Ok…So What Happens Now?

We are about to hit the RD application/Deferred EA part II deadline, and everyone now starts to get into the mindset of “Now what?”.
Here are a few hints to get you through the next few weeks/months.

1. Patience. Patience is key, as any deadline brings out a rush
   of supporting materials. We will receive tens of thousands of documents,
   and we need time to match these items up, enter them into our system,
   and have them show up on the myStatus page. The myStatus page is not a
   live feed, so if a teacher recommendation is added to your file right
   now, it will not show up until at least the next day. If documents were
   sent prior to you applying, it will take longer to match things up, as
   we need to do it by hand. As well, some items get split up when we
   receive a packet, such as a fee waiver form, as different steps need to
   be taken with different items. A school/counselor form, for instance, needs to be reviewed by hand if it is not done through our online portal, and thus takes a little longer to
   enter into the system. Same with residency documents/permanent residency
   cards, etc. You do not need to call/email us if you do not see an item
   on your myStatus page. Give us 10 business days from when you applied or
   the document was sent (not requested but actually sent), whichever was
   later.
2. Test Scores. We will take the January SAT for admissions
   review for this year, but that is the last exam we can use. In addition,
   you need to make sure to request any scores be sent to us by 2/1, as
   we have to keep on a timeline in order to get decisions out in a timely
   fashion.
3. Timelines. Review the Timelines page
   on this blog, as it can give you more details on when things will
   occur. We do not have rolling freshman decisions, but instead have three
   decision release dates. One, the EA decision date in November, has
   already passed, another small group of admissions offers will go out for
   RD/deferred EA applicants who meet our Early Action admission criteria
   (see last year’s February post for details on this group), and our final decisions will go out in late March.
4. Responsibility. While your parents, your HS counselor, and
   our office are here to help you with the application process, the
   ultimate responsibility for your application resides with you. Make sure
   that we have all the items needed for review, check your emails and
   myStatus page for details, and make sure that you have a complete
   application ready for us to review. The worst calls are always the ones
   from students where we were not able to make a decision, even with our
   reminder emails, phone blasts and text updates. Take care of your
   application.
5. Scholarships. From about mid-November through mid-April,
   our office will be reviewing files and awarding scholarships to a
   limited number of admitted students. This is not a quick process, so
   please be patient as we do this. If you are awarded a scholarship, you
   will receive a letter in the mail, and email will be sent out, and a
   scholarship section will appear on your myStatus page. You do not need
   to call/email about this process, just have patience.
6. File Reading. From now through about mid-March, the counselors in our office will be reading files. We will be reading, then reading more, then reading even more. As such, we will be limiting travel, we will have “quiet time” in our office where our counselors focus on reading and are not available to answer questions, and we will focus almost all our attention on reading files. Please be patient and think positive thoughts for our sanity.
7. Finish strong. Admission to any university does not end with
   an acceptance and a deposit. It ends after you graduate from high
   school, when we review your final transcript. Senior year is a time of
   celebration, but don’t take this to the extreme. We will be looking at
   senior grades and any new conduct issues, so make sure that you finish
   up your senior year academically and personally on the right note. I do
   not want to have to call you and ask why your grades tanked during the
   last semester, and I do not think you want to talk to me either. Keep on
   track with things.

Hopefully this helps, and Go Dawgs!