Waitlist Update — A Light at the End of the Tunnel
June 14, 2013 by Admit It!
Admit It! The waitlist process can seem like a never-ending one. We have been faithfully bringing you updates on our waitlist progress. We are hoping this will be among the last of those updates.
Freshmen: This year we’ve found that more students are withdrawing their offer after depositing than is normal. As a result, we have been able to make a few additional offers since the late May “closeout” email. Those students have been contacted and we are awaiting their replies. We continue to monitor the status of the freshman class daily. We are fairly close to being exactly where we need to be. Just as before, any student who we wish to offer admission to will be contacted by phone and/or email. We hope to have the class finalized by the end of the month.
Students who are admitted now are not disadvantaged in the housing or Orientation processes. The other offices on campus are aware that students are still being admitted, and they work with those students to complete the necessary paperwork.
Transfers: We continue to make progress with the transfer waitlist. There are likely a few more offers to be made in the next day or so. We do anticipate that all students on the transfer waitlist will receive an email from our office early next week with an update. We will continue to monitor the status of the transfer class in the coming days to see if any additional admission offers are needed.
Hopefully this should do it for the 2012-2013 admission cycle. Now onwards to 2013-2014. If there are other topics you’d like to see us address over the summer in upcoming Admit It! blogs, please feel free to submit your ideas as comments.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
Waitlist Update — Transfer Waitlist Activated
June 4, 2013 by Admit It!
We Admit It! Transfers, it’s your turn. The transfer waitlist was officially activated yesterday. We will continue to review the transfer waitlist and make an initial wave of offers over the course of the next day or so. The initial wave consists of about 25 new offers of admission (originally there were about 100 students offered a place on the transfer waitlist).
NOTE: Those being offered admission are being sent an email and mailed packet only. These students are not being called. So if you’re waiting for the “Good News,” CHECK YOUR EMAIL. That email provides a link to an admitted transfer student website and a link to paying your deposit online. We would appreciate a quick reply so that we can keep this process moving.
Then the waiting game resumes. We will await responses from those offered admission and proceed accordingly. We will likely have additional information in mid-June for all those not yet contacted. That information will come via email.
As always, post any questions as comments below. We’ll respond as quickly as we can.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
Waitlist Update — Freshman Waitlist Closed
May 29, 2013 by Admit It!
We Admit It! The Class of 2017 is complete. Last night we in essence closed the waitlist for freshman applicants. An email was sent to all those remaining on the freshman waitlist letting them know that at this point, our incoming class is full. While we do not anticipate being able to admit additional students to the Class of 2017, we do allow students the opportunity to remain on the waitlist until August 1 by completing an online response form (linked in the email).
Should any additional spaces in the entering class become available between now and August 1, we will reactivate the waitlist and consider only those students who complete the new response form. Those who complete that form will not hear from us again unless we are able to make them an offer of admission. Please note that the chances of being able to admit any additional students are incredibly slim. If we are able to admit additional students, it would likely be only a small handful.
We recognize that this is disappointing news for many of you. We do hope however that this provides some closure and allows you to move forward confidently and enthusiastically with your plans to attend another institution. We wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors at whichever institution that is. They are lucky to have you, and we know you will have a great collegiate experience.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
Waitlist Update — Some News for Transfers
May 23, 2013 by Admit It!
We Admit It! It looks like we will be able to activate the transfer waitlist in early June. We’re still in the process of determining exactly to what extent, but below is what we do know.
During the initial admission process in April, we offered a spot on the waitlist to approximately 100 fall transfer applicants. Most accepted that offer to remain on the waitlist. Much like the freshman waitlist process, we will determine who among those remaining on the waitlist is the most competitive for admission, and we will begin by making offers to those individuals. We will continue this process until we fill our incoming transfer class. A final college transcript is incredibly helpful in making waitlist admission decisions as another set of final semester grades is often most useful in determining who’s best prepared for W&M. So, if you haven’t done so already, SEND US YOUR FINAL COLLEGE TRANSCRIPT COMPLETE WITH GRADES FOR THE 2013 SPRING SEMESTER.
In late May/early June, the Committee will reconvene to determine who to admit from the waitlist. Those who are on the waitlist for guaranteed admission agreements (those between W&M and the Virginia Community Colleges or between W&M and Richard Bland College) will be reviewed to see if you have met the terms of the agreement (again, your updated transcript will prove most helpful here). Those who have now met the terms of these agreements will be contacted about admission. If we have additional room in the incoming classes, we will also reach out to other transfer students on the waitlist who applied to W&M through the standard transfer admission process.
We make initial contact by phone. If we do not reach you by phone, we will leave a voicemail and send an email. Please respond to any messages from us immediately. It’s in everyone’s best interests to keep this process moving forward as efficiently as possible. Further information and instructions will be provided once we reach you. Basically however, we will ask you if you remain interested in W&M. We will give you a day or two to consider the option if you need it. If you remain interested, you will be admitted. You will receive an email offering you admission and linking you to our admitted student page. From there, you can pay your enrollment deposit and you’ll be good to go. We will also send a formal admission packet in the mail.
So that’s where we stand with the transfer waitlist process. As June approaches, our waitlist picture for both freshmen and transfer applicants will likely continue to become clearer with each passing week. We will try to provide additional updates as they become available.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
Waitlist Update — The Process Continues Slowly but Surely
May 15, 2013 by Admit It!
We Admit It! We wish the waitlist was a fast-moving process. Unfortunately that is not the case. It’s definitely a step-by-step, day-by-day process. As many of you know, we activated the waitlist on May 3 with the intention of making a few select additional offers of admission. Over the course of several days, we made phone calls to the first wave of admits who the Committee saw as the most competitive students remaining on the waitlist. Many of those students accepted our offer (because the Tribe is awesome of course, at least in our humble and biased opinion). Others needed some time to make a decision. Others, very understandably, had moved on and gotten excited about another institution.
So every day we count new deposits, follow-up with those who have been made an offer off of the waitlist but haven’t responded, determine whether or not anyone who initially committed to W&M is withdrawing their deposit and assess whether or not we need to make additional admission offers. As we make additional offers we do so on a case-by-case basis; not so much in waves but one offer here, another offer there. So just because you haven’t heard anything doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t.
We do ask that if you are no longer interested in remaining on our waitlist, please email us at admission@wm.edu and ask that we withdraw your application from consideration. This helps us to avoid considering any student who no longer remains interested, and therefore makes the process more efficient. And remember, all students remaining on the waitlist will hear from us via email with a status update in mid-June.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
Waitlist Update — Some New News, Some Good News
May 6, 2013 by Admit It!
We Admit It! The waitlist process is far from a standardized one. It takes a lot of back and forth, a lot of incremental steps, a lot of analyzing and reanalyzing. But here’s what we know for certain: we are able to go to the freshman waitlist for a select number of additional students (whether or not we go to the transfer waitlist won’t be determined until mid-to-late May). The exact number of students who will be admitted is always a moving target (more on that below). What we do know is that our enrollment numbers are just a bit shy of where they need to be. Therefore we are going to the waitlist for more than a handful of students but still for a relatively select group. All students who completed the online waitlist response form (linked in your decision email) are being considered for those spaces we do have available in the entering class. Below is more about how we make decisions from this point forward and how those who are admitted from the waitlist hear from us.
Why is the number of remaining admission offers a moving target?
There are numerous reasons actually. The first is that we continue to receive enrollment deposits from those admitted initially. The second is that we have to be careful not to under-enroll our class (we are working to avoid that now but admitting students from the waitlist), but we also have to be careful not to over-enroll. So if we make an offer to student A, we may have to wait his/her response before making an offer to student B. Now of course we’re going to the waitlist for more than one student but hopefully that illustrates our point. Third, as other colleges and universities activate their waitlists, some students who initially committed to W&M may decide to go elsewhere. This may mean we get to make even more offers than initially expected. Finally, there are often students who have admission buyers’ remorse (meaning though admitted to W&M, they turned us down for another school and then decide W&M is a better fit). As those requests come in we need to carefully consider them and how allowing those students to deposit late would impact our class size.
How we make decisions about the waitlist?
Well, essentially our process begins anew. Each of our regional deans is asked to assess all of the students within their region who remain on the waitlist. We then, as a staff or Committee, try to determine who the most competitive students are that remain on the waitlist. We will continue to do this throughout the process until our class is full.
How are students admitted from the waitlist notified?
Step 1: Initially we reach out to any student by phone (we will first call the cell phone if provided in the application and then the home phone if listed). If we are not able to reach a student at any phone number we will leave messages and follow up via email. These messages will ask you to get in touch with us (specifically the regional dean who reached out) within a day or two. The initial contact will be done to assess whether or not you remain interested in attending W&M. SO CHECK YOUR VOICEMAIL AND EMAIL (and yes that’s bolded and in shouty capitals for emphasis).
Step 2: If you remain interested, we will send your Good Things email that evening and put an admit pack in the mail to you the next day. If you do not remain interested, we will withdraw your application. If you do not respond to our messages, we will do one more follow-up email and then withdraw your application.
Step 3: If you are admitted, we ask you to make the enrollment deposit as soon as humanly possible. We do allow two weeks to make that final commitment if necessary, but we ask that students be as expedient as possible with this process. First, it’s in your best interest (the sooner you make your decision the sooner you can move forward with new student transition materials for W&M). Second, if you are not serious about the offer, please decline it so that we can make the offer to another interested student.
Step 4: Once you submit an enrollment deposit you will have access to the online site designed specifically for entering students. Those admitted from the waitlist have not missed any deadlines or programs. They are on the same footing as those admitted in April.
Step 5: We will continue to assess where our class stands and if additional offers of admission can be made. This process can certainly take several weeks to run its course. As previously noted, we will be in contact with all students who remain on the waitlist by June 15 (via email) to provide an additional update.
Our process will likely be in this state of flux for the next few weeks as we reach out to those initial students we wish to admit from the waitlist. We will do our best to keep everyone informed should there be any additional helpful information.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
Waitlist Update — No New News
May 2, 2013 by Admit It!
We Admit It! May 1 doesn’t necessarily bring an end to the admission cycle and the anxiety that comes with it. For students on our waitlist or any waitlist, the hope for good news is still out there. During the past few days, we’ve had several phone calls, emails and social media inquiries about the status of the waitlist. At this point we have no additional information to share.
May 1 is a postmark deadline. Additionally, when necessary, we do grant some extensions on the deposit deadline. So we will continue to collect deposits and analyze the status of the incoming class over the course of the next few days. We hope to have more information early next week or shortly thereafter. When and if we are able to go to the waitlist we will let you know how that process (which can be a relatively short one or a lengthy one) plays itself out.
We ask again for your patience. We hope to have another update soon.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
Decisions, Decisions — Fall Transfer Applicant Edition
April 26, 2013 by Admit It!
Admit It! transfers. You’re more than ready for that decision email. Well today is the day; we’re even a few days ahead of schedule. We are releasing decisions as we speak, and all decisions should be in your inbox within the next few hours (we will post a comment when all emails have left our server). Keep in mind that we are in the process of emailing nearly 1,000 students. This will take some time on both the part of our email server and yours. Please be patient. All decisions come in the form of an email and are sent to the email address you provided in your Common Application.
Decisions are emailed to the applicant only. The sender is College of William & Mary at undergraduateadmission@wm.edu. This will likely appear as a “Do Not Reply” email. We use a do not reply email address not to offend or because we don’t want to hear from our applicants, but because we need to keep this channel open to release decisions. Decisions are sent to all applicants for fall transfer admission; regardless of decision (unless your application remains incomplete in which case you will not receive a decision email today). The subject will be either “Good News” or “William & Mary Admission Decision.” Only those students who are admitted will receive a follow-up in the mail. Waitlisted and denied students receive the email only. If you do not receive an email, you can contact us on Monday at 757-221-4223, and we will attempt to resend the decision using a different email tool or find an alternative method of communicating your decision to you. Read on to find out more about the decisions we made and how we made them.
Admitted! – The subject line “Good News” should tell you all you need to know. Congratulations and welcome to the Tribe! This email is just a preview. A shiny admission package, complete with letter suitable for framing, is on its way to your mailbox. The email you got has a link to our transfer welcome site. You will find a great deal of information there that is often helpful to newly admitted students.
Your applications were truly impressive, and we are honored to have you join the Classes of 2015, 2016 and 2017. You will add so much flavor to our student body. We hope you will join us on campus on May 4 for Day for Admitted Transfer Students to learn more about what awaits you in Williamsburg. And don’t forget to submit your enrollment deposit by May 15 to officially join the Tribe. Again, congratulations!
Waitlisted – We know this wasn’t the “Good News” you were hoping for, but a waitlist isn’t the end of the line. First of all, it recognizes the competitiveness of your application. The transfer process is a selective one and this year we had an increase in the number of transfer applications forcing us to make some tough decisions. A waitlist decision recognizes that your application was strong, that you were right to apply. We know you would be successful at W&M, and we’re sorry we do not have room at this time to make you a formal admission offer.
There could be a number of reasons for the waitlist decision. Maybe you’re part of one of our guaranteed enrollment programs and we’re waiting for you to finish your semester (or even summer work) to see if you meet the terms of the agreement. Maybe we didn’t receive mid-semester grades so we’re waiting to see how you fare this semester. Maybe your application was incredibly solid but other applications were just a bit more compelling. Whatever the reason, again, do not look at this as something you did wrong. It’s simply the case that so many applicants do everything right.
So where do you go from here? Well, if you remain interested in W&M, complete the waitlist response form linked in your decision email. Then, be sure to send us a final transcript when the semester ends. We will then wait and see what happens among those who were offered admission. If come late May or early June we find that we have room to admit additional transfer students, we will turn to the transfer waitlist (initially about 100 students are placed on the transfer waitlist).
Denied – That’s never an easy decision to get. It’s disappointing, it’s frustrating, it’s irritating, it’s sad, it’s a million different other things. It may not even seem fair. We totally get it. You’re allowed to be upset, mad, enraged, confused, miffed; just realize this decision in no way conveys a judgment about you or your accomplishments. Most of the students who are denied are smart, capable, talented men and women. They simply aren’t as competitive in a selective admission pool as other students. We know how fortunate we are to have such accomplished individuals apply to W&M. The not-so-great flip side to selective admission is that we have to send out bad news. For that we are sorry.
Yes this is the end of the road for this particular application cycle. However, it may not be the end of the road to W&M. There are students who have reapplied and gotten more favorable news after taking additional courses and receiving additional grades. That’s not always the case, but it is sometimes. If W&M remains the place you want to be, feel free to contact us in the coming weeks. We can try to guide you as to how to improve your application.
We would once again like to give a shout out to all of our fall transfer applications. We’ve very much enjoyed the opportunity to learn your stories and review your applications. We Admit It! We’re glad this reading season has finally come to a close. Thanks for helping us to wind down the cycle on a high note.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
Overheard in Transfer Committee — It’s Not All About Academics
April 23, 2013 by Admit It!
We Admit It! The transfer process has been moving forward with each passing day. Yesterday, a small cohort of transfer applicants received good news in their in-boxes. Much like we send a likely postcard to a small cohort of freshmen applicants who move through the review process early and whose applications distinguish themselves, we send out admission decisions to a small cohort of our admitted transfer applicants a bit early on in the process. Those who did not receive an email need not worry. We still have numerous applicants under review in transfer committee, and most transfer applicants have yet to hear from us. We still have more admit offers to make as well as waitlist and deny decisions to release.
Okay, now with that out of the way, let’s move on to this edition of “Overheard in Transfer Committee.” Today’s blog gets to the non-academic side of our review process. There are so many great backgrounds and perspectives that transfer students bring to our campus. You bring experiences that oftentimes our freshmen cannot. Those backgrounds, perspectives and life experiences help round out your application. Much like with our freshman process, it’s not just about numbers. And that leads to this edition of Overheard in Transfer Committee.
Overheard in Transfer Committee today: Are they really doing nothing outside of class?
There’s a reason the Transfer Common Application asks about extracurricular activities and work experience. It’s because we’re admitting an entire person; not just who you are in the classroom. Whether you’re a typical college freshman getting involved in anything from Greek life to service to debate or whether you’re a non-traditional student who’s working, who’s in the military or who has full-time family responsibilities, we want to know how you’re spending your time outside of class. Not only does that provide us with a fuller picture of what you might be able to contribute to campus, but it also helps us put into context your educational history such as gaps in enrollment, grade trends, course loads, etc. For example, if you’re a varsity athlete at a Division I school, we know that you have a lot to balance and that helps us to put your courses and grades in context. If you’re a spouse and parent who’s working, going to class at night and taking care of a family, that helps us not only see what kind of unique perspective you can bring to W&M, but also helps us understand why maybe you took several years off from school.
The student whose application we were reviewing earlier today was a college sophomore who listed no college activities or employment. They listed a few activities from high school and that was it. So while as a student they were certainly competent, we wondered what else they could bring to the table if admitted. From the information they provided, it appeared to be very little. So we implore you, don’t slough that part of the application off. Let us know what you’ve been up to. Provide the fullest picture of yourself possible.
As of today, we hope to conclude our committee deliberations in the next few days. After that we need to finish any last-minute completed applications, enter all decisions into our system, double and triple check them, and prepare all of the decision emails to be released. We cannot, with any certainty, say how long this will take. Each step depends on finishing the previous one. Just know that we are working hard to bring this process to a close and will do so by the May 1 release date we’ve always advertised, if not before that. Keep an eye out for our “Decisions, Decisions – Transfer Edition” blog. That’s how you’ll know that all decisions have been released.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
Overheard in Transfer Committee — It’s Your Turn Transfer Applicants
April 18, 2013 by Admit It!
Admit It! transfers, you’re ready for it to be your turn for all of the committee excitement. Well that time has come. We began committee deliberations for fall transfer applicants this afternoon! Who’s excited? We know we are. We’ve spent the past few months reviewing your applications and learning your stories. Now it’s time to decide who joins the classes of 2015 and 2016. So without further ado…
Overheard in Transfer Committee: It’s nice to see she’s making her way through the GERs.
What the heck does that mean you ask? Well it means that the student who we were reviewing was taking a good assortment of classes across the curriculum. William & Mary is a liberal arts university. We don’t hide from that. In fact, we’re quite proud of it. Yes we understand that college is a time that you get to specialize and take the classes you’re super interested in. But we also know there’s value in studying diverse subjects, in being pushed outside of your comfort zone, in approaching learning from a variety of pedagogies. So here at W&M we have a system of General Education Requirements or GERs which ensure that all students at least get their feet wet in a broad variety of subjects before they graduate.
The particular applicant we were reviewing was hoping to transfer to W&M as an incoming junior. We of course assume that the farther along you are in college, the more you’ll want to spend your time at W&M focusing on your major(s) or minor. So we were glad to see that she had taken classes that would transfer to W&M as fulfilling most of our GERs. That way, once at W&M, she really could pick and choose her classes instead of worrying about a variety of graduate requirements. In other words, she could spend the bulk of her time at W&M in the departments in which she was most interested. And it was specific W&M academic departments that in fact attracted her to W&M in the first place. That’s what we would all call a win-win right?
Certainly transfer students do not have to fulfill every single GER prior to transferring. However, W&M freshmen and sophomores certainly take several if not most of their GER classes during their first few years on campus. Therefore, we like to see prospective transfer students behave similarly. What we don’t always like to see is transfer students who are clearly taking only the classes they really like and who are in fact avoiding the classes that are outside their comfort zone (for example the English major who’s avoiding science courses or the math major who’s avoiding history courses). Being challenged is a good thing. Being liberally educated is a good thing. This applicant was doing a good thing.
So transfer applicants, continue with us on this journey. Committee will last for several more days, and we’ll have another “Overheard in Committee” blog for you before it’s all said and done.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission