These kids are good: CMB Colorguard

This is the time of year when Grounds start getting taken over by campers of all sorts. Between the American Physics Society (on Grounds currently...what a rowdy bunch those physicists are), sports camps, academic camps, orientation, and UVa students here for the summer jobs or coursework, there's actually a bit more activity on Grounds during the summer than you'd expect.

One of my favorite times during the summer comes when the different groups associated with the marching band are on Grounds. I've mentioned the band and my admiration for them in the past, but I didn't really touch on the CMC Colorguard, which is one of a few specialty groups within the marching band (I think the others would be the drum line and the twirlers). Anyway, Colorguard has a nice little website, a Youtube channel, and their own summer camp before the larger band camp. One of their alumnae also maintains a Flickr page with photos from the past few years.

I know absolutely nothing about being in colorguard, twirling things, or being in a marching band, but between the websites to which I linked above and this fantastic video hosted on the CMC Colorguard's website (some of the best parts are towards the end!), I find myself trying to figure out a way to be part of this group...or at least sit with them at games. Their section looks like a lot more fun than where I sit at Scott Stadium.

Perhaps CavDog could beat a drum with his wagging tail...


*Incoming first years: if you're interested in being part of the colorguard or the band, you might want get in touch with those groups now so you can come to camp.

Simplified deadlines for 2010

The first-year application deadline has always been on the first business day after the New Year holiday. The reasoning was that the deadline had to be on a day when students could get to the post office to mail their applications. As a result, the deadline date has shifted every year.

Now that we are paperless and want all students to submit their applications online, we don't see a need to have an inconsistent deadline. From now on, the first year deadline will be January 1st. Transfer deadlines will not change. They have always been November 1st and March 1st.

End of the year photos

I walk home on The Lawn each afternoon and snapped a few photos on my way over the last few weeks. Grounds has gone from full of students to full of work crews preparing for Final Exercises (our term for graduation or commencement) this weekend.

Waitlist movement

The Dean has started to make some decisions about the waitlist. I don't have numbers for you. I believe there will be more offers for out-of-state students than Virginians, but again, I don't have numbers for you at this time.

We are going back through waitlist files right now to reread them and consider new information that has been sent it. We want to move quickly, but we also want to be thorough. Please be patient...this is not a fast process.

As I wrote the other day, if you are no longer interested in UVa, please go into the SIS and decline your waitlist spot. It will make this process move a little more quickly.

Get ready, waitlist students!

The inevitable is going to happen. We're going to go to the waitlist. I don't know exactly when or how many we'll take (so please, don't ask me about either in the comments), but there's something those of you on the waitlist need to do now to be in a position to accept an offer if it comes your way.

You need to make sure your Financial Aid application is complete. Student Financial Services will create aid packages for waitlist applicants who are offered admission, but if you have an incomplete application right now, they probably won't be able to give you a package by the time we'll be asking you to commit. We usually give students offered off the waitlist one week to commit to UVa.

So, log into the SIS and check the finance section. If you are on the waitlist and there are items left on the SFS checklist, get them done NOW. It's amazing how many students never looked at the instructions for applying for aid and didn't file the UVa specific form.

This is...Kadeem Cooper on Jeopardy!

It's going to take a few days for the numbers to settle, so I won't have any first-year waitlist news for a little while. As always, I'll post news as soon as I hear it.

For now, mark your calendars because one of the Office of Admission's favorite students, Kadeem Cooper, will be on Jeopardy tomorrow night! If the sweatshirt doesn't give it away, Kadeem is the second student in the front row in the picture below:

Click to enlarge

This is it!

This is the biggest day of the admission year. Many of us think of the year as "before May 1st" and "after May 1st". It's the National Candidate Reply Date. It's also notification day for transfer students.

First years with offers of admission, you have until 11:59 PM to log into the SIS, hit the accept button, and pay your deposit if you want to be part of next year's incoming class. Obviously, you can also hit the decline button and then answer a few questions about your application experience at UVa. First years on the waitlist, your "decline" buttons will still work after today. You can remove yourself from the waitlist at any point.

I just took at look at the transfer blog and one of the recent posts has over 200 comments on it! To think that I thought the first years were chatty! I'm kind of jealous. :)

Oh, by the way, The Washington Post did a nice article about Chinese students studying in the US and it features UVa pretty heavily. The slide show is especially nice.

Best of Youtube

I saw a good video about the club and activities fair that happens here each fall on the Alumni Association website and I went off to Youtube to see if I could find it an embed it here. In the process, I found myself clicking around and finding other little gems that I thought I'd post here. So typical with Youtube, isn't it?

Here you go...the Best of Youtube (for today, that is):


This does not show how crowded and chaotic the club fair can be.



I could get lost in UVa drum line and marching band videos...there are so many good ones!


I love music + engineering.


UVa Fencing: "It's kind of a unique club in that it attracts people who want to fight with swords." :)


The Ski & Snowboard Team: "This is my frat or my family."

A few more that don't allow me to embed right now:
The Barber Challenge (some nice photos)
The 2008 move-in slide show
They 2008 year in pictures

I wish those last two had captions because they show some interesting events and people (including our dear Jack Blackburn). I imagine the 2009 year in pictures will be out in a few weeks and I'll post a link to that when it's available.

A reminder for admitted students

As the May 1st deadline approaches, I figured I'd gently remind those of you with offers that simply hitting the "accept" button will not save you a spot in the Class of 2013. Hitting that button puts you in an "intends to matriculate" limbo. Only when you pay your deposit through UVaQuickPay (aka NelNet) will you become matriculated.

You have until 11:59 PM on Friday night to hit that "accept" button and pay your deposit. Remember that there will not be anyone here after 5 PM on Friday to answer questions if you have trouble with the SIS.

A reminder for waitlisted students

I just took a peek at the database and it looks like a good number of waitlisted students haven't hit the "accept" or "decline" buttons under their letters.

I imagine students who fall into that category aren't even reading this blog anymore, but maybe you can pass the word at school (this is mainly for Virginians, I guess): please be sure to accept or decline the waitlist spot.

Also remember that you can pull yourself off the waitlist at any time by hitting the "decline" button. So, if you accepted a spot a few weeks ago and your heart now belongs to another university, you can remove yourself from the list.

Days on The Lawn wrap up

Days on The Lawn are now behind us and you're probably either decided to close to making a decision that will end your college search. If you are planning another visit between now and decision day, make sure to check the Plan a Visit page for open class options and for information about staying overnight with The Monroe Society.

Heads up, though: the end of the semester is coming, so some courses are going into presentation mode and might not have traditional lectures. Just be flexible if you sit in on some classes.


I want to take a second to share a cool exchange that happened at DOTL the other day. It was a very rainy day, so the morning session was moved into Old Cabell Hall. Old Cabell Hall is known for it's beautiful theater and a massive, eleven panel mural called "The Student's Progress", which was painted by Lincoln Perry. Anyone who spends more than a few minutes in the lobby finds themselves inspecting the mural and finding a new detail they never noticed before (like the dog over the staircase on the right side that looks like a certain canine you all know).

As our DOTL visitors went off to school-specific sessions, I chatted with a few student volunteers in the lobby about how the events were going. A man walked up to our group and asked one of the students if she wouldn't mind being painted. I had assumed he was the father of a visiting student, but he was actually Lincoln Perry, there to add to the mural.

Off the student went to scamper up the scaffolds so Lincoln Perry could add her to the famous mural. I can just picture this student returning to UVa many years from now and pointing to her 20 year old self, immortalized in the Old Cabell Hall mural.

Last admitted student chat tonight!

Tonight will be the third and final chat for admitted students. Scroll down for the link to the UVa chat rooms.

A tour of the Aquatic and Fitness Center

The AFC is one of those places we wish students could see on the tour. If tours stopped there, though, they'd be at least another 30 minutes long. Today, I was doing some googling and found a series of videos that give an in-depth look at the AFC...including a look at the largest hot tub on the East Coast.

Aquatic and Fitness Center Tour, Part 1:



Aquatic and Fitness Center Tour, Part 2
Aquatic and Fitness Center Tour, Part 3
Aquatic and Fitness Center Tour, Part 4
Aquatic and Fitness Center Tour, Part 5

A picture perfect DOTL

I have to admit that I'm actually a little sad that the very last DOTL on Monday. CavDog and I have been having so much fun meeting all of you at these events. We just took a lunchtime fetch break in one of the gardens and on the walk back to Peabody Hall, we were stopped a good number of times as people said hello and gave CavDog a quick pet.

We really have been so lucky to have nice weather and manageable, upbeat crowds for these events. On top of that, we have two back to back DMB shows this weekend, it's Garden Week in town, there's a marathon tomorrow, and the free Friday concert series, Fridays After Five, starts today. It's Spring in Charlottesville!

Admitted students and parents, please feel free to keep calling or posting to get your questions answered. May 1st is around the corner (The Corner...ha!) and we want to make sure you have all the information you need to make decisions.

Thanks for visiting UVa!

UVa sponsored debate on Affirmative Action tonight

I don't have much admission office news, but I thought I'd post about a debate being held tonight at the Library of Congress. The debate is part of a series being sponsored by UVa's Miller Center and the topic is "The Future of Affirmative Action." The participants will debate whether affirmative action should consider wealth and class status instead of race and ethnicity. Tickets are not available, but the Miller Center webcasts their debates, so those interested can watch from home.

The website to which I linked has information about the participates (Julian Bond and Lee Bollinger are included...should be interesting) and more information about the issue.

The debate series' Youtube, Facebook, or MySpace pages will surly have some interesting comments.

Remember that there's another admitted student chat tonight!

Admitted student chats coming up!

Our current students will be hosting three chats for admitted students. The chats will not be admission or financial aid chats. The only UVa people who will be in the chat rooms will be students. This is your chance to ask about work load, research, jobs, food, housing, activities, entertainment, Charlottesville, and other topics that are on your mind.

Chats will take place on...

Tuesday, April 14th (TONIGHT!)
Thursday, April 16th
Tuesday, April 21st

All chats are from 7 PM to 9 PM. If there are multiple rooms, try to spread yourselves out so one student isn't inundated with questions.

Click to enter UVa Chat Rooms

Happy Birthday, Mr. Jefferson!

Happy Birthday, TJ!
Happy DOTL #3, everyone. Two more to go!

In case you didn't bookmark the SIS login page

Just in case you didn't bookmark the Student Information System login page, here's an easy way to get to it for the rest of your time at UVa without hunting through emails, this blog, or the Office of Admission website.

1. Go to virginia.edu and click on "SIS" in the upper right corner.


2. Click on "Fall" almost anywhere on the page.

If you have already deposited, I hope you noticed the link for new students on the front of the SIS page.


Click on that header and you'll be taken to the Office of Orientation's site and a list of things to do next.

CavDog revealed

CavDog's parents and eleven brothers and sisters live in the area. When I jokingly told one of the other owners that we could give them all state college nicknames, I found out that one of them is named Hokie!

30 second tour: School of Architecture

Do I think it's possible to convey how amazing the School of Architecture and their new building is in 30 seconds? No way. But I can try...

(click through to go to Youtube to see related videos)
All 70+ pictures from our tour of the School of Architecture's new building