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.

Admission chat tonight!

The last round of chats were so successful that we've scheduled some more for tonight. Deans (myself included) and current students will be logging in to answer your questions about UVa and the admission process. There will be multiple rooms, so when you are presented with your options, don't just go to the first room.

Hope to see some of you there!

UVa Chat Rooms

The Rumor Mill

As deans have come back to the office from their recruitment trips, we've gotten reports about the latest round of rumors that are floating around about UVa's admission process. I'm sure there are more out there than the ones we're hearing, so feel free to post some in the comments and I'll give you my thoughts about them.

The main rumor I want to address is one about the ratio of in-state to out-of-state (OOS) students. That number is set by the state legislature. Neither UVa nor the Office of Admission have any control over the ratio. The radio has not changed for the coming year. I checked proposed bills for the 2009 legislative season* and none deal with our admission ratio (though it is very, very early and many more bills will be introduced).

What other rumors are floating around out there?

*If you'd like to keep up with that is happening in the state legislature, you might enjoy Richmond Sunlight, a website that makes tracking bills very easy. I use it myself.

Letters! We get letters!

The daily mail bin count has been steadily increasing and we just took a day off from reading to help open mail. This ritual usually occurs in January, but we all decided to pitch in a little early.

I'm happy to see the number of applications coming in the mail is way down (97% of students apply online...I hope that number increases this year). We are seeing more "supplemental" mailings and this isn't ideal.

As I've mentioned before, we've gone paperless. If you send knick knacks and literary magazines with post-it notes throughout, you should know that those probably won't be seen by the admission officers reading your file. Obviously, art supplements are reviewed by faculty and should be sent by those who plan on majoring/minoring in the arts and those are very important to us. Please, please keep your supplements reasonable. We ask for what we need to make a decision.

New Office of Admission website launches today!

I should be getting ready to head into the office, but I keep stopping at the computer to hi refresh on the Office of Admission website. The web communications office is supposed to be launching a new design for the site today. I think they're going to try to use my submission chart on the application instructions page, which should be much more streamlined than before.

I realize that you aren't as excited about this as I am, but I hope you'll let me know what you think of the new design.

These kids are good: Black Voices

I sometimes have trouble making it to early morning programs on time, especially when those programs are on the weekends. There's one program, however, for which I can't be late: Fall Fling. There's one very awesome reason: Black Voices.

Black Voices opens up Fall Fling each year. My first year at UVa, I was sitting in the front row of the theater in Old Cabell Hall, a gorgeous room in and of itself, as the Fall Fling program began. I assumed it would be the same, standard admission program: remarks from a Dean, remarks from a guest speaker, review of the schedule, and a send off. Fall Fling starts off with the most joyful, unexpected alarm clock: a collegiate gospel choir.

If you have roughly 40 seconds to spare, check out this video:



In all likelihood, your interest has piqued and you'll enjoy this substantially longer performance from a Black Voices concert a few years back. Parts of that second video seem like choral acrobatics and judging from the students' reactions when they finish one of the songs (check out the boy in the top row on the far right pumping his fist), they know they were amazing.

The glamorous life of the road warrior

When admission officers talk about the travel that comes with this job, people are often a little envious. Oh, the great cities we must visit! The wonderful food we must eat! The fancy hotels we must frequent!

I love travel season, but not because it's glamorous. After all, state school budgets don't really allow for days spent sight seeing or nights in trendy hotels (though I was once given a room for $100 at the Ritz Carlton in Clayton, MO when I was stranded in St. Louis). I love travel season because I get to interact with students on their turf, get a better understanding of the schools that send us applicants, and get to catch up with counselors and career center specialists with whom I've become friendly over the years.

UVa Chats this Wednesday and Thursday

Tomorrow and Thursday night, the UVa Chat rooms will be open from 7 PM to 9 PM. We'll have students, faculty, and admission officers on hand to answer questions in a few different chat rooms. 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

Practice voting today

This is pretty neat...the engineering school had a student video contest and are letting the public vote for the winner of the contest. You can see the finalists' videos and vote for your favorite on the video contest website.

What do you think of them? I have a definite favorite.

Happy Halloween!

We've just returned from the trick-or-treat event on The Lawn. The crowd seemed much larger than in past years, which might be due to the beautiful weather today (it's about 65 degrees out).

Have a happy Halloween and a great weekend, everyone!

Note: CavDog only "endured" his mane and the attention that came with it for 15 minutes.

Common App! Common App! Common App!

A student told one of my colleagues that he didn't see "Fall 2009" as a choice for admit term on the application, so he just picked Fall 2008.

I don't know how, but this student somehow found his way into UVa's old online application. Yikes! Folks, we're a Common App school now. So many people have come up to me saying "we know you're a Common App school..." that I assumed everyone knew by now.

The Office of Admission website was stripped of any references to the old application and we have to assume that students are using outdated websites that we don't control to find that site. The old site was set to redirect to commonapp.org, but there is obviously a way around that.

Onine reading begins tomorrow!

We already have a good number of complete applications, so we're going to start reading tomorrow. Take your time with your applications, but know that we greatly appreciate being able to do some of our reading before the holiday break, when the vast majority of students hit the submit button. Submitting early won't affect your chances of admission, so don't feel pressured to be done early.

Those of you who submit early are some of the very first people to move through UVa's new student information system. Over three years ago, the University assembled a team to prepare for the transition to this new system. This year's applicants are the first students to go into the system as prospects and they will retain the same record through their career at UVa and into their years as alumni. This is pretty exciting stuff!

Very important application reminders!

This is just a reminder that Common App will not send teacher recommendations to UVa (follow the link for details).

We only require one recommendation and the one your counselor writes as part of the secondary school report fulfills our requirement. We encourage you to submit an extra recommendation from a teacher, but that should be faxed to us at (434) 924-7674.

See the handy chart at the top of this post for a list of application documents and submission options.

I'll probably repost this message every now and then to make sure new readers see it.

With election day around the corner...

Here's a neat Youtube video in which Professor Larry Sabato, a very popular faculty member, talks about getting involved in politics. This isn't admission related, but I think it's a nice message as we head into the election.



Voting for UVa students is pretty easy. Obviously, many will vote by absentee ballot. However, Virginia has allowed college students living here to register to vote at school so they can vote in person. From what I've heard, our students vote at Alumni Hall or at University Hall (both buildings are on grounds and are on the bus routes).

I hope those of you who are already of age enjoy voting in your first Presidential election!

36 Hours in Charlottesville

My first trip to Paris lasted 48 hours.

When I studied abroad in the south of France, I was determined to pass as many of the French government's DELF/DALF exams as I could. Instead of spending my weekends traveling with friends on a EuroRail pass, I studied. When the group planned a trip to Paris, I had to put the books away and joined them. On the TGV ride up, I made a list of all the things I wanted to see and as soon as we had checked into our modest hotel, I was off. The 48 hours were a whirl wind and included what could only be described as a two-hour sprint through the Louvre (I "splurged" and gave myself five whole minutes with each of my favorite paintings by David and Delacroix).

It's crazy to only spend 48 hours in Paris. Similarly, it's crazy to only spend 36 hours in Charlottesville, but a travel reporter from the New York Times did it. The subsequent article and photo montage will be published in Sunday's paper, but is available online today.

SAT scores released = phone ringing off the hook

I'm lucky enough to be the "Dean of the Day" today and just realized that many of you have just received results from the October administration of the SAT. The phones are ringing off the hook as parents and counselors call to get our take on the scores.

They've been ringing so much that four hours passed between writing the last sentence and writing this one.

Let's go over the basics:

1. There are no cut offs.
2. If you take the SAT more than once, we will look at the best score in each section.
3. SAT IIs are strongly recommended, not required. If you can work them into your schedule, take them.
4. UVa does not have a definition for the term "a good score".
5. Test scores are one component of our review. The four years of information on your transcript will take much more time to analyze than your test scores.

Post your questions about testing in the comments below...

CavDog wishes students didn't fixate on their test scores

Reading begins next week!

It's an exciting time here in Peabody. We already have a good number of applications that have reached "ready to read" status (meaning, all the required components have arrived), so we will start reading applications via the paperless system next week!

This brings up an age-old question: is there any benefit to submitting your application early?

In a nutshell, there is a benefit...to us. We'd love to process as many applications as possible before the deluge arrives in early January. If you hit submit in the next few weeks, you're helping us out in that respect. However, there is no benefit to the applicant when the application arrives early. Don't feel rushed to submit. Only hit that button when you're ready. If you're sitting an a complete, but un-submitted application, we hope you'll go over it one more time and finally hit that button.

The scanners are whirling away!

The turtle of Peabody Hall

The other day, a colleague called me into her office to show me what her daughter had just found outside our office. I was expecting a pretty leaf or a flower, but instead found the little girl holding this:


This turtle was found in a planter outside our building. While UVa has some fountains and a little lake (really a drainage basin that was dressed up to look lake-like), they are quite a ways from Peabody Hall. Either this turtle hitched a ride with someone or it is a shining example of perseverance.

I could try to make a little metaphor out of this for you, saying that you are all little turtles trying to get to Peabody Hall, but that would be as cheesy as you writing an essay telling me that your favorite word is "honor".

No turtles were hurt in the making of this blog post.
The turtle was released in a wooded area, away from major roads.

The prevalence of the IB

This morning's Washington Post has an article about how IB programs are received at area colleges and universities. To say it baffles me would be an understatement.

I've been told that Virginia ranks third in the list of states with the most IB programs in high schools. Seeing IB courses on applicant transcripts is very common. In fact, there are a good number of schools in Virginia that are offering both the AP and the IB and some that offer AP, IB, and Dual Enrollment (hats off to the faculty and registrars at those schools who manage to provide so many offerings). The University's IB credit policy and related charts that cover AP, IB, and language about the British, French, German and Swiss systems are easily found by doing a search on the student handbook page:

The University’s undergraduate schools usually award advanced standing (course exemption and academic credits) to entering students for qualifying scores on a variety of advanced examinations if such examinations are taken before matriculation at the University or another college. For example, the College of Arts and Sciences awards advanced standing credit for scores of 5, 6, and 7 on most International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examinations. Advanced standing credit is also considered for qualifying scores on the General Certificate of Equivalency (GCE), British A-levels, French Baccalaureate, German Abitur, and Swiss Federal Maturity Certificate.

College of Arts and Sciences students should consult the chart included in the College website for credit awarded to students for International Baccalaureate, A-Level, Baccalaureate, and Abitur examinations. Students in the School of Architecture, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and School of Nursing should consult their undergraduate dean's office to find out what credit is given for these exams. Accepted students should have score reports sent directly to the Office of Admission in the summer following the final year of secondary school study.

The article claims "the academic departments [at UVa and other schools like William & Mary and George Mason] were refusing to give them the credit AP students received" when this clearly isn't the case. It goes on to describe the policies of these schools as discriminatory.

Perhaps the article is really about the IB Standard Level? If so, the author should have been much clearer, as those of us in Virginia are very familiar with the structure of the IB system.

Rest assured, IB students. If you score a 5, 6, or 7 on your higher level exams, you'll be getting some credit for your work here at UVa. Students can get anywhere from three to eight credits for scores from either the AP or the IB.

These kids are good: Cavalier Marching Band

Pardon the break from admission talk, but I just spent more than a few minutes watching videos of the Cavalier Marching Band and thought I'd share them.

Whenever I run errands during the summer, I hope I get stuck at the intersection of Emmet and Ivy so I can roll down the window and listen to the band practicing on the intramural field nearby. At football game halftime, I don't leave my seat so I can watch the marching band (there are plenty others who feel the same way). And while others are streaming out of the stadium after the game, many stick around to see the post-game performance, which is usually very impressive (if you have a Facebook account, check out this post-game video from a recent game...it's fantastic!).

We've had a band in some form for many years, but the marching band in its current form was founded in 2004. You would never know that the program is relatively young from the performances. This band is awesome.

Greetings from Boston!

Greetings from Boston!

It's so great to be in Boston again. After a weekend with family, it was time to get down to business last night. Attendance at the evening program in Wakefield with UNC, Northwestern, and Hopkins was dramatically bigger than we had expected. I'm going to plead with you to RSVP to college evening programs (not just mine) because those RSVPs help us tell hotel staff how to set up our function rooms. It's really important so the session isn't interrupted as stacks of chairs are rolled in and set up to accommodate unexpected crowds.

Tonight we'll have a program in Dedham before heading down to Rhode Island. Red Sox score updates will be given during the program, if needed.

CavDog keeping an eye on Peabody Hall while I'm away

One last week on the road

My travel season this year isn't as long as in years past. I'm about the embark on my last week of travel for the year. Tonight, I'll be sitting on a panel at Midlothian High School (just outside of Richmond). After that, I'll be headed to New England, where I lived for about ten years, for some joint evening programs with UNC, Northwestern, and Johns Hopkins.

I'm always excited to meet blog readers at my programs, so please say hello if you come to one of our events!

Massachusetts
Sunday, October 12 at 7:30 pm
Sheraton Colonial Hotel Boston North
One Audubon Road
Wakefield, MA 01880

Monday, October 13 at 7:30 pm
Noble and Greenough School
Lawrence Auditorium, Shattuck Schoolhouse
10 Campus Drive
Dedham, MA 01880

Rhode Island
Tuesday, October 14 at 7:30 pm
Providence Marriott Downtown
1 Orms Street
Providence, RI 02904

Connecticut
Wednesday, October 15 at 7:30 pm
Darien High School
80 High School Lane
Darien, CT 06820

Thursday, October 16 at 7:30 pm
Simsbury High School
34 Farms Village Road
Simsbury, CT 06070

Northwestern is coordinating the RSVPs for these events. If you'd like to attend, you can RSVP on their website.

Some interesting class size statistics

I've rattled off class size statistics for years. 47% of classes have less than 20 students, 84% have less than 50, 7% have more than 100. The overall student to faculty ratio is 15:1. I've never seen school-specific statistics and these numbers, though.

Today, we got some statistics that dealt specifically with the College of Arts & Sciences, which enrolls 74% of UVa students.

The student to faculty ratio is 17:1, but this includes graduate and undergraduate students. Our assessment office was not able to break that down, which makes me think the overall ratio might also include graduate students.

The average class size in the College is 33 students. The median class size is 17.

I don't like to throw statistics around when it comes to admission because I think people sometimes try to over analyze them (our average SAT score really isn't going to tell you much about UVa). I think class size statistics are interesting, though.

Deadline & Submission Reminder

I made you a deadline and submission chart to bookmark for future reference. Click the image below to expand it, then bookmark the page to keep it handy.

Credential Submission Guide

I thought I'd throw together a "cheat sheet" that shows how various credentials can be submitted to UVa without the prose of our website. Feel free to ask questions...

Required Components
Common App & Supplement....online via commonapp.org
SAT/ACT/TOEFL Scores..........testing agency
School Report & Transcript......Common App's counselor portal OR mail
Mid-Year & Final Reports.........Common App's counselor portal OR mail

Supporting Documents for In-State Residents...fax
Financial Guarantee (international students)....mail

Supplemental Components
Art Supplements....................mail (see instructions on website)
Extra recommendations.........fax

We have a dedicated fax line just for application credentials, 434-924-7674.

UPDATE: I just heard from the International Studies Office that Financial Guarantee Forms and supporting documents must be mailed and can't be faxed.

Recommendation letter clarification

In the past, we have allowed teachers to submit their recommendations online. Just for 2008, we are not permitted to receive recommendation letters online. Though it appears as though UVa will get letters requested through the Common App system, we do not. Common App only allows required recommendations to be sent to us. Because your guidance counselor's school report fulfills our requirement, no online teacher recs will be forwarded to us by Common App.

Looks are deceiving...teacher recs submitted via Common App are not sent to UVa

We obviously plan to petition the Common App board (comprised of admission officers from about 15 member colleges and universities) to allow supplemental recs to be submitted via the Common App system, but that board does not meet for quite some time, so a change will not be made this year.

Teachers may send recommendations by mail or fax their recommendations to the admission credentials fax line: 434-924-7674. We prefer that letters be faxed, as we are now a paperless office.

Another week on the road

I'm back on the road this week. This time, I'm staying in state, going to college fairs in northern Virginia and the upper Shenandoah Valley (hoping to have time to get a pie at Shawnee Springs Market!). If your school has a college fair this week, stop by the UVa table and say hello!

Sunday
Stone Bridge High School Fair (4:00-8:00 PM)
Ashburn, VA

Monday
Northern Virginia Community College Fair (12:00-1:30 PM)
Manassas, VA

Osbourn Park High School Fair (7:00-9:00 PM)
Manassas, VA

Tuesday
Lord Fairfax Community College Fair (7:00-9:00 PM)
Fauquier, VA

Wednesday
Lord Fairfax Community College Fair (11:30 AM-1:00 PM)
Middletown, VA

Apple Blossom Mall Fair (6:30-8:30 PM)
Winchester, VA

Thursday
Central High School Fair (9:00-10:30 AM)
Woodstock, VA

JMU Convocation Center Fair (6:30-8:30 PM)
Harrisonburg, VA

Are we checking Facebook?

I addressed the Facebook/MySpace issue over two years ago on my old blog (here and here)...so long ago that one of the entries mentions that Facebook is only open to people with a .edu account and we all know that restriction went out the window quite some time ago.

With a new crop of students reading the blog, I think it helps to revisit this topic. Consider the situation in our office: we had 18,500 applications last year and will probably see a bump up in numbers due to our switch to the Common App. We have 15 full-time admission officers and 5-7 part-time staffers who come on board during reading season. Each application is read at least twice. That's a lot of work for a relatively small staff. We truly don't have time to google and search for every student who applies to UVa.

Now, I still think you should have your profiles set to private so only your friends can see them and even then I think you should consider how you'd feel if what you have on your profile was on the front page of the newspaper and edit accordingly.

Common App Q&A

Our office is extremely excited about the move to the Common App. Delivery from Common App Online is automated and your status pages will update more quickly than before as a result. However, we're all adjusting to a new style of application and I realize that there are questions.

Feel free to post questions about the Common App and I'll work through them in the next few posts.

Hitting the road

It's that time again! Time to kiss CavBear good-bye and hit the road for the fall travel season. I'll periodically post my itineraries so you'll know if I'll be in your area.

On Sunday and Monday, I'll be speaking at UVa evening programs organized by the alumni clubs in Denver and Phoenix. After that, I'll join my colleagues from UNC, Emory, and Northwestern for joint programs in Sacramento, San Francisco (actually San Mateo), and Portland.

Here are the details from the UVa Visits You page:

Denver
Sunday, September 7 at 6:30 pm
Inverness Hotel
200 Inverness Drive West
I-25 and Dry Creek Road
Englewood, CO 80112
www.invernesshotel.com

Phoenix
Monday, September 8 at 6:00 pm
The University Club of Phoenix
39 East Monte Vista Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85004

Sacramento
Tuesday, September 9 at 7:30 pm
Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel
1230 J Street
13th and J Street
Sacramento, California 95814

San Francisco
Wednesday, September 10 at 7:30 pm
San Mateo Marriott
1770 South Amphlett Boulevard
San Mateo, CA 94402

Portland
Thursday, September 11 at 7:30 pm
Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront
1401 SW Naito Parkway
Portland, OR 97201

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.

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.

Olympic update

The UVa Today blog has pictures of first year Yolando Yixiao Min carrying the Olympic torch.

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.

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?

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.