Admit It!  You thought the anxiety would end when you clicked submit but sadly, it didn’t totally subside.  Now instead of asking yourself what to write in your essay(s), you’re asking yourself whether everything arrived and if your application is complete.  Despite the digital age we live in, you still feel a bit uneasy about whether your app made it through cyberspace and whether the postal service delivered the right mail to the right address.  We understand.  Now that your hard work is completed our hard work is underway.

But hard work requires patience.  You had months to complete your application and now we need some time to compile and review it.  Only approximately half of the applications we anticipate receiving were submitted prior to the deadline.  Only a quarter were submitted by December 1.  That means we have literally thousands of applications to download and tens of thousands of pieces of mail to match with all those downloads (if you subscribe to the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words here you go).  It will take us several weeks to dig our way out from everything we’ve received – digitally and by post – in the last few weeks.  So here’s what you need to know in the immediate future:

  1. Realizing that January 1 and January 2 were postal holidays we will gladly accept components that are postmarked on January 3 (heck, we’re not meanies, we’ll accept things postmarked through the first week of January).
  2. We will email you three times regarding your application.  Email #1 will confirm receipt of your Common Application (your parents will also receive a copy of this email).  Email #2 will either a) confirm that we’ve matched your Common Application with all required components and that your application is ready for review (your parents will also receive a copy of this email) or b) we are missing a required component (or components) and we will provide you with information as to how to submit whatever is missing (again, we’re not meanies, we will accept these components without penalty—believe us we’re just as interested in completing your application as you are).  Email #3 will be your decision email (generally sent the first week of April).
    - Note that several weeks can pass between the first email and the second.
  3. Only an application is considered proof of desire to apply.  We receive numerous standardized test scores and transcripts for non-applicants.  What is mission critical is that we receive your Common App.  We will work with you to make sure the other required materials arrive but we will not communicate with anyone for whom we have not received a Common Application.
  4. We cannot confirm receipt of optional materials (letters of recommendation, art submissions, optional submissions, etc.).  We receive tens of thousands of such additional components and cannot track every single one (not if you want your decision in a timely manner).  Additionally, we do not confirm receipt of recommendations to protect the privacy of the recommenders.
  5. We are more than happy to answer any questions you might have by phone or email but please do not ask us about receipt of materials at this time as we need time to sort through everything we have received.  Please wait to receive the emails mentioned above.

Back to our downloading, printing, sorting, alphabetizing and compiling we go.  We’ll be in touch.

Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Senior Assistant Dean of Admission