team benches (the right side of the frame) and behind one of the baskets (opposite the camera). The band, cheerleaders, and dance team take up a good amount of the space behind that basket, too.

This little video shows Sean Singletary's (CLAS '08) number being added to the banner of retired numbers.

For more information about Virginia athletics, check out the Virginia Sports website.

UVa professor's TV show debuts Sunday!

National Geographic Channel, the channel HDTVs were made for watching, will debut the show "Known Universe" this Sunday at 8 PM.

One of the hosts of that show is Lou Bloomfield, a beloved member of the Physics department at UVa. Students flock to Lou's classes, especially the ever popular PHYS 106: How Things Work (he has a similarly named website for the public).

If you STILL haven't logged into the Student Information System

Back in December, I tried to convince you that you needed to log into the Student Information System (SIS). Just in case you lost the email with you verification details in it, we are resending that email to those who have not yet logged into the system. The email is going out on Monday or Tuesday.

Student Self-Service is where you'll see your decision (around April 1st*), accept your offer of admission or a spot on the waitlist, pay all of your bills, update your contact info, etc. throughout your career at UVa.

If you have not logged into the system and lost your email (or never got it), please add uvaapplicationinfo@virginia.edu to your address book now so this email doesn't go into your junk/spam folder.


*As always, if the notification date changes, you will hear about it first on this blog.

Flip Video test drive

This is just a test to see how these videos might look on the blog.

How we spend our days

The first comment on the Flip Video post suggested I record myself to show you what my day is like. At this time of year, my days are not very exciting. They are either spent here:

Or here:

My colleagues are in the same boat.

My new toy

I had a neat gadget delivered to my office today: a Flip Video camera. The web communications group here at UVa is embarking on a project that will put a few dozen of these into student hands to document life on Grounds. I imagine we'll see some of the videos show up on the UVa Youtube channel and others might make their way onto Youtube in other ways.

I need your help, though. What do you think I should document?

The L word

They're coming...stay tuned for this year's missive on likely letters. While I put the finishing touches on that entry, you can read last year's posts about these letters.

Linking update

I was chatting with a colleague about the scanning and linking process today. First of all, you should know that the administrative staff, the people who scan documents and then electronically file them, is working pretty much non-stop (including weekends) to finish linking all the documents you've sent us. They seem to think they'll be done by the end of the week or this weekend, which means they might start contacting you about missing documents next week. So, if you've been worrying about your status, just sit tight for another week. You aren't in trouble. You won't be penalized if something is missing.

What else should you be doing? Well, nothing much. There is no need to send letters, more recommendations, or copies of the term paper you just finished.

Oh, and if you got the mid-year reminder email today, don't fret. It's a reminder. If you already know that your counselor is sending those, there's no need to run to the guidance office tomorrow morning in a panic.

Mid-year grades are due February 15

Mid-year grades have been rolling in and our staff is scanning and linking those on top of still working through what came in during January. On Monday or Tuesday, we will email those who don't have mid-years filed yet just to remind them that those reports need to be sent. Do not panic if your counselor has sent your first semester/trimester grades and you get this email. It just means your grades haven't been linked to your file yet. They might be en route right now.

We hope your counselors can sent your mid-year grades by February 15th. As was the case with Secondary School Reports and transcripts, mid-years can come in either through the Common App's counselor system or by mail. We're happy to file the Common App's mid-year form along with your transcript, but if we just get a transcript, that's fine as well.

If you live in a country where school is over for the year, don't worry about mid-year grades. We are aware that you don't have anything to send us!

Psst...it's snowing

Charlottesville hit a high of about 62 degrees this afternoon and now it's snowing. I added a few pictures to the slide show.

Weather was supposed to be a weekend topic...we'll get back to the admission talk tomorrow.

This is what winter looks like at UVa

It snowed on Tuesday for the first time this academic year. I stepped outside to take a few pictures so you'd see what can close down local grade schools. Classes are rarely canceled at UVa (it has only happened twice in recent years), which is understandable when this is what is on the ground.

The snow usually melts by the end of the day, then freezes overnight and that's when getting around becomes a little more difficult.

Those of you from warmer climates should think about getting some boots and winter gear this year in preparation for college.

We have a new dean!

We have a new dean and it's a member of the family...Greg Roberts, who was our Senior Associate Director, is now Dean of Admission!

I'm blogging by Blackberry from the President's house. More tomorrow...maybe I'll even have a fun picture for you.

Update: Public Affairs already has a press release posted.

Did you hear? We got a few applications.

I mentioned this a few weeks ago in a comment on the blog, but I didn't make a post out if it, so you might not know. We're up. Way up. We had about 18,500 applications last year and we're up to about 21,500 this year. I missed winning the office pool by 500 apps. Just kidding...we don't have an office pool.

Everyone wants to know what this means for the admission process. It's a little early to predict our offer rate. We expected an increase in applications when we moved to the Common App (most schools see a jump in apps the first year the Common App is used) and I guess the economy has more people considering public schools, but we don't know if that increase in numbers will also mean an increase in quality. I usually don't have admission statistics until late March, so please don't ask for them now. I will post them as soon as they are calculated.

For now, I can make one prediction: notification probably won't be early this year. With such a dramatic increase in numbers, we're going to need as much time as possible to review applications this year. Count on April 1st being our mail date. As always, if there's any chance of notification coming earlier, I'll write about it here.

Thanks for reading...I apologize for the slow updates. We're doing our best to get back into our routine.

Jack Blackburn

I haven't posted a picture of anyone in our office in the past. Today, I want you to see the man who was behind the Office of Admission at UVa for over 20 years, Jack Blackburn.

Jack passed away last night. I'll let our public affairs office handle listing the litany of achievements and awards. I will say that he was a wonderful, kind man who truly cared about each applicant. He once said his proudest accomplishment is the student body at The University and I know he'd be proud of the talented applicants who have asked to join that group this year.


The Cavalier Daily published a news story and a wonderful opinion piece about Jack yesterday. Their timing was amazing. I find it very fitting that a scholarship fund with Jack's name on it will benefit AccessUVa, something he strongly supported.

4:00 PM update: Public Affairs has posted a news release about Jack's life and his contributions to The University.

A message from President Casteen that had been emailed earlier today has also been posted on the UVa website.

Quiet times at Peabody Hall

It's very quiet in Peabody these days, mostly because we are up to our ears in your wonderful applications. However, we're having a bit of a disruption at the moment. There is a caped figure parading around out front with a sign that says "Keep Poe Alive" or something like that (a recreation of Edgar Allen Poe's Lawn room is across the street from Peabody Hall).

My first thoughts were of you, dear readers, and whether I could get a photo of this young man for your amusement. Alas, I am reading at home today and can't snap the picture myself. If one of my colleagues comes through with an image, you'll see an update to this post.

Cross your fingers!

Is it sad that this is the highlight of the day thus far?

Weekend Topics: Time to brainstorm

"Weekend Topics" has become a bit of a tradition on this blog. I'm confident using the term "tradition" because someone told me just the other day that doing something two years in a row constitutes a tradition at UVa. Because this is the third year of Weekend Topics, it's a traditional along the same lines as Secret Societies and Girls in Pearls.

Weekend Topics are posts that I make on Friday night or Saturday morning and the subject of the posts can be anything except college applications and the admission process.

You can use the tag at the bottom of the post to find old Weekend Topics (sports, music, food, shopping, transportation...the list goes on). After looking at those old posts, I'd like you to post some ideas for this year's topics. A current UVa student also made some suggestions and I'll add yours to the list to fill the weekends between now and the big day (notification day).

Let's here it...what are you ideas for Weekend Topics?

Eek! My application is STILL incomplete!

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on various sites from students who are worried about their incomplete applications. I guess the first post I wrote about this is too far down the page to matter, so I'm doing a follow up.

If your application is marked as incomplete and the missing item is your transcript, do not go into your Guidance Office and ask for it to be sent again. Never, ever send unsolicited duplicates of documents to admission offices. It just slows down the speed at which everything is processed. We still, in this day and age, have people who print out applications that have been completed online to mail in. In some cases, they've hit submit online, so the application is a complete duplicate. In other cases, they did not hit submit online, but created an hour of work by submitting the print out (we actually asked a few who did this to hit submit online to save us all the work of hand entering their data into the computer system).

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

At this time, all of the deans/readers are reviewing applications full time and the administrative staff is working to scan and index (index is the term for linking a scanned document to an applicant's file) all the mail. We will contact you individually if we are still missing documents from your file after the indexing is completed.

Hang in there! There isn't much for you to do at this point but wait until your mid-year grades are ready and make sure your counseling staff knows which schools need those grades from you.

A new trend in admission?

I've got a lot of reading to do, so I'm just going to get to the point. I have seen more students checking that they do not waive the right to see recommendations and Secondary School Reports than ever before. Just a few years ago, it was rare to see this. Most students are still waiving access to school forms, but the number of those who are not is definitely increasing.

Why do you think this practice in is happening?

Pictures from deadline week

Let's talk about competition

Sometimes when I meet students on the road or take calls, they want to know who "their" admission officer is. While other schools give them the answer they expect (a name), we have to explain that we don't have territories at UVa. We don't group students by school to read them. This is more time consuming, but we think it means that we compare students to their school's profile, meaning we look at what choices they made in light of the options open to them at their school. We don't have the profiles of a student's classmates in our heads as we review their application. I may read a student from Richmond, then a student from Chicago, then a student from Atlanta, then a student from Virginia Beach...you get the idea.

Resist the urge to think that certain students are being admitted "over" their classmates. We don't call up all applications from a certain school with the idea that we'll take a certain number. We have multiple rounds of review that aim to check and recheck decisions. This takes a good amount of time and we try our best to assemble the most competitive, interesting class we can.

Do you have questions about this style of reading?

Eek! Your application is incomplete!

If you've been eagerly checking your application status and wondering what to do about it being marked "incomplete" despite all available credentials being sent, don't worry just yet. At this time of year, we are working as quickly as possible to open, scan, and index all the mail that is coming into our offices. Here are a few scenarios:

Everything is in except my mid-year grades. My school doesn't have those yet!
Mid-year grades aren't due until February 15th. If all of your documents are in and the mid-year report is the only thing left on your to-do list, don't worry. We will move forward with your application for now, but expect a mid-year report will be sent as soon as it is available. Make sure your counselor has the mid-year report form, which can be found on the Common App website.

My credentials were sent weeks ago and I just logged in for the first time to see that they aren't there!
In this case, your credentials are probably here and not linked to your file because your application hasn't been processed yet. Credentials that arrive for students who haven't submitted applications yet are scanned into our imaging system and filed in a miscellaneous credentials "drawer". When applications are received from Common App, a staff member goes through the miscellaneous drawer to find credentials that need to be "linked" to that application. At this time of year, we get many applications each night (there is a nightly transfer from Common App that gives us all applications submitted that day). Our staff is small and works as quickly as possible to process and link as many applications as possible each day. Obviously, as the deadline draws closer, the number of submitted applications goes up (sometimes over 1,000 applications come in at a time).


My application was submitted weeks ago and I know my counselor sent credentials before the deadline!
In this case, your credentials are probably in a mail bin, waiting to be opened. To give you a sense of how much mail is coming in, on January 2nd, we were opening mail that was delivered on December 15th. Once mail is opened, each document is scanned into the system and linked to an application. You may not see a change in your status for 2-3 weeks because so many documents arrive in the days around the deadline.

I took these pictures on January 2nd:

One of the stacks from DHL

Don't worry! We aren't going to penalize you if your credentials aren't checked in for a few weeks.


If this entry hasn't made you feel better, perhaps some peaceful pictures of CavDog will help.

You did it! Now what?

After you hit submit, you might enjoy reading UVa Life, a blog that was started by a current student earlier this year. The writer isn't paid and is blogging as a service to prospective students. I think she'd really enjoy answering your questions.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

CavDog's serious expression might match yours this NYE if you're trying to put the finishing touches on some applications. Good luck, everyone!

Do you have last minute application questions?

If you have last minute application questions, the first thing you need to know is that we are understanding when things go wrong. Remember that we can't fix problems with the Common App site, so make sure to direct your questions to the right place.

Let me also explain that once you submit your application, it will take a couple days for the file to be sent to us by Common App and for processing to prompt a login email to be sent to you. When you log in for the first time, don't be alarmed by your to-do list. Credentials may be in our system, but not yet linked to your file. It may take a week or two 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 staff member must manually link that transcript to your newly submitted application.

We will contact you when we are through the bulk of the processing if we are still missing documents.

That being said, here is how you can get answers to last minute questions:

• Post a comment on this entry
• Post on the wall of the UVa Class of 2013 group on Facebook (other students might have answers)
• Post on the UVa forum of College Confidential (current applicants/students may have answers)
  
• Instant message me through Facebook (please don't send a traditional message)
• Instant message me through AIM (UVaDeanJ)
• Instant message me through Google Chat (UVaDeanJ)

I won't be logged into all of those all the time between now and deadline, but I will try to be on in the evenings. If I don't reply right away, I've either stepped away from my desk (I'm going this from home) or am answering questions for another student.

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

As the holidays end, applications are due

CavDog's tired of traveling!

We're still on our "Christmas Tour", but I wanted to check in to remind those of you who haven't submitted your applications that you probably don't want to wait until the very last minute to hit the submit buttons (yes, that's plural...there are THREE components to submit).

If something goes wrong with your application, you need to get in touch with the Common App people by submitting a help ticket via the link on top of every page on their website. We can't solve Common App website problems in our office at UVa. Because there are many schools with deadlines in early January, your problem might not get resolved immediately, hence the need to get things wrapped up a day or two before deadline.

Good luck! The blog posts will come more regularly once I get back to Charlottesville on Tuesday.

A follow up note about Facebook groups

Yesterday, I posted about Facebook groups being created en masse by a group of people lacking any affiliation with a college or university. Turns out the group was probably just one person working for College Prowler and/or a not-quite-in-business company called Match U. The reasons given for creating the groups were:

...to see how many students actively participate in online communities. We also wanted to identify the concerns of incoming college students.

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about that statement.


By the way, I have always enjoyed watching students create groups to connect with other appilcants. Just a few weeks ago, I talked to visitors at an open house about the wonderful opportunity that social networking offers students. I don't think incoming classes have ever been as well connected prior to showing up at UVa as they are today. I've seen students find roomates on Facebook, I've seen clubs form on Facebook...I think Facebook is great! I've never tried to control it because I understand and like what Facebook is.

I created a group for prospective Class of 2013 members to provide a group that will never be used as a marketing tool for a company.

Let's get back to the admission stuff.

CavDog is tired of talking about Facebook groups

The 12 Days of Winter Break on Youtube

There's always a surprise to be found on Youtube. I can't even remember what I was looking for, but I found the video below and couldn't turn it off. I was tempted to fast forward to the 3:30 mark for the big finale because I was a little creeped out by the animated Jefferson wearing a santa hat. There's a chuckle here and there. My personal favorite is the "Deans a-leaping."

A note for Facebook users

I've always felt pretty strongly that admission officers should let Facebook groups geared towards applicants and incoming students grow organically. Last night, a well-researched blog post by Brad Ward at Butler University changed my mind.

College Prowler, whose main activity is publishing college guide books, has created well over 300 Class of 2013 groups for colleges and universities around the country. Many are deemed "official", including two of the three they created for UVa. They've also used trademarked logos, but that's another issue.

I emailed the CEO of College Prowler to get his reasoning for doing this (and really it's a ring of unpaid student interns that are doing all the work), but I think most people would conclude that they are going to sell marketing opportunities to companies that want to interact with college-bound students. I would hate for your interest in UVa open you up for spam from companies that aren't related to us.

This morning, I created a "Dean J" Facebook account and started an Official University of Virginia Class of 2013 Facebook group. I'm not interested in checking your profiles (admission officers at UVa don't do that). I want to provide a group for prospective students and applicants that won't be used to market any for-profit enterprise. I might post updates now and then about the admission process, but I won't be heavily monitoring the group.

Chat rooms open tonight!

Deans and current students will be logging in to the UVa chat rooms answer your questions tonight from 7-9 PM. There will be multiple rooms, so when you are presented with your options, don't just go to the first room. This is the last chat night before the application deadline.

Hope to see some of you there!

UVa Chat Rooms

Let's talk about perfection

The pressure to live up to perfection can get anyone down

There was a point yesterday afternoon when my fingers hovered over the keyboard and I found myself thinking "I don't know this kid at all." I had just finished reading an application and was trying to write an enthusiastic opening to my notes, but nothing was coming. It didn't really make sense. The curriculum was excellent, the grades were great, the test scores were solid, the applicant was involved, the counselor's recommendation was positive, and the essays were meticulously edited. Many people would say the application was flawless.

I had the perfect application in front of me, but I had trouble getting excited about it. It was an application that epitomized an idea I had a few years ago:

Sometimes

perfect

is

boring

Does the student who achieves perfection (whatever that is) get accepted to lots of schools? Sure. But at UVa, we'll be admitting over 6,000 students to bring in a class of about 3,170 students. If we only admit perfection, we'll have a pretty small class. Yes, you need a strong profile to be admitted, but we don't have a picture of the perfect student in our heads as we read your files.

My advice: don't try to be the perfect applicant. Try to be the most perfect version of you. You might wind up giving us a lot to write about when we take our notes.

Perfection is nice, but so is personality

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

CavDog wouldn't dream of letting a day go by without looking at his application checklist

A few days after you submit your Common App and we download it into our SIS (Student Information System, the "cradle to grave" computer system that holds all info about people who work and attend UVa), you'll get an email outlining how to the Student Self-Service part of the system.

First, you have to generate a password for the system using your UVa computing ID and SIS ID number (both are sent in the email). You can generate a new password whenever you'd like to by following the same instructions again (no need to email us if you lose your password, just generate a new one). Once your password is displayed, write it down! The system isn't going to email it to you.

I have a report that shows me when a student who has submitted an application last logged into the system and I'm sad to report that less than half of those who have submitted an application have logged into Student Self-Service. This is really important! Student Self-Service is where you'll see your decision (around April 1st), accept your offer of admission, pay all of your bills, pick classes, update your contact info...it's basically your "one stop shop" from the moment you apply until your relationship with UVa ends.

Go find that email. It came from uvaapplicationinfo@virginia.edu and it would have been sent within five days of your application being downloaded. Check your spam/junk folders for it if you don't see it in your inbox. If you still can't find it, you can email us for your info, but please scour your email folders for the information first. Our email accounts are being inundated with student requests right now, so it might be a few days before we are able to respond to your message.

Reminder: check your Common App status

I've gotten a few calls in the past week from students who thought they submitted their applications, but who haven't gotten email confirmations from us about getting into the UVa Student Information System, where status pages are found.

In these cases, I've found that students have submitted one part of the application (payment, for example), but they haven't actually submitted the Common App Basic and UVa Supplement. Be sure to check your main Common App page to verify that all parts of your applications (this goes for all of your apps, not just your UVa app) are submitted! There's a little chart for each school that should show you the dates that you've submitted each component.

The semester is coming to a close

The last of the final exams will be given tomorrow and the most of the students who are still here will head home for the holidays. Many locals look forward to our student-free weeks, when traffic is lighter and sidewalks are so congested, but I have to admit that I miss the hustle and bustle that comes about when 13,000 undergraduates are in town.

Goodness knows we won't see anything like this until the students get back.



These pre-exam mobs are pretty common. I've heard about variations at many different colleges around the country. I doubt any end as impressively as ours, though!

The Essay Wall returns

Pardon my absence, but we've been knee deep (as opposed to elbow deep) in applications and have been tucked away reading for pretty long stretches. Happily, I was able to put the first essays up on The Essay Wall this afternoon. Old readers probably know this from past years, but I'll explain for the newcomers...

I like to post the most interesting essays on the wall outside my office for my colleagues to read. The good essays definitely make reviewing applications more interesting and more personal (well, as personal as staring at an image of your credentials can get) for us. Over the course of the application season, the essays pile up and spread to the door, the molding, and get stacked on top of each other.

When the wall gets truly impressive, I'll post a picture. For now, you'll have to imagine three lonely pieces of paper waiting for others to join them.

Back I go to my files...

Admission office field trip to the School of Architecture

After our visit to Campbell Hall today, I think everyone should try to fit in a tour of the School of Architecture while at UVa. Two striking, thoughtful additions were added to the school this year. Both were designed by faculty members, who were kind enough to act as our guides.



You can open the photo album in a new window to see larger photos by clicking on the bottom part of the slide show box.