Be careful with your personal information

I've just heard reports that someone is calling college-bound students and requesting credit card information under the guise of being a financial aid officer. The students are being told that their next tuition payment is due immediately and that they can take care of it over the phone by giving some personal information.

Obviously, when you get a spoof email, it's easy to ignore, but I imagine it's a pretty scary when someone calls from a college or university and says there's a problem with your account. Just be forewarned that tuition bills at UVa are sent by mail and no one from our Student Financial Services office would call and ask for a credit card payment to be made.

If you get a call from someone claiming to be an aid officer from UVa, report it to the police (I imagine caller ID information would be very useful) and let our Student Financial Services office know about it (you can reach them toll free at 866-391-0063).

The UVa student blog is born!

As if you couldn't see it coming, our Summer Guides, students who spend the summer working with the Office of Admission, have started a blog. They've come up with a pretty spiffy title: The View from Grounds. They're just getting going and I'm sure they'd love to field questions from prospective students about anything on your minds.

Hoos for Hokies message finally comes down

After a record setting 50 days, the Hoos for Hokies message that was painted on the Beta Bridge has been painted over. At first, I hoped that this new message was painted on the opposite side of the bridge, but alas, it is directly over the original and over the update that was added by an art class at UVa (the artists were unknown at first, but were later revealed).

2008 Essay Questions

We've already posted the 2008 essay questions on the Office of Admission website, but I thought I'd post them here as well. See this as a hint. If you spend time working on college applications this summer, work on your essays. A lot of the time we spend reviewing applications is spent reading essays. Analyzing transcripts and reading forms can get a little dry, which makes us really look forward to getting a sense of personality from your essays!

(1) Please answer the question that corresponds to the school you selected on Part I of your application in half a page, or roughly 250 words.

College of Arts and Sciences: What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised or unsettled or challenged you, and in what way?

School of Engineering: Discuss experiences that led you to choose an engineering education at U.Va. and the role that scientific curiosity plays in your life.

School of Architecture: What led you to apply to the School of Architecture?

School of Nursing: Discuss experiences that led you to choose the School of Nursing.

(2) Answer one of the following questions. Limit your response to half a page, or approximately 250 words.

• What is your favorite word, and why?
• Describe the world you come from and how that world shaped who you are.
• Discuss something you secretly like but pretend not to or vice versa?
• What issue of local,national,or international significance concerns you? Why?
• "We might say that we were looking for global schemas, symmetries, universal and unchanging laws - and what we have discovered is the mutable, the ephemeral, the complex." Support or challenge Nobel Prize winner Ilya Prigogine's assertion.

(3) Please write on a topic of your choice.

If an essay question for another college piqued your interest, feel free to submit your response to that question. Please limit your submission to one page, or approximately 500 words.

It's maintenance time

It's almost time for the ApplyOnline website to come down so that we can prepare it for the next season. The site won't be coming down, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up just in case there are some hiccups in the next few weeks. You'll still be able to log into your application, though there will be a point over the summer when we archive all accounts to have a nice, clean database ready for the next group of applicants.

You'll see a note about that when the time comes.

Did you forget to respond?

There are still a good number of students who have not sent any response to our offer of admission. Today, we'll assume those students have turned us down and change their status.

If for some reason, you were offered admission, haven't replied yet, and want a spot in the incoming class, call our office. This does not apply to waitlisted students who were offered a spot. The letter those students received informs them of their reply deadline (usually one week after the letter is received).

Yet another UVa blog

Inspired in part by the traffic to this blog and the high number of comments from transfer students, yet another UVa admission blog has been created, the UVa Transfer Admission blog.

I hope some of you transfers will still visit Notes from Peabody, but I imagine you'll all be very excited to see a blog dedicated to addressing your concerns.

A tiny bit of waitlist movement

There's been a very small bit of movement on the waitlist for freshman. I won't guess at a number...I was personally working with architecture students, so I'm not aware of how many are coming off the waitlist for the other schools. I'll just venture a guess that the number will be much, much less than it was last year (last year the number was around 145).

We'll start going to the transfer waitlist over the course of the next week to ten days. My sense is that the students contacted will mostly be CLAS students, but a few might have applied to other schools.

I know that this is not great news for many of you, but it looks like the class is nearly full at this time.

A new blog on the UVa block

Our AccessUVa coordinator has just started her very own blog! For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, AccessUVa is our financial aid program. Our coordinator works in the Office of Admission and serves as a liaison between us and the Office of Student Financial Services. She'll be writing about college costs and how to navigate the financial aid process at UVa. She'll also be happy to see your comments and questions. Remember that she isn't a financial aid officer, so she won't be able to pull up your financial aid application (that is done in Student Financial Services), but she will be able to help you understand your financial aid application and award letter.

I hope you all will be as thoughtful with your comments on her blog as you've been here on mine. After all, a blog isn't really a blog without comments and conversation!

Important notes for transfer students

Transfer decisions were posted yesterday morning and letters are going in the mail today. There are three pieces of information related to your decisions that I'd like to share.

1. You have until May 15th to reply. The site said May 1st yesterday and we've asked for an edit to be made.

2. If you were a "spring rollover", meaning you applied to start in the Spring, weren't admitted, and we rolled your application over to the fall, the decision you see when you log in is the one from the Spring. We have to make new accounts for the rollover applicants. We'll be emailing each student in that very small group to let them know, but I thought I'd put the info out there now.

3. We aim to go to the waitlist by June 1st. If you are on the transfer waitlist and want to be considered, you must send your spring grades.



I want to add a personal note of thanks for your applications. I always find the stories transfers share with us in the applications to be very powerful. If you were not admitted, that in no way diminishes your accomplishments and the obstacles you've overcome in the course of your educational career. As with the first year process, there are a limited number of spots and we don't have room for every great student out there.

Congratulations to those of you who were admitted! You'll start to receive information from various offices at the University shortly to let you know about setting up your "e-services" account, housing, transfer orientation, etc.

Great news for international students

Some alumni have banded together to organize a bus to take international students from Dulles International Airport to UVa before orientation session L (just before classes start). Seems like a nice way to make the trip...it's free, too!

For international students who are attending Session L of New Student Orientation, the University of Virginia is providing a free bus service from Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC to Charlottesville on Tuesday, August 21 and Wednesday, August 22. First year international students should fly in to Dulles (IAD), where they will be greeted by U.Va. alumni and staff, driven to the University, and escorted to their residential halls to rest after the long day of travel. Students who do not ride the Orientation Express will not be allowed into their residential halls until Wednesday, August 22. For more information, please e-mail Kate Malay at katemalay@virginia.edu. Sign up online at http://www.uvaclubs.virginia.edu/orientationexpress.

Transfer notification update

Transfer decisions will be posted to online accounts at 5 PM on Monday, April 30th. Decision letters will be mailed the next day.

As an aside, the Beta Bridge still looks as it does in the pictures below. I have never heard of a message staying on there so long during the school year. Walking down Rugby Road, I saw banners hanging from many Greek houses with messages about Virginia Tech. It's good to see the rivalry being put aside.

A quiet day at UVa

Forgive me if I don't have much to write today. It's a quiet day at UVa, as many of our students have friends and family members in the Virginia Tech community. Our first moment of silence will be at 2 PM and the next will come during a candlelight vigil at 7 PM at the amphitheatre.

Those looking for information may find the following links helpful.

Reaching out to Virginia Tech (from President Casteen)

Counseling services at Elson Student Health Center

Statement from the Dean of Students

Simplified emergency procedures at UVa
The comprehensive Critical Incident Management Plan

This is a photo of the Beta Bridge this morning.

Financial Aid & Social Security Numbers

We've been getting a few calls from people who want to correct their social security numbers in our system either because they mistyped their number on their application or because they didn't supply a number at all. As the note on the application says, a Social Security number is required if a student is applying for financial aid...it's a requirement dictated by the federal government.

Changing a Social Security number isn't something that can be done over the phone, for obvious reasons. A copy of a Social Security card or of a driver's license with SSN on it is suitable documentation, though.

The registrar's office will review the documentation and make the change. When the change takes effect, Student Financial Services can put the finishing touches on an aid package.

So, bear with us if you didn't supply a Social Security number or gave us the wrong one. The changes are being processed as fast as possible.

NOTE: SSN changes must be submitted to the Office of Admission. The change begins here, then flows to the rest of the University. Please do not contact the registrar or financial aid to make such a change.

Thoughts on the latest round of decision calls

This season's round of decision calls have been pretty manageable so far. There have been a few difficult ones, such as the parent who was convinced that an updated ACT score would have changed our decision or the one who didn't realize extracurricular activities couldn't make up for a limited curriculum and average grades. These calls are fairly routine, so they don't surprise us too much.

What has surprised me is the number of admitted students (rather, their parents) calling to complain about not being designated an Echols Scholar. They seem to think that the transcript is the key to the Echols process. As I've explained before, we're looking for academic excellence, but we're also looking for love of learning or a clear passion for a subject. The essays, activities, and teacher recommendations all contribute to our review, it's not just about the GPA.

I've started asking what the student had found attractive about the Echols and Rodman Scholars Programs. Some don't realize that it's not an honors college and that while the perks are great, there are plenty of non-Echols/Rodman UVa students having a fulfilling, rewarding experience at UVa. Some don't really know what they wanted from the program. I imagine that they just wanted to be deemed special and wanted.

If you were admitted to UVa, you are special. You were selected from over 18,000 students to become part of our community.

If you were admitted to UVa, you are wanted. We work hard to show you this by putting together Days on the Lawn, organizing phone calling, and sending you congratulatory letters and emails from people all over the University.

Echols and Rodman are wonderful programs, but please understand that the decisions have been made for this year. If you strongly believe that you should be in Echols or Rodman, you can apply to join the programs once you get here (Rodman takes applications in the fall, Echols in the spring).

Transfer update

We're a bit busy right now, hence this entry being started this morning, but not posted until now.

The transfer review process continues...we're still getting some credentials in, which is fine, so if you have any updated grades, feel free to send those along.

The University's commitment to transfers has led us to allow late applications for the transfer class. The hope is that more Virginia Community College System students will apply (preference is given to those with Associates degrees). The review process is continuing as intended, but we'll consider those late applications until May 1st.

We still plan on sending notification to those who applied by the regular deadline by May 1st. Those who submit late applications will be notified as soon as a decision on their file is reached.

Status pages will be deactivated

This is just a quick note for the first year applicants. The status page will stop showing your decision today.

I want to avoid a panic when the decision message is gone, so please pass the word along to your friends.

Q&A with Dean J, part 3

So many comments have come been posted in the last 24 hours that I decided to put the questions and replies in new posts to make them easier for all to see.

I'm going to split this into two posts, one for admitted students and one for waitlisted students. Feel free to post more questions in under the appropriate entry.


By the way, I'm not correcting grammar and spelling on the questions. Pardon the errors.


Update: New questions and answers have been posted.

Admitted Student Questions

Admitted students can submit questions in the comments and I'll update this post with answers.


Q1. Does UVA library only have scholarly stuff, or does it also have leisure reads like harry potter and dan brown? (if it doesn't then one would have to use the Charlottesville library system?)
---also is there arnes and nobles or borders nearby uva?

A1. There are 13 libraries at UVa and they include books and periodicals for scholarly and leisurely reading. Clemons library, in addition to having fiction books, has a DVD library with all sorts of movies, including new releases.

Charlottesville actually had the first Barnes & Noble outside of a major city. I often see students studying in the cafe there. We have plenty of independent book shops on The Corner and The Downtown Mall.


Q2. I applied through FAFSA and UVA and did what was supposed to be done, but am not completely sure how the notification will work. Should I expect something through e-mail or snail mail? And will that be soon or am I being too impatient?

A2. I believe financial services has begun mailing aid packages. A call to their office will confirm that your package is complete. If you call, remember that they are probably swamped right now and you might have to wait on hold for a little while.


Q3. It seems people received rejection letters before acceptances...are those generally the first to go out? Or is it just a false rumor?

A3. Scroll down and check out those photos from Friday, March 30th. Everything went out at the same time. You mentioned this is a "rumor". I'd suggest that if you don't hear about our policies from an admission officer at UVa or read it on our website, you should take it with a huge grain of salt. There are a lot of "experts" out there who purport to know how we operate.


Q4. Is it necessary to attend Days on the Lawn when I'm positive that I'm attending UVa?

A4. No, attendance at DOTL is in no way required.


Q5. My cousin applied to engineering grad school at UVA. Do you have any idea when these decisions will be announced?

A5. My office is the Office of Undergraduate Admission. Graduate admission is handled by the individual schools.


Q6. If we haven't gotten a Echols Scholar letter by now (4/6), does that mean we weren't chosen as one? Does the letter come with the admission offer?

A6. As I wrote before, Echols students have had follow up communication by email since letters were mailed. Students who were invited into the scholars program should know by now.


Q7. Are you going to the FIRST Robotics nationals next week?

A7. No FIRST for me this year. :(

Waitlisted student questions

Waitlisted students can submit questions in the comments and I'll update this post with answers.

Q1. Because the [wait]list is unweighted, is the only differentiation by letter of interest? In other words, are students who submit a letter more likely to be selected from the list, or is the process more similar to the normal decision review?

A1. I wouldn't say that the only students who come off the waitlist are those who write letters, but it can help if you feel an explanation of some part of your application is necessary.


Q2. I realize that the waiting list is huge, and that there are different categories (although technically they aren't already separated), but I was wondering if you had any exact numbers yet. I know last year the waitlist ended up around two thousand after people actually accepted spots.

A2. We won't have numbers for the waitlist until May 1st, when we hope all students will have replied to the offer of a waitlist spot.


Q3. I have a quirky question, if you are accepted off the waitlist, which happens around late June, when it comes to housing, are waitlisted students offered last options, I mean aren't housing assignments already mailed out by the time waitlisted students are chosen?

A3. Housing assignments aren't made until the summer, so students who get in off the waitlist in June are not at a disadvantage.


Q4. I thought that anyone who got deferred ED WAS still competitive, otherwise he/she would have been denied even after the ED round. I guess that means that the people who applied regular decision were even stronger than the ED hopefuls, so a number of the ED deferred were no longer competitive. Am I getting that right?

A4. Back in November and December, we deferred applications for whom we couldn't make a decision for various reasons. We often think that senior grades will give us more to go on. However, when regular decision applications arrived in greater numbers than we expected, obviously, those early notions of how strong the pool would be get dashed.


Q5. Is there any such procedure such as appealing an admissions decision at UVA

A5. No, there is no appeal process.


Q6. but I'd like to know where in the required ratio of instate/OOS do OOS legacies fall?

A6. As far as the state is concerned, alumni children who do not have Virginia residency are not in the 2/3 part of the ratio. You are a resident of your home state.


Q7. would a waitlist applicant looking to enroll in the 5 year teacher education program only be considered when there were more decline responses than expected from other admitted teacher education applicants?

A7. After May 1st, we'll see which parts of the class need more students. Since first year students don't apply to the education school, that is not really a factor in the process. We'll be looking at VA/OOS in each of the four schools (CLAS, SEAS, SARC, NURS).


Q8. kinda confused, did UVA accept for students then needed? I mean did they accept like 4000, when they only had 3,500 spaces (exaggerated numbers)? so waitlisted people would have to pray that more than 500 people decline?

A8. This is how all colleges operate. Because students apply to so many schools, we can't be sure that an applicant to UVa will actually come. We use past yield rates to determine the appropriate number of students to admit in order to get down to a class of around 3,170 (the target was increased by 70 this year). So, we admit around 6,000 students, knowing that many of them will opt to go elsewhere, leaving us with around 3,100.

Enrollment management is a tricky thing. Sometimes, admission officers don't see something coming and the yield changes dramatically. A good example of this would be from George Mason last year. Their basketball team did amazingly well in the NCAA tournament last year and they got a lot of wonderful media attention because of that. As a result, many students who hadn't been inclined to go to Mason were excited about going there and their yield jumped. Great for the yield rate, not so great for the housing folks, who have to find spaces for more students than they expected to have on campus!


Q9. If letters were sent on Friday, I thought I would receive it by now, but it has yet to arrive. Should I be worried?--Worried Idaho girl

A9. I imagine that it might take a bit of time for letters to make it out west. If you don't have a letter as of today (Friday, 4/6), give us a call and we'll either email or mail out a copy.


Q10. dean j, after all the numbers are in for the people accepting waitlisting, could you lets us know, please? I know it wont be for a while though, thanks!

A10. No problem. We're in the middle of the transfer review process, but after we get through that, I'll have some more official numbers to share.


Q11. this might be a stupid question, but when you write a letter to UVa expressing your interests...who do you direct it towards? thank you!
~wahoo wannabe

A11. You should write to the Dean of Admission. His name is on your decision letter.


Q12. is it true that UVA only accepted so many people from northern Virginia?

A12. Anyone interested in the truth behind all those rumors about who we can admit should read this post from last year.


Q13. If the decisions for the waitlist pool are released around the 3rd week of May, when should our guidance counselor send in our final year grades if final year grades are not completed at my school until the 1st week of June?

A13. We don't have a rock solid time line for going to the waitlist. Send those updated transcripts as soon as their available.



Other questions
Q1. I think people would leave their names with comments but UVA admissions has a weird policy of writing down notes in applicants' files following phone calls. this sort of process freaks many people out, thus they choose anonymity.

A1. This is why I suggested making up a name.

Tracking communication is very common in college admission. It helps jog our memories when we take a call from a student with whom we've talked before.