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!

Sunday, November 01, 2015

The Final Countdown for Early Action Applicants




Early Action deadline day is here and we know there are still some applicants out there putting the finishing touches on their applications. A few reminders...

1. The Common App help desk is FAST.

Even when I have asked the most complicated question, I've had a response from the Common App folks in under and hour and often in just 15-20 minutes. If you have a problem while on the Common App website, open a help ticket. The individual colleges don't support the Common App website. The Common App has a great team of folks who do that.


2. You need to double check your responses to a couple questions.

Every year, we hear from students who accidentally applied under Regular Decision instead of Early Action. Double check your selection before you submit. If you hit RD, we won't even begin to work with your file until after the EA review is complete. While you're at it, make sure you are applying as a first-year student. Even if you are coming in with AP, IB, or college credit, even if you are getting an Associate's Degree concurrently, you are a first-year student if you are still working on getting your high school diploma.

You can verify all of this on the first UVA screen you come to on the Common App website.




3. Read the our application instructions.

The application instructions explain what happens after you submit your UVA application. If you read them, you will not be surprised to see items on your "to do" list the first time you log into the UVA student information system (SIS).


I'll be online as late as possible tonight to answer questions that come in by email, blog comment, Twitter, or Facebook. Our office will be open tomorrow morning in case you need to talk to someone about your application.

Good luck! Don't stay up too late!