Peabody is the building, Jack is the dog, and I'm Dean J (she/her, btw).

There are years of posts here. The search box works well, but please consider the age of the posts when you find them. The college admission process changes every year!

References to emailing updates to your application are from the years when we didn't have the current applicant portal. Please follow the instructions in your portal to submit all updates.

Welcome to the blog and thanks for reading!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

A tip for being a happy Hoo

A warm, dry Hoo is a happy Hoo!

When I went off to college, oh so many years ago, my mother forced me to bring a few things I was convinced I wouldn't need. One of those things was an umbrella. At that point in my life, carrying an umbrella was not very cool. For that matter, wearing hats, gloves, boots, or anything that hinted that one was less-than-invincible was not cool.

The reality is that coming to school without these things makes you look a bit silly. You're going to be walking quite a bit. It's going to rain, snow, get windy, and get cold here. You'll need hats, gloves, scarves, boots, good coat, a rain jacket, and an umbrella. I'm mentioning this now because next summer, when you're getting ready for college, you might have some trouble getting all this together if you're from a warmer climate where one doesn't need such accoutrements or simply don't use them under the guise of looking "cool".

I know this isn't admission related, but seeing the poor guy in the picture above inspired me.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

We made it through move in!

It's that time! Traffic on The Corner has slowed to a crawl, locals are staying away from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, the UVa Computing Store has boxes of laptops piled high, and the bookstore is a zoo. The students are back!

Fall is a great time to tour UVa, but those of you planning visits should check our website to avoid weekends like the one coming up, when thousands will be flocking to grounds. The weekend of home football games will be ones when it will be very difficult to get parking anywhere in the general vicinity. We'd love to have you visit us, but fear these weekends might provide for some stressful driving and parking:

August 30 (vs. USC)
September 6 (vs. Richmond)
October 4 (vs. Maryland)
October 11 (vs. East Carolina)
October 18 (vs. North Carolina)
November 1 (vs. Miami)
November 22 (vs. Clemson)


I've lost a good chunk of my readers who don't need this blog anymore, but I hope I'm gaining a few new ones as rising seniors start to search for more information about UVa and the application process. I hope the new readers will be quick to speak up via the comments and ask questions. I hope some of the veteran readers who have stuck around will chime in when they know the answers.


Oh, and for those who were interested, the chicken pictures that were posted on July 9th were taken at Poly Prep in Brooklyn. Congrats to the poster who knew that. I didn't think anyone would have seen them before! I saw the chickens while there for a college fair and snapped the pictures with my camera phone. The guidance director told me that people toss Easter chicks that have gotten too big over their fences because they have a lot of space. They seem to like having them around and it's definitely a charming sight.

Friday, August 08, 2008

What does UVa have to do with the Olympics?


An incoming UVa freshman, Yolando Yixiao Min, carried the Olympic torch last night! I've been scouring pictures on CNN and MS-NBC to see if I can find her, but I haven't been able to yet. I guess I'll have to watch tonight to see if she gets mentioned.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Dude...we're getting a Dell!

Today was an exciting day for the admission office...well, at least for those of us who have been waiting for our new equipment to arrive. Because we've gone paperless, we need a good deal of equipment (mostly monitors so everyone has one of document images and one for typing).

How many boxes do you see?



Friday, August 01, 2008

New look for Virginia.edu

Every two years or so, Virginia.edu gets a bit of a makeover. Today, a new look debuts:


The Office of Admission homepage will also get a revamp, but that won't be ready until the winter.