Scholarship information

The application season has just started and I'm already getting questions about scholarships. I hope you've noticed that there's a link on the main Office of Admission page called "Paying for UVa". On that page, you'll find links to lists of scholarships and grants. You'll also find links to the financial aid website.

UVa Housing Blog

When people visit us, they really, really, really, really want to see the residence halls in which they'll live when they are students here. Unfortunately, our tours don't go into the halls for security reasons. The only people allowed in the halls are the students who live in them, their guests, and housing staff. I personally think this is a great idea.

I also think that showing you one room on a campus where there are so many varieties of housing doesn't make too much sense. Obviously, if we could go into the halls on tours, we'd opt for the nicest, newest hall to show you and you might wind up with a totally different style of room.

Here are a few resources that will help you learn about the many different housing options you'll have here.

UVa Housing Blog - written by the Director himself!




Incoming Student Housing Page - click on the building/area names at the bottom for floor plans, pictures, and a list of items that come in rooms

Returning Student Housing Page - pictures and floor plans of the rooms you may live in after your first year

Off Grounds Housing - website for students who are considering a move off Grounds after their first year

Welcome to the 2010-2011 application season!

The phones have started to ring with applications questions. Ah...it's the start of a new application season. The Common App went live at midnight on Sunday night and it's as if the starting gates at the Foxfield Races just opened. On my side of the Common App, I can see that thousands of students have started applications already and several have submitted. Sometimes I want to say "Slow down! You have plenty of time!" but I realize that many students want to get as much done as possible before school starts in a few weeks.

Even if you think you've finished your application, I don't think you should submit it right now. While I think submitting early is great, I don't think you need to be racing to finish this process in August. Set your essays aside for a little while and revisit them later. I bet you'll have some edits.

Good luck...and feel free to post questions in the comment section.

UVA and early admission deadlines

There's a lot of talk out there about whether UVa will bring back an early admission process. At this point, this is just talk. If you are filling out an application this fall, you have one deadline to remember: January 1st.

Any changes in deadlines or format would be announced well in advance of the application season. Behind the scenes, so much work has to be done to accommodate any changes to our process that we'd need a good amount of time to incorporate any change. The Common Application goes live on August 1st. The process is not going to change between now and then.



One small change we have made about this year is the gentle suggestion that those interested in the "at-large" process for the Jefferson Scholarship submit applications by December 1st. Let me explain the scholarship and the process...

Jefferson Scholars are students who attend UVa with a full scholarship, including tuition, room, board, fees, books, and a stipend. This is a small, highly accomplished group. The Jefferson Scholars selection process starts away from Charlottesville. Nominations are solicited from about 3,500 schools around the globe (though most are within the US) and regional selection committees interview the nominees. Last year, 101 finalists were selected to come to Charlottesville for a weekend during which the competition continued. By the end of the weekend, 27 scholars were selected.

The Jefferson Scholars Foundation allows the Office of Admission to nominate some applicants who haven't been nominated by their schools. Unfortunately, with almost 23,000 applications coming into our office and with the majority being submitted at the deadline, there are probably some great students whose files haven't been read by the time we're supposed to give the Jefferson Scholars Foundation our at-large candidates.

So, we've decided to be up front and let you know that if you think you have a shot at being a Jefferson Scholar (review their website to see the criteria), you should try to submit your application by December 1st so we are sure to have time to review it before our at-large names are due. Obviously, the application deadline is still January 1st.

Waitlist update #5

I'm out of the office currently, attending a Common App conference in Minneapolis.

The waitlist process has finished. We have filled the class and released the waitlist. Everyone who remained on the waitlist should now see a change in their status in SIS.

I realize this isn't the news you wanted, but at this point, I think most were eager to move on and fully commit to their other schools. Best wishes for a wonderful, relaxing summer, a smooth move in at a fantastic school, and a rewarding first year.

Thanks again for being part of this blog!

FYI...

If you are planning to visit this weekend, please check UVa's Emergency Information site for updates. A storm that came through Charlottesville on Thursday evening has left many parts of town without power and many roads littered with tree limbs and power lines.

I gave the morning information session to a packed Newcomb Theater and our visitors said their hotels had kept them safe and fed through the night. Power is back on in some parts of the area, but there are still roads without working traffic lights, so travel may be slow.

Our facilities group has done an amazing job clearing walkways and roads around Grounds. Check out the difference between 5:30 PM last night (left) and 2:00 PM today (right).

There were fallen branches under every tree last night.
This afternoon, people were playing under the same trees.

It's hard to tell in the picture from last night (left), but there was one tree blocking the road at the top and another blocking the walkway at the top of the stairs (on The Lawn).


CavDog assumed the grounds crews were picking up branches to play with him.
He had a great time "helping" them carry branches around.

2010-2011 Application Essays

For those juniors out there who are looking to start thinking about their college applications, here are the essay questions that will be on the UVa Supplement to the Common App next year. Keep in mind that there will be one general essay question on the Common App in addition to these shorter personal statements.

The most popular piece of advice from the seniors every year is "start early". I don't think you need to worry about filling out forms just yet, but essays are definitely something to start thinking about if you have a little free time this summer.

Here they are. Hope you like them!

1. We are looking for passionate students to join our diverse community of scholars, researchers, and artists. Answer the question that corresponds to the school you selected above. Limit your answer to a half page or roughly 250 words.

• College of Arts & Sciences: What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?
• Engineering: If you were given a $10,000 budget and the opportunity to build a small team of talented, motivated individuals, what would you propose to accomplish?
• Architecture: Discuss an experience that led you to apply to the School of Architecture.
• Nursing: Discuss experiences that led you to choose the School of Nursing.

2. Answer one of the following questions in a half page or roughly 250 words:

• What is your favorite word and why?
• Describe the world you come from and how that world shaped who you are.
• Discuss your favorite place to get lost. (This question was written by U.Va. students who live in one of residential colleges, Brown College at Monroe Hill.)
• In The Dumbest Generation, Mark Bauerlein asserts that social media and youth culture undercut the skills necessary to be a global citizen when he writes: “We need a steady stream of rising men and women to replenish the institutions, to become strong military leaders and wise political leaders, dedicated journalists and demanding teachers, judges and muckrakers, scholars and critics and artists. We have the best schools to train them, but social and private environments have eroded.” Do you agree with his assessment or not?

Waitlist update #4

This update doesn't contain all that much information...the waitlist process continues to unfold. I imagine that's that's good news for some of you.

Just as a reminder, the official offer will post to your SIS account. You'll accept and pay your tuition deposit through SIS. Obviously, it's fun when we call a student and we realize what their decision is immediately. Last week, I made called a student to let her know that we were giving her an offer and her voice started trembling when she replied. Her mother (I assume) started screaming and a dog started barking in the background. As she was hanging up the phone I heard her yell "No way!" I think I was grinning for the rest of the afternoon.

Rest assured, if you need to look over your aid package with your parents, you'll have some time to do that.

Hang in there! At this point, I don't think you should be sending any more updates in the mail since we are apt to see an increase in mail (and processing times) due to final transcripts arriving from matriculated students.

Remember, this blog is geared towards first-year applicants.
Transfers should see the Transfer Blog for updates on their process.

Waitlist update #3

We're still working through the waitlist.

From the comments on the last post, I think I need to direct you back to the original posts I wrote about the waitlist. This takes time because we are reading files. We don't make offers based solely on statistics (GPA, testing, rank, etc). This is a holistic process and it takes time.

I think some of you may have assumed that there are official "rounds" in this process. I used the term to describe why making waitlist offers takes time. We make some offers, we give students some time to think about them, some accept, and some decline. Then we make more offers to fill in the spots where offers were declined.

The timeline was spelled out in my original waitlist post and in the waitlist FAQ. We aim to have this wrapped up by the end of June. Some colleges out there will take longer and some schools are probably done already.

W e know the wait is tough.
We promise that we're working as quickly as we can.

Waitlist update #2

By this point, we've made what you could call a first round of waitlist offers and given students a few days to think about accepting those offers. Some have accepted our offer and some have not. We're moving on to making another round of offers. The cycle repeats.

My feeling (and this is totally unscientific) is that the waitlist will wrap up earlier than it did last year. I don't have any numbers for you at this time.

At this point, there is no action required on your part (unless you realize that you don't want to be on the waitlist anymore and you can remove yourself via the SIS). When we are done, I will post a note on this blog and letters will be sent to all students are have remained on the waitlist.

Waitlist update #1

The information I have to share today is great for some and not-so-great for others.

At this point, waitlist offers are going to select applicants to the College of Arts & Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. We are not making offers to students who are on the waitlist for Architecture or Nursing at this time. As waitlist offers are made at other schools, it is possible that we'll see more room in the class, so I can't say that we won't make any offers for those two schools.

I realize this isn't the news some of you wanted to hear, but thought it best to let you know.

As I've explained before, this process takes some time. We are working in teams to reread files. To speed notification up, we will call a student we want to offer a spot to and if we can't reach a student by phone, we'll email. Obviously, it's nice to hear a big "YES!" on the other end of the line, but offers are officially made through SIS and responses must be made through SIS. A call will be made to let the student know to check SIS.

Keep in mind that we may have a certain number of spots open today, make some offers, and then have a few students get off waitlists elsewhere and withdraw tomorrow, which means we go back and find a few more students to admit.

We are working as quickly as possible. Please don't call our office at this time about the waitlist. We will be in touch if we are able to offer you a spot. When the class is full, I will post a note here. You will also get a final letter and see SIS change to reflect that we have released the waitlist.

I have to add, though, that coming across files I enjoyed reading months ago and being able to recommend an offer for some waitlist students has given me a little happiness during what has been a very sad week.

The waitlist process has begun

We have started to work with the waitlist. I don't have any numbers at this time.

Please do not call our office about the waitlist process. We are very busy with calls from transfer students (their decisions were posted over the weekend) and additional traffic on the phones and in the office will slow this process down quite a bit.

I know you want data. I will share it as soon as I can.

The National Candidate's Reply Date is upon us!

Admission deans around the country have been pacing the floors for the last month, asking for new numbers every 30 minutes, and analyzing past data in attempts to predict what will happen by the end of the day on May 1st.

Before midnight on May 1st, you need to pay a deposit at one of the colleges on your list. If you have questions, you have until 5 PM to call admission offices and up until 11:59 PM to post questions online in the various forums students use to talk about admission. If you actually expect responses to your question, I'd post it a little earlier. I won't be at a computer for most of the day on Saturday, so get the blog-worthy questions in tonight.

Simply hitting the "accept" button on our offer page doesn't put you in the Class of 2014. You must continue on to the payment process (turn off your pop-up blocker to do this) to become and official member of the class. The payment system is a secure, e-check system, so you have to type in the routing and account numbers on a check to pay the deposit. You can use a credit card, but I believe the credit card company's fee is passed on to you and I'm pretty sure one brand of card (Visa?) doesn't work with the system.

Good luck to those who are trying to make a last minute decision! If you have any questions about UVa, don't hesitate to post them here. If you have technical problems, email 4help@virginia.edu or call (434) 924-HELP.

CavDog wishes you were here

Let me address one practice that is not acceptable: double depositing. There are some people out there who encourage students to pay deposits at two schools, thus buying them extra time to make their final decision. These students sometimes remain deposited at two schools for weeks. Some even attend more than one orientation session.

I think double depositing is unethical and it drags out the waitlist process many more weeks than it should last. Most of the time, waitlist movement trickles down in a fairly predictable fashion, with most schools finishing up their offers by the end of June. Double deposited students sometimes cancel much later than that and some schools have resorted to keeping an extended waitlist to ensure spots that open late in the summer can be filled.

If a student double deposits, we usually hear about it from their school when two final transcripts are requested. Many guidance officers are quick to make sure we know that a student was not advised to double deposit by their high school.

EDIT at 6:30 PM: I got an email from someone who confused double depositing with being on a waitlist. It is perfectly acceptable to deposit at one school while remaining on the waitlist at another. Someday, perhaps the admission process will allow for some sort of first step before a final commitment is required, but for now, you have to pick one school.

Wherever you go...

Wherever you wind up next year, regardless of what you decide to study, please ignore whatever apprehension you may have and

GO

SEE

YOUR

PROFESSORS

Thank you so much to Brianne, a Darden student who posted this on her blog this morning. The staff shown are from the Darden Graduate School of Business at UVa.

The Welcome Book is online!

The Office of Orientation and New Student Programs publishes a beautiful booklet each year that serves as a great introduction to student life at UVa. The book just went up online, so you can take a peek at it now (you'll get a copy in the mail later in the summer if you enroll). You can flip through the book using the buttons at the top of the frame on the orientation page. If you've started to get digital copies of magazines, you're probably familiar with the format already.

Enjoy!

Happy Earth Day!

I thought I'd share a few videos that show big and small efforts to incorporate sustainability into life at UVa.

First up is a video about the 4th EcoMod. EcoMod is a collaborative project between the School of Engineer and the School of Architecture. The mod is built at a hanger near Lake Monticello and then transported to a site where an eager family will live in it. A resident of an earlier EcoMod once said that the energy monitoring is extremely precise in these homes, so living in one provides a bit of an education about consumption.

EcoMod 4 is a few blocks from my own home and it's a pretty cool looking house!




Here's a video that was just posted yesterday about student efforts around Grounds to recycle and make decisions with the environment in mind. With the Foxfield horse races coming up this weekend, I thought it was interesting that some students are opting to bike to the event. I imagine they cruise right past cars that have to wait in line at the gate.

By the way, there's a cameo by Noble, the official dog of the University. He lives on the Lawn. :)



Here's one more video, a little older than the others, about storm water management here. Many people assume the pond near the Curry School of Education is decorative, but it's part of the management plan.

How to join the Class of 2014

With May 1st around the corner, I want to make sure you're aware of a few things.

1. You are not officially part of the Class of 2014 until you hit the accept button and pay your tuition deposit. Hitting the accept button without paying the deposit will put you in a little limbo zone where you are deemed to be intending on depositing.

2. You have to turn off your pop-up blocker to pay your deposit.

3. Deposits are made online. The system is an e-check system (you'll have to type in the routing and account numbers on your check, just as you do on your tax return if you get a refund). You can use a credit card, but the fee will be passed onto you and the system will not take Visa cards.

4. If you have any technical problems, call (434) 924-HELP or email 4help@virginia.edu. Do not post a comment here...I don't have any access to the e-check system. My response will be to call 4-HELP.

Hope that helps! Good luck with those final decisions!

Last admitted student chat TONIGHT!

The very last of our online chats for admitted students is tonight! The chat will run from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM and you are welcome to stop in for a minute or for the entire chat. There will be current students in the chat rooms to answer questions about life at UVa. We hope this will be yet another chance to get some of those lingering questions answered before your reply is due on May 1st.

Admission Chat Room

DOTL Wrap Up

The last Days on the Lawn of 2010 has just begun. We've enjoyed having you here so much!

Part of our job is making sure you have the information you need to make your decision. If you have lingering questions, don't hesitate to call us or post here. It's hard to believe, but May 1st is around the corner!

For those who are curious, the columns of the Rotunda are covered for restoration work.

Three years ago, CavDog was afraid of the marching band. Not any more!

CavDog is going to miss all of extra attention (in the form of belly rubs) he gets during DOTL.

One request: if you realize that you belong at a different school, please be sure to decline your offer of admission as soon as possible in the SIS so we can assess where the class stands and plan for the waitlist process.

Waitlist students, I will post an update when I know more about what will happen with the list this year. Unfortunately, it's too early to know where they may be room in the class.

More from Youtube

I got a little lost on Youtube again.

The UVa Youtube channel has videos I have never seen before. I'm going to have to subscribe to stay on top of things from now on.

I love how this student says AccessUVa is the "greatest gift" anyone has ever given him. I also like that he showed off the list of residents who have lived in his lawn room before him. I always imagine that the first few days in a lawn room are spent googling those names.


One of the related videos is an interview with an Iraq war veteran who transferred into UVa.


I was really happy to learn that we have a sustainability coordinator working with the dining halls. Who knew all of our apples are local? Our bananas and coffee are fairly traded? Nice!



I wish I had seen this back in December. It includes some great pictures from 2009, including ones of our late Dean of Admission, Jack Blackburn.

For our friends at Virginia Tech

Beta Bridge, April 17, 2007

This message stayed on Beta Bridge longer than any other message. Most messages are painted over within hours. This one remained until June 9th, when members of the Virginia Tech community painted over it with their own message.

Beta Bridge, June 9, 2007

More...

Once you deposit

Once you pay your deposit, you should click on the link for incoming students on the front page of the SIS.

Within 72 hours, you'll be able to take the responsible computing quiz, which will activate your UVa email account. After that, comes orientation registration! Exciting stuff!


There are no benefits, registration wise, to coming to an early orientation session. Seats in classes are saved for each session. So, a class will look full to a student at one session once the seats for that session are full. When the next session starts, seats will be released and the class will appear open again.

Also know that you will probably shift your courses a little bit during the drop/ad period at the beginning of the year. You aren't locked into the schedule you create at orientation. There will be room for adjustments once classes start in the fall.


By the way, keep an eye on the deadlines on the orientation page:

Housing Application Deadline: June 4
Student Information Form (CLAS) Deadline: June 16
Student Information Form (ARCH) Deadline: Postmarked by June 16
Dining Contract Deadline: July 28
Tuition and Fees Deadline: August 12
Student Health Record Deadline: Postmarked by August 31

Foreign Language Placement Exams For French and Spanish, take your exam online before Summer Orientation. First-year students interested in taking German, Latin, or Russian will be tested during Summer Orientation. Transfer students and all students needing to take any other language placement exams will be tested during Fall Orientation.
French: online before your session
Spanish: online before your session

Youtube break

I thought I'd post a few UVa related videos for your enjoyment. First up is a video that was created by Global Student Council for international students. This group includes US citizens who have lived abroad (Virginia has many government/military families, so this might be more common here than elsewhere) and non-citizens. I was particularly charmed by the comment about singing at football games and the description of trick-or-treating on The Lawn, which must seem a bit odd to students from cultures that don't celebrate Halloween.


Here's a neat little video that was taken on one of the busiest sidewalks on Grounds.


I got a little lost in all the great videos on Youtube that show the UVa Jazz Ensemble in action. If you watch this, be careful that you don't lose half an hour to look at the related videos.


I may have posted this video in the past...I just love how it was filmed.


Here's an extremely cute slide show put together by a student in the Mainland Student Network featuring CavDog (!), a massive ice cream cone, the cutest mini-CavMan, Dean Parke Muth, and President Casteen.


No collection of videos would be complete without some a cappella. Here's a clip of the Hullabahoos with some of their alumni.


This just popped up on Youtube today...a reference to UVa on The Simpsons.


This video is a bit more random, but it has had people laughing. A few weeks ago, UVa loaned the parking lot outside the basketball arena to local car dealers who put on an event that they called "Car Wars". The promotional video for the event is definitely the most random video filmed on Grounds that I have ever seen.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Jefferson!

Happy Founder's Day! It's been a busy month for visits, between juniors coming to Grounds during spring break and seniors visiting us as they make their final decisions. It's been so much fun to meet you at Days on the Lawn, both those who came over knowing who I am and those who approached wondering why there was a dog at DOTL. CavDog has enjoyed the attention so much that he seemed a little sad that he wasn't coming to the office today. Friday will be here in no time and he'll be greeting another group of visitors then.

We're still working on reading transfer applications, but are also starting to make updates to the UVa supplement to the Common App for next year. It's amazing to think that the next application cycle will begin in just a few short months.

Days on the Lawn redux

Days on the Lawn is more popular than ever! Every DOTL date filled up by the beginning of this week. While we really want to keep the crowds manageable, we've just added a few more slots for the 12th, 16th, and 19th.

Remember, these events are for students who are trying to make a final decision about coming to UVa. There have been times in the past when students have shown up after already depositing. They're on a victory lap of sorts. While we are happy to see you and I'm especially excited to meet anyone who read or commented on the blog, make sure the undecided students get a chance to have their questions answered. If you are already committed to UVa, it might be a nice gesture to let the undecided students pick up an extra class to attend (at registration, we have "tickets" for any classes that still have spots open in them).

Be sure to check the DOTL website for parking information. You have two options. The free option involves a 10 minute walk (or a bus ride). The other option is closer, but there is a fee involved.

When you arrive (please don't arrive too early...our students are up at the crack of dawn to get things set up for an on time start), you'll check in and get a folder full of information. Some of it will be repetitive if you have read the DOTL website. After the morning mingle time, some students will head to class. Others will go with their parents to sessions about each of the colleges (you can divide and conquer if you have interests in multiple schools, of course). After that, parents are free to attend a number of sessions about different aspects of UVa. There will be financial aid officers on hand to meet at that point.

Throughout the day, our staff will be around Grounds and in the Office of Admission to answer questions. There will be tours of three kinds of residence halls (traditional, suite style, and residential college).

You can see specific schedules on the DOTL website. If you have any questions about any of the logistics, post them in the comments.


By the way, someone recently asked if they could attend two Days on the Lawn. You can only register for one event. Please remember that while we try to pull out all the stops, we are on a budget and resources are limited. If you want to make multiple trips here, consider requesting an overnight with the Monroe Society.

CavBunny

We've been away for a few days, but will be back to chat tomorrow. I'll try to cover some Days on the Lawn, Orientation, and some other topics that would be of interest for admitted students in the next few days. If you have a topic you'd especially like covered, feel free to post a comment about it.

Admitted student chats

It's time to start our chat sessions for admitted students! There will be four chat sessions and each will run from 7:00-9:00 PM. The chat nights are:

Thursday, April 1st (tomorrow!)
Wednesday, April 7th
Tuesday, April 13th
Wednesday, April 21

These chats are for students only (sorry, parents) and you are welcome to join more than one. Come for five minutes or stay for the entire chat. The chats are run by students, so you'll be able to get information about academics and student life from the very best source!

I'll post a reminder before each chat, but here's a link to the chat room in case you want to bookmark it now.

First batch of aid awards is up!

Student Financial Services posted the first batch of aid packages at noon today.

If you applied for aid and don't have a package, it's possible that you haven't submitted the UFAA (SFS requires the FAFSA and the UFAA) or didn't send some requested documentation. Check your to-do list and your email folders (including junk and spam) to make sure you haven't missed anything.

As always, questions about aid are best directed to Student Financial Services.

I also heard that UAA decisions should be made at the end of the week. I'll post an update when I get more information.

Flooded

Right now, many of you are writing directly to me about your decisions. Between giving information sessions, reading transfer applications, and other responsibilities, my days are packed. As those who have been reading the blog for a while know, I like to answer questions within a few hours. That just can't happen right now.

Interestingly, there was a time when people assumed "Dean J" was a team of people. I'm kind of wishing that was the case right now!

If you have questions about this process, the best way to get a fast answer is to call our office during business hours.

The Waitlist 2010

Now that you've been offered a spot on the waitlist, you are probably wondering what you should do next. First of all, you need to accept or decline the offer. Below the abbreviated waitlist letter in Student Self-Service are two buttons. Use them to accept or decline the offer of a spot on the waitlist. If you accept, you can always come back at another time and decline. However, if you decline, there is no going back. You are essentially withdrawing from consideration if you hit the decline button.

The rest of this post covers what is on the Waitlist FAQ sheet for first-year students.

1. How does this work? When will I hear?
The timing of this all depends on the students who were offered admission. If fewer than 3,240 students accept offers of admission, we will offer admission to some students who have placed themselves on the waitlist. While we'd love to move forward before May 1st to save you from paying a deposit at another school, it isn't fair to force admitted students to rush their decisions. Waitlist movement usually starts in late May.

The waitlist isn't ranked, but you could think of it as having eight parts - Virginians and out-of-state students for each of the four colleges. When we go to the waitlist, we might know we have room for in-state engineers or out-of-state Arts & Sciences students, for example. We work in teams to reread files of waitlisted students that fit the criteria needed. It takes a few weeks for us to review waitlist files. We usually make a round of offers, then give students a week to think about things, and then make another round of offers if some students in that group don't take us up on the offer. Because of this see sawing, the waitlist process can get drawn out. We like to have the entire process wrapped up by the end of June, but there have been times (last year being one of them) when it stretched into July. This is obviously not ideal. We want to fill the class as soon as possible.

2. How many will get in?
Right now, there are about 1600 students on the waitlist. We don't know how many students will come off the waitlist this year. We won't know until the beginning of May. There is no "typical" number, either. Consider the numbers from the last few years:
2009 - 288 waitlist offers
2008 - 60 waitlist offers
2007 - 159 waitlist offers
2006 - 145 waitlist offers
2005 - 83 waitlist offers

3. Why are so many offered a waitlist spot?
First of all, we know that only half of the students offered a waitlist spot actually take us up on the offer. Second, those eight groups come into play. Third, with more students applying to more colleges, it's hard to know how interested a student is in UVa. Yield may go up, as students perceive public schools to be attractive financially, but yield might go down because students have applied to many other schools and are inevitably getting attractive offers to go elsewhere.

With that said, the waitlist has been cut down a bit this year. If you look back to past years, we've been criticized for offering spots to a very large number of students. As I mentioned before, about half of them take us up on the offer, but that's still a large number.

4. What should I do to improve my chances?
Keep your application file current. When the marking period ends, send along your grades. You may write a letter, but understand that the letter should provide us with new information. If you receive any honors or awards, feel free to email us about that and we'll file your email with your application. We don't track visitations, so you will not improve your chances by coming to our office. If you have questions, feel free to call.

5. What now?
The wait list is unpredictable. Therefore, you need to commit to another university by paying a deposit and completing their enrollment process.


Rest assured that as soon as we have spots available, we will spring into action. We are eager to pull students off the waitlist and are not interested in prolonging this process.

Signing off until Monday morning

Just a heads up that I'm signing off for the day. I've been in admission mode 24/7 for the last few months. I bet you've been thinking about admission a whole lot, too. Let's all take a break to enjoy some time with friends and family.

Until tomorrow...

Battle of the blog dogs

Admissions_Daniel at Hopkins loves to brag about how awesome his lacrosse team is when we do evening programs together in the fall. Interestingly, Hopkins has had a pretty hard time beating the UVa lacrosse team over the years.

So, CavDog is going to issue a throwdown to Admissions_Daniel's dog. If UVa loses to Hopkins today, he pledges to pose in front of The Rotunda with a crab hat on if Soze (Admissions_Daniel's dog) does something equally ridiculous if we win.

Do you think they'll take us up on the throwdown?

Days on The Lawn 2010

Days on The Lawn is an annual series of open houses for admitted students who are undecided about the University. You are not required to attend.

The DOTL dates for this year will be:
April 9th
April 10th (Echols/Rodman/College Science Scholars only)
April 12th
April 16th
April 19th

Please note that registration is not open until offers are released, as these are for admitted students only. You must register to attend. For more info, read this post from last year and see the "wrap up" posts I wrote after each DOTL event.


In the past, we've had many students show up for what some call a "victory lap", meaning they are already decided to attend. Some have deposited at UVa. While we love having you here, keep in mind that these events are crucial for students who are still weighing their college options. We want to allow those students to get as much time with us as they need so that all of their questions can be answered.

If someone in your party has a disability that requires an accommodation, please call us at (434) 982-3200 as soon as possible so we can plan an easy, seamless experience for you.

There is information about lodging on the website, but we're happy to chat about the options, too. There are number of hotels within walking distance of Grounds or on the bus/trolley route. If you will be driving to Grounds, please be sure to read about the parking options. We rent out one garage so there is plenty of free parking available, but that comes with a 5 minute walk to the Lawn.

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

Let's talk about decisions: The Offer

Admitted students can use this entry to talk. I imagine you might also want to join the UVa Class of 2014 Facebook group to chat with your future classmates.

I'll be back tomorrow to answer questions, but know most of your questions can be answered online. Just below your letter are buttons to accept or decline your offer. If you accept, you will see a button to let you pay your tuition deposit online (it's an e-check system...you type in the numbers on the bottom of your check or use certain kinds of credit cards). I believe orientation registration will open after April 1st, but I will verify that and post about it next week.

You have until May 1st to make your decision about whether you'll come to UVa or not. If you decide to go elsewhere at some point in the coming weeks, I hope you'll decline the offer immediately via your self-service page. That will allow us to move to the waitlist more quickly.

Again, congratulations! We are so lucky to have you considering UVa!

Let's talk about decisions: The Waitlist

Waitlisted students can use this entry to talk.

We have traditionally offered waitlist spots to a large number of students. In the past, this has been because there are so many different segments to the population here (CLAS/SEAS/SARC/NURS for both VA and OOS students). We have cut the waitlist down a lot this year for a few reasons. This means there aren't as many of you feeling like you are in limbo.

We won't know how large the waitlist is until you all accept or decline your offers (yes, you have to respond online to the offer of a spot on the waitlist). You are not ranked. You have until May 1 to make your decision. There have been years when we've taken 50 students off the waitlist and years when we've taken 250 students off the waitlist. Last year, we offered admission to 288 waitlisted students.

For now, you need to look at your other options and think about which one feels right to you. Some of you will want to hold on and see what happens with the waitlist and others will want to fully invest themselves in another school. Either way, you need to submit a deposit at a school by May 1st to ensure yourself a spot in another school's freshman class. If you are offered a spot in our class and you decide to accept it, you'll have to write to that other school and withdraw your name from the class (you may lose your deposit at that school). Just remember that you can't "double deposit".

Feel free chat here and stay tuned over the weekend for replies to questions. Also know that your envelope will contain a "Waitlist Frequently Asked Questions" sheet that will answer the most common questions (is the list ranked, what do I do now, what's the time line, etc.).

CavDog hopes you find a peaceful place to think about your options

Let's talk about decisions: The Deny

Denied students can use this entry to talk.

I'm so sorry this sort of entry is needed. I hope you all can look at your options and get excited about one of your other schools. If your immediate reaction is "I'll transfer", don't let that plan keep you from getting involved in campus life at the school you choose. I think many students come to think of their next choice as "home" and can't imagine leaving it after a little while.

I hope you'll read this post and remember that this decision is probably about our numbers. You didn't do anything "wrong" (a common question). I'll leave you until tomorrow, when I'll be back to answer questions.

Please be polite and respectful of others when posting.

CavDog wishes he could make this easier on you

Statistics for the Class of 2014

Here are some preliminary numbers for you to crunch on. Please understand that I do not have additional statistics. I am giving you all I can right now and the office is very, very busy today. Statistics for previous years were shared last week.

The Office of Institutional Assessment is the source of all official statistics about UVa. Their website will update in time with more data.


Total number of applications: 22,516 (up from 21,839 last year)
Total number of VA apps: 7,964
Total number of OOS apps: 14,652

Overall offers: 6,907 total offers
Total VA offers: 3,380 offers (42.4%)
Total OOS offers: 3,527 offers (24%)

Enrollment goal: 3,240 first-year students

Middle 50% on the first two parts of the SAT (offers only): 1300-1480
% in the top 10% of their high school class (offers only): 93.8

The offers numbers for VA and OOS are similar because yield for OOS is generally lower.

They're gone

It took a few trips to the mail truck, but your decision letters are in the hands of UVa Mail Services. Their machines with seal and meter all of the envelopes and then release them into the US Postal Service system.

Logistics

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

1. The release of decisions is pre-programed. The system will show the decisions at 5 PM Eastern. The system has been tested many times and we don't anticipate any problems. Click on "View decision" and you'll be taken to the abbreviated language from your formal decision letter.

2. I will post three entries for you to talk about offer, waitlist, and deny decisions. I will step away from the blog until late tonight so you all can chat about things. I will write a post dedicated to the waitlist over the weekend.

3. I realize that some will want to blow off steam and that's fine. Last year, we had some offensive language on here. Those sorts of comments will be deleted as soon as I see them. You all have done a great job of moderating yourselves and I will leave you to do that.

4. As stated before, I hope you'll be gracious and compassionate when it comes to sharing your news with classmates. There have been times when a reader has written about another school in a comment (as in "I'm going to go to ____ instead." and they have been chastised by other readers. We don't look at other institutions as competition at this time of year (in fact, we're friends with admission officers at many of the schools that are considered our peers!). I don't think you should put down the other options that you or your friends have.

5. I'll be posting a few more times today to pass the time. I'm the Dean of the Day, so I'll be away from my desk at times today. I will have some statistics to share with you later this afternoon.

6. If you don't know how to log into SIS or have trouble with logging in, call (434) 924-HELP or email 4help@virginia.edu.

Good luck, everyone!

Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars update

Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars invitations are set to be mailed early next week. Knowing that some will want to plan to attend Scholar's Day on the Lawn on Saturday, April 10th, we're going to email abbreviated versions of the invitations letters.

About two hours after decisions are released, we'll start emailing the notifications. It's going to take a while, so bear with us. Each group is going out separately, so it's possible that a handful of you could get two emails if you happen to be invited into both Echols and College Science Scholars (not the norm, but it's possible).

The email will come from undergradadmission@virginia.edu or uvaapplicationinfo@virginia.edu. You might want to add those to your email address book to lessen the chances of the emails going into your spam filter.

Decisions will not be given out over the phone. Remember, the official invitation is coming by mail. We are emailing a short note just to give those invited into the programs a heads up.

For more information about these programs, click the links at the beginning of this entry. Also remember that if you are not invited into Echols or Rodman, you can apply to join them in your first semester.

A note of thanks

It's become a bit of a tradition for me to write this post on the morning of decision day...

Some of you won't be visiting after today, so I feel that this is a good time to say thank you for being part of this blog. My first two years of doing this were terribly lonely. I firmly believe that without comments, a blog isn't all that successful. Blogs are supposed to initiate conversation and discussion. This blog is successful because you read it and you write comments.

Last year was a rough year for us. Working with you all has brought the joy back to a process many of us struggled to get through last year. I am so thankful.


Now, let's talk about what is going to happen today. At 5 PM, you'll scroll down to the bottom of your SIS status page and hit the "view decision" link. This time, instead of seeing a message about decisions not being released yet, you'll see an excerpt from the formal decision letter that is on the way via US Mail. I'll talk more about what comes next in a few hours.

We're going to make some of you very happy, but we're going to make many more of you sad or upset. One of the drawbacks to this job is that we have to say "no" more often than we get to say "yes". I console myself with the knowledge that you will all have many other attractive offers, some from our 14 public sisters in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Regardless of what your status page says, you are going to be just fine. You are going to attend a great school and you are going to grow tremendously while there. You're going to have "ah ha" moments like you've never had before. You're going to learn from amazing, inspirational professors. You're going to meet people with whom you will stay friends for the rest of your lives. You're going to pull all nighters studying. You're going to pull all nighters not studying. You are going to have highs and lows, you're going to have great successes and you're going to fail miserably at something, possibly for the first time in your life. While I obviously think UVa is a great, suppotive place for those things to happen, I believe that what will make those experiences valuable is what you learn from them, not necessarily your location when they occur.

Remember that your decision is not a statement about your value. With the number of applications we had, we were not able to admit all of the qualified students. Many of those who wind up on the waitlist and deny list are perfectly capable of doing the work at UVa. Our first-year class just isn't large enough to accommodate everyone.

Thank you for reading and sharing yourselves with me for the last few months. Best wishes to those who won't be back to the blog after this. To the rest, I hope you'll chime in now and then while you're a UVa student to give the next group of students a little advice and comfort as they take their turn on this roller coaster.

The big day is finally here! I'll be at the switch at 5 PM to turn those decisions on, thinking about you all. Good luck!

Give the students a hand, CavDog!
They gave us some great applications to read this year!

Update on Financial Aid

Student Financial Services aims to post financial aid packages around our notification date. We moved our date up a week, which means you are going know your decision for a little while before getting your aid package.

SFS anticipates posting a batch of packages on Tuesday, March 30th. I imagine that if all of your documentation (FAFSA, UFAA, and supporting credentials) was in by the priority deadline, you'll be in that first batch. They'll have another batch ready by the next Tuesday, April 6th.

Packages are only available via SIS. When your aid is ready, there should be a "View Financial Aid" link to click. You'll probably want to print out the screen to share it with your parents.


I'm not a financial aid officer, so questions about aid need to be directed to Student Financial Services.

If you're interested in current students' perspectives of AccessUVa and Financial Aid, check out the Hoos for Open Access blog. It's a great team blog that was started by and continues to be maintained by students. I'm sure they'd love to answer your questions!

A plea from the front desk

Please don't call our office asking for your admission decision. The poor ladies at our front desk have been inundated today with these sorts of calls. We do not give out that sort of information over the phone.

We moved the notification date up by almost a week. We are posting decisions online days before your formal letters will arrive in your mailboxes. Admission decisions will be known in just over 24 hours. If you want to keep an eye on the clock, one of the students on the Facebook group for the Class of 2014 made a countdown clock.

Our front desk needs to greet our visitors and help transfer students who are calling about their applications (which we are reviewing right now).


(If you are in a different time zone, the countdown clock may not be accurate.)

Scenes from the office

Caption This #5: From The Lawn

Caption This #4: Another from Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d0/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Caption This #3: From Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baxton/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Caption This #2: Photo from the desk of Dean J

Caption This #1: Photo from outside Peabody Hall

Let's have some fun! In the comments, leave your best (that means funniest) caption to describe what is happening in this photo. This was taken from my window.

A word about what's happening this week

I want to address what is happening this week in the college admission world before we get to the fun stuff (the "caption this" photos will start in the morning).

Many schools are set to post decisions or mail out letters this week. There's going to be a lot of joy, but there are going to be some hurt feelings as well. While I want you to be happy and celebrate your successes, I hope you'll be gracious and considerate around classmates who might not get good news. If you don't get the good news, I hope you'll be happy about the options you and your classmates DO have.

We deliberately post our decisions at 5 PM, when most of our applicant pool is out of school. Obviously, there's no perfect time...between the different time zones, after school meetings, and practices, it's inevitable that some students will view their admission decisions at school or around friends.

I personally think it's best to check your decision at home, around your family. I'm sure you'll find some way to share the news with your friends soon after decisions are posted
.

CavDog with a few members of his family

Tomorrow is "caption this" day at Notes from Peabody

Whew! I spent the day combing through the archives trying to find some of my favorite posts from the last five years. Those who are reading this by email will probably want to visit the site and read the comments on a few of the entries from the last few days. There's been a lot of discussion!

One reader mentioned something that has become a bit of a tradition at this time of year. To pass the time, I have occasionally posted pictures and readers have commented with a funny caption for the photos (this blog is a good example).

I'll post a few photos throughout the day tomorrow for you to caption in addition to my regular post. Enjoy!

A moment of zen from CavBear

Before CavDog was born, there was CavBear. CavBear became part of the admission team after a family left their camera in one of my information sessions on a rainy day. I felt badly that 1) they left their camera and 2) all of their pictures were taken when the weather was dreary. So, I bought CavBear at the bookstore and took pictures of CavBear doing different things around Grounds and Charlottesville. CavBear made appearances on the blog for a while after that. Back in 2007, getting over 1,000 hits on the blog in a day was a big deal. These days, the blog gets many times that many hits in the days leading up to notification.

Originally posted March 27, 2007

The 1200 hits this blog got yesterday and the tension apparent among applicants in the comments and on a particular message board some applicants frequent are making CavBear a little concerned. He thought a nice cup of tea might help you relax.

Just a few more days. Step away from the message boards for a day or two.

Let's talk about perfection

Originally posted December 18,2008

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 3,240 students. If we only admit the perfect students, 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