Deadline Day Reminders

 Happy EA/ED deadline day! For those of you who have submitted applications (or plan to in the next few hours), I have a few reminders for you.

1. The deadline is for your Common App, not transcripts and recommendations.

This is covered in the deadline chart on the application instructions page of our website (please read them!). Students applying to UVA for Early Decision or Early Action consideration have until 11:59 PM to submit the Common App. School counselors and teachers have a different deadline.

2. Applicant portal credentials come by email within a few days of submission.

Within a few days of the Common App reaching us, the student will get an email from undergradadmission@virginia.edu with login info for the applicant portal.  Consider adding that email address to your email address book. This is also covered in the application instructions! 

Early Decision and Early Action applicants aren't required to use the portal, but that's where you can see required credentials get checked off (we don't check in optional items), submit updates, and see your application decision on notification day.

3. Matching up credentials takes time.

The first time you log into your applicant portal, your application may be incomplete. It takes time for credentials to be filed in a new application file. Remember that supporting credentials like transcript and recommendations aren't due today (again, see the application instructions).

4. We do not accept resumes, research papers, or portfolios that aren't art supplements.

 Those items are not part of our review. We mention this in several places on our website. Please do not use the "additional information" section of the Common App to submit these items. You don't need to email us anything. The Common App is enough!

5. You aren't applying to a major unless you want to study Nursing or Kinesiology.

This is covered on our website and on the Common App where you select your school of entry. Almost everyone is undeclared when they arrive at UVA. 

6. Common App provides Common App support.

The Common App has a help desk to work with people having technical problems with their website. The colleges that take the Common App don't control the technical parts of the Common App. 

7. You don't need to send us letters of interest. 

I've already gotten some "just wanted to express my interest" emails.  Your application is proof of your interest. You're a busy senior with a lot on your plate. Please don't spent time on letters of interest for UVA!

Good luck to everyone putting the finishing touches on applications! I'll be going live at 7 PM tonight to answer last minute questions. See you then!

Notes for Early Decision and Early Action Applicants to #UVA

I thought I'd make a post about some of the things that come up on deadline day and update as we get calls from students/parents/counselors today. 

First, some of the common concerns that I know are on your minds...

1. The deadline is for the student. 

This is covered in the deadline chart on the application instructions page of our website (please read them!). Students applying to UVA for Early Decision or Early Action consideration have until 11:59 PM to submit the Common App. School counselors and teachers have a different deadline.

2. Applicant portal credentials come by email within a few days of submission.

Within a few days of the Common App reaching us, the student will get an email from undergradadmission@virginia.edu with login info for the applicant portal. The portal is where you can monitor your application, submit updates, and see your application decision on notification day. Consider adding that email address to your email address book. This is also covered in the application instructions! 

Early Decision and Early Action applicants aren't required to submit anything via the portal. 

3. Matching up credentials takes time.

The first time you log into your applicant portal, your application may be incomplete. It takes time for credentials to be filed in a new application file. Remember that supporting credentials like transcript and recommendations aren't due today (again, see the application instructions).

4. We do not accept resumes, research papers, or portfolios that aren't art supplements.

We mention this in several places on our website. Please do not use the "additional information" section of the Common App to submit these items. They are not part of our review. 

5. You aren't applying to a major unless you want to study kinesiology.

This is covered on our website and on the Common App where you select your school of entry. Almost everyone is undeclared when they arrive at UVA. 

6. Common App provides Common App support.

The Common App has a help desk to work with people having technical problems with their website. The colleges that take the Common App don't control the technical parts of the Common App. 

Now, I'll add things I hear from callers or questions via social media today below. 

-Someone is telling students they must log into the UVA applicant portal before deadline. That's impossible, as they don't have login credentials until after they submit the application.

-Someone is telling students that Virginia public colleges share applicant lists with each other and that if you apply under Early Decision to one, the rest will deny your application. This is false. We do not share applicant information like this. Your application to another school does not impact the review of your file to UVA. 

Important Reminders for Early Action and Early Decision Applicants to #UVA

The Early Decision and Early Action deadline is around the corner and I thought I'd address some important points for applicants...

 

 1. Read the application instructions and FAQs.

Enough said on that!

 

2. The deadline is November 1st at 11:59 PM.

If you are someone who is inspired by the last minute, you have all day on November 1st to submit your application. Keep in mind that there may be a lot of people using the Common App website on deadline day, so it might slow down. In addition, the help desk might be fielding more requests for assistance than usual. 

3. Colleges don't control the Common App website.

If you have an issue with the Common App website, hit the question mark that is on every page to get help. In my experience, the support from the Common App team is excellent.

4. Teachers and Counselors get a grace period to submit documents.

Get your application in by the deadline. The supporting documents from your teachers and counselors don't have to be in by the deadline. We understand that they are working with multiple students who may be applying to several schools!

5. Updates are sent via the applicant portal.

This is covered in the instructions, but you'll get login credentials for our applicant portal once Common App transfers your application to us. Use the portal to send updates. Don't send updates by email to admission officers.

 

6. We really mean it when we say we don't use interest!

The application is proof that you are interested in UVA. You don't have to send us emails or supplements to tell us you like UVA. Desire is not a factor in our review. 

Do you have any last minute questions? Feel free to put them in the comments!

Let's Talk about the #UVA Application Review Timeline

My inbox on Instagram has a steady stream of messages coming in asking when we will have decisions ready for the two early rounds of admission here at UVA. We include this information in the "Early Decision vs Early Action vs Regular Decision" section of the application instructions, but I thought I'd go over the timeline here and answer any questions you have in the comments.

Students often look at my posts on this blog, Instagram and Twitter to get an idea of when we finished the different phases of our review in past years. If you do that, keep in mind that the deadlines and application volume change from year to year. In 2019, the Early Decision deadline was October 15th. It was our first time having that process in a decade and our first time having three deadlines. We knew we wanted our decisions ready by the middle of December, so we went with October 15th. We also changed our notification language for Early Action to say decisions would be ready by he middle of February last year. We've been seeing a shift from Regular Decision to Early Action and we wanted to make sure we built in enough time for a thorough review of those EA files.

For 2020, we moved our Early Decision deadline to November 1, so our reading started two weeks later. That being said, we are still confident that we will have decisions for that group ready by the middle of the month. Similarly, we are still planning to have Early Action decisions ready by the middle of February. As has been the tradition for the 15 years that I've been writing this blog, I will post an update here with a specific dates of the decision release days when we are certain of them. Decisions are posted in your applicant portal, so make sure you have know how to use your login credentials.

If you have questions about how this works or just want to say hello, I'm happy to chat in the comments!

I'm pretty sure CavDog (Baxter) is logged into the old applicant portal (around 2008) in this picture.

Why Early Admission Statistics Shouldn't Determine When You Apply to UVA

Students and parents often ask for admission rates for our early and regular rounds of admission as they try to decide which application option is most advantageous. While I have shared admission statistics for years on this blog (here are past statistics posts), I am always hesitant to cite them without an explanation of why the admission rate of the different rounds shouldn't drive the decision to submit an application in the fall versus the winter.

We review the applications the exact same way throughout the entire application season. The admission rates are telling you about the strength of the different pools at UVA, not about a different style of application review.

A lot of people also look to test scores to tell them about the competitiveness of the admission process. I've written so many posts about testing over the years that helps explain why that's not the best idea, and another one is coming, but our early and regular pools have had pretty similar testing. What can't be conveyed in statistics: strength, consistency, and breadth of work in core subjects, recommendations, and essays. What's more, a good portion of our class won't submit testing this year because we are test optional.

My advice: Submit when you can share your very best application with us. Some students have had time to put together an application they can be proud of in the fall and others will be better off with a little more time.

Too much on your plate this fall? Don't feel pressured to apply early.

The Four Biggest Questions about #UVA Early Decision Deadline Day

I'm still trying to decide what my reading season soundtrack* will be, but here we are on a decision day. There are several recent posts about Early Decision, but there's always room for one more, right? There are four big questions I get a lot about Early Decision.

1. Will Early Decision Be Easier?

I wrote a whole blog post about this. Some people seem to have read this or the articles I reference in the post that contain quotes from Dean Reports. They still think there's got to be a different answer. Bottom line: there's no "easier" time to apply to UVA. There's definitely a better time for you to give us an application, though. You need to submit when you can present your best application.

2. How Many People will be Admitted?

We have no way to predict the number of students we'll admit during Early Decision since we have no data about the applicant pool. It's been over a decade since we had an ED process. We got about 2,400 applications during the last ED round. The deadline was November 1st and we released decisions on December 1st. There were 16,000 total applications that year. With over 40,000 applications coming to us these days, it's safe to say we'll get a few more ED apps than we did back in 2006, but we won't know how many more until our processing team ushers your applications to "complete" status.

3. When is the Actual Deadline

You have all day on October 15th to submit an application. I always caution students about waitin until the last minute, though. The Common App has people up into the wee hours to provide support, but you have to imagine that there will be a jump in requests for support as the deadline approaches and their response time might increase. Submit early so you have time to get help if something goes wrong.

4. What Results are Possible During Early Decision?

 During Early Decision (and Early Action, for that matter), we may admit, deny, or defer an applicant. Deferral means the file is moved to the Regular Decision round and we revisit it once the mid-year report arrives from the school counselor. Some students have asked if we will defer Early Decision applications to the Early Action process, but that wouldn't happen. There wouldn't be any new information to consider since those processes overlap.

As always, I'm happy to answer your questions in the comments.


*I once had a roommate who listened to Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds playing The Christmas Song on repeat the entire time she wrote her doctoral thesis. It was not the holiday season. Needless to say, that song is not in any playlist of mine.

Deadline Reminders for #UVA Early Action Applicants

It's the time of year when Early Action applicants are putting the finishing touches on their applications. There are some common questions and concerns at this point and I thought I'd go over a few of them. 

1. The deadline is November 1st, not October 31st.

You have until 11:59 PM on November 1st in your time zone to submit your application. Keep in mind that many schools share this deadline and while the Common App and Coalition App support teams will be around to help with issues (I know for a fact that the Common App team is up 24/7 around big deadlines), they are apt to be inundated with help requests in the hours before the deadline. Try to submit your applications early to avoid last minute issues.

2. Counselors and teachers aren't subject to your deadline.

You need to get all of YOUR parts of the application submitted by the deadline. Plenty of counselors and teachers have already submitted supporting credentials for students, but the system stays open for them. They get a grace period.

3. Double check that you've submitted on the application website.

Submitting an application isn't a one-click action. Make sure you follow the entire submission process. Log out and go back into the application you're using to make sure the submission went through. 

4. Your application will be incomplete the first time you log into the student portal.

A few days after your file is pulled into our system, we will send an email with login information for our student portal. Please be patient. It takes a few weeks for our staff to match all those transcripts and teacher recommendations to newly submitted applications.We only log required documents due to volume.

5. We do not accept resumes, abstracts, research, or writing portfolios

We do not accept supplements that fall outside the lines of art supplements (for the arts, architecture, and marching band). Your activities should be listed in the activity section of the Common App. Be concise and brief. If we have any questions about your activity list, we'll email you.

Recommendations should come from your counselor and a teacher of your choice. The feature for submitting "other" recommendations is even turned off in Common App to stop non-academic recommendations from coming in. Please respect our process and follow the application instructions on our website. 

6. Virginia residents must complete the residency questions to get in-state status.

If you are a Virginia resident, please be sure to fill out the residency section. The first section asks questions about you (you'll answer "no" to most of them). The next section asks about a parent. The parent section is where most of you demonstrate residency since most of you are dependents. Only send extra documentation to the Office of Virginia status if they contact you with a request for supporting information.

Submitting unnecessary documents slows the process down for everyone. 


Good luck! I'll be watching the comments below for questions. Feel free to tweet at me or DM me on Instagram if you have questions after office hours. I'm @UVADeanJ on both.

Six Deadline Reminders for #UVA Regular Decision Applicants

Regular Decision applicants to UVA should be putting the finishing touches on their Common Applications this weekend. Here are a few of the most common issues and questions that come up around deadline time.

1. The deadline is January 1st, not December 31st.

You have until 11:59 PM on January 1st in your time zone to submit your application. Keep in mind that many schools share this deadline and while the Common App support team is going to be up 24/7 to help with issues, they are apt to be inundated with help requests on Monday night.

2. Counselors and teachers aren't subject to your deadline.

You need to get all of YOUR parts of the application submitted by the deadline. Plenty of counselors and teachers have already submitted supporting credentials for students, but the system stays open for them. Your counselors and teachers are on a much-deserved break. No need to be emailing/calling them over the weekend.

3. Paying the fee doesn't submit your application.

You have to go through a submission process through the Common Application. Don't stop with paying the fee.

4. Your application will be incomplete the first time you log into UVA's information system.

This is explained in our application instructions. A few days after your file is pulled into our system, UVA's Student Information System will send an email with login information to the email account you used on your Common App. On the main screen, you'll see a "to do" list of items that need to be checked into your file.

The first time you log in, you might see items that were submitted, but just haven't been matched up to your file yet. Please be patient. It takes a few weeks for our staff to match all those transcripts and teacher recommendations to newly submitted applications.We only log required documents due to volume.

Mid-Year Reports will be sent by your counselors once first semester grades are available.

5. We do not accept resumes, abstracts, research, or writing portfolios

We do not accept supplements that fall outside the lines of art supplements (for the arts, architecture, and marching band). Your activities should be listed in the activity section of the Common App. Be concise and brief. If we have any questions about your activity list, we'll email you.

Recommendations should come from your counselor and a teacher of your choice. The feature for submitting "other" recommendations is turned off in Common App.

6. Virginia residents must complete the residency questions to get in-state status.

If you are a Virginia resident, please be sure to fill out the residency section of the Common App. The first section asks questions about you (you'll answer "no" to most of them). The next section asks about a parent. The parent section is where most of you demonstrate residency since most of you are dependents. Only send extra documentation to the Office of Virginia status if they contact you with a request for supporting information.

Submitting unnecessary documents slows the process down for everyone. The Common App is a robust application that provides us with plenty of excellent information. Don't complicate the application process with extras!


Good luck! I'll be watching the comments below for questions. My Twitter client pushes notifications, so you can also tweet questions to @UVADeanJ.

Five Important Deadline Day Reminders for #UVA Applicants

Ah, deadline day. We're fielding the usual "what time is the deadline" questions. You have until 11:59 PM in your time zone to submit your application. We DO NOT recommend waiting until the last few hours to submit. The Common App team stays up all night on deadline nights, but you can't expect instant help if something goes wrong with submission since there are apt to be scores of students submitting requests for help.


I have five important reminders for Early Action applicants:

1. We don't get your application instantly.
We pull applications out of the Common App and into our system in batches. As long as you submit your application in Common App before the deadline, you are set. Don't worry about the download date.

2. There is one VERY important email addresses: undergradadmission@virginia.edu
As covered in the "After You Submit" part of the application instructions (please read them!), you will get a confirmation email with login credentials for the student system. You will monitor your status in that system.

3. Do not worry about your status page in SIS yet.
When you log into SIS, you'll see a bunch of items on your "to-do" list. They'll just be labeled as "Initiated" right now. It means the item has not been filed in our office yet. Keep in mind that we have a deluge of documents to file. Don't worry about a missing credential yet. We'll be in touch by email once everything is filed to let you know if we need something from you.

4. Do not worry about your mid-year report until February.
At some point, the mid-year report will be the only thing left on your "to do" list. We leave that on your list because we will need mid-year grades from students who are admitted and deferred. Lots of students don't revisit their status once they are marked complete. If we added the mid-year report later, lots of people probably wouldn't see the addition. 

5. Do not read into "view decision" when it appears on your account.
The Student Information System has a built-in feature that adds a box that says "view decision" at the bottom of your status page when your file is deemed complete and ready for us to read. When you click on it, you'll get a little message saying decisions aren't ready yet.

Early Action Notification = January 31st

(any change will be announced on this blog ASAP)

We release all decisions at once. We've been able to release a little early since 2011, but we won't know the release date until we're almost at it.

Back in the paper days, we knew the release date a good week in advance because the last week was used to print letters and get them into envelopes.  We were basically done with the actual reading. These days, there is no lag time between the end of the review and the release.  When we're done, we can release.  We don't have to wait for letters to be printed.

Good luck, applicants! As always, I'm happy to answer questions in the comments.

Jack is all dressed up for deadline day!

What Does a November 1 Deadline Mean?

There are two schools of thought when it comes to application deadlines. There are the people who think you have to submit before the deadline day hits and the people who think you can submit at any point on deadline day. The good news is that you can follow either way of thinking and have your application submitted on time for UVA. You have until 11:59 PM on the deadline day, November 1, to submit your application.

In our minds, we are talking about 11:59 PM at UVA, which means the Eastern time zone. The Common App accounts for the time zone of all applicants, so those of you out West won't see the app shut down at 8:59 PM in your time zone.

We DO NOT recommend waiting until the last few hours to submit your application. The Common App team stays up all night on deadline nights, but you can't expect instant help if something goes wrong with submission since there are apt to be scores of students submitting requests for help.

Good luck to those putting the finishing touches on an application!

Five Tips for #UVA20 Regular Decision Applicants

The Regular Decision deadline is around the corner and from the tone of the calls I've gotten today, some of you are freaking out. Here are my final notes for all of you who are putting the finishing touches on applications right now:

1. Read the application instructions. There's a whole section about "Accessing the Student Information System" and so many of the questions I get on the blog are covered there.

2. Get YOUR part of the application submitted by 11:59 PM on January 1st. Your teachers and counselors have a grace period for submitting their parts of the application.

3.  You don't have to "rush" your SAT scores. As long as you have submitted your request to ACT or SAT, we can work with you. In an ideal world, you'd have submitted those requests earlier in the month, but we'll have plenty of things to work on if the scores aren't here on deadline day.

4. I know I mentioned this the other day, but make sure you submit your Common App. Paying the fee doesn't submit your application. Every year, there are people who submit a payment, but don't submit their actual application.

5. If you have any trouble, hit the "Instructions and Help" link that is on every page of the Common App website. They have support team members staying up into the wee hours to help students. That isn't permission to procrastinate. Can you imagine how many help tickets get submitted on the night of a big deadline?

That's all I have! Feel free to tweet at me (@UVaDeanJ) or post in the comments if you have a last minute question. Good luck!

Last Minute Notes for #UVA20 Regular Decision Applicants

January 1st is around the corner and it's time to remind Regular Decision applicants of a few things. Early Action applicants, you're going to recognize a lot of the information here. 

Deadline Night

This comes up every year. The deadline is January 1st. It is still January 1st up until 11:59 PM that evening. Don't wait until the last minute to submit just in case there is a technical glitch and you need assistance. The Common App team stays up all night to help students, but you can probably imagine that there are tons of support tickets being submitted on deadline night. Don't procrastinate!

Paying the Fee Doesn't Submit Your Application

Make sure you follow the submission procedures in Common App. Paying the fee won't make your application come to use. You still have to submit the application. We spend a few weeks following up with people after deadlines because they neglected to submit an application, but sent us a fee!

After Submitting, You'll Monitor Your Application Status in SIS

This is explained in our application instructions. A few days after your file is pulled into our system, UVA's Student Information System will send an email with login information to the email account you used on your Common App. On the main screen, you'll see a "to do" list of items that need to be checked into your file.

The first time you log in, you might see items that are in our system, but just haven't been matched up to your file yet. Please be patient. It takes a few weeks for our staff to match all those transcripts and teacher recommendations to newly submitted applications.We only log required documents due to volume.

Mid-Year Reports will be sent by your counselors once first semester grades are available.

SAT and ACT Score Aren't Sent Instantly

Despite the testing agencies having this on their websites, many people don't know that it takes the SAT and ACT folks a few weeks to transmit scores to us. Even if you sent your scores a week ago, you might see them on your "to do" list in SIS for a while. Don't delay. Send your scores NOW.

Sending Resumes, Papers, and Other Supplements

We do not accept resumes, papers, and supplements that fall outside the lines of art supplements (for the arts, architecture, and marching band). Your activities should be listed in the activity section of the Common App. Be concise and brief. If we have any questions about your activity list, we'll email you. Recommendations should come from your counselor and a teacher of your choice. The feature for submitting "other" recommendations is turned off in Common App.

If you are a Virginia resident, please be sure to fill out the residency section of the Common App. Only send extra documentation to the Office of Virginia status if they contact you with a request for supporting information.

Submitting unnecessary documents slows the process down for everyone. The Common App is a robust application that provides us with plenty of excellent information. Don't complicate the application process with extras!

Jack loves the Common App...scarf.

The Final Countdown for Early Action Applicants

Early Action deadline day is here and we know there are still some applicants out there putting the finishing touches on their applications. A few reminders...

1. The Common App help desk is FAST.

Even when I have asked the most complicated question, I've had a response from the Common App folks in under and hour and often in just 15-20 minutes. If you have a problem while on the Common App website, open a help ticket. The individual colleges don't support the Common App website. The Common App has a great team of folks who do that.

2. You need to double check your responses to a couple questions.

Every year, we hear from students who accidentally applied under Regular Decision instead of Early Action. Double check your selection before you submit. If you hit RD, we won't even begin to work with your file until after the EA review is complete. While you're at it, make sure you are applying as a first-year student. Even if you are coming in with AP, IB, or college credit, even if you are getting an Associate's Degree concurrently, you are a first-year student if you are still working on getting your high school diploma.

You can verify all of this on the first UVA screen you come to on the Common App website.

3. Read the our application instructions.

The application instructions explain what happens after you submit your UVA application. If you read them, you will not be surprised to see items on your "to do" list the first time you log into the UVA student information system (SIS).


I'll be online as late as possible tonight to answer questions that come in by email, blog comment, Twitter, or Facebook. Our office will be open tomorrow morning in case you need to talk to someone about your application.

Good luck! Don't stay up too late!

Sending Resumes and Supplemental Information to UVA, Fall 2015 Edition

I normally spread posts out by a couple days, but the emails I'm getting are prompting me to combine my usual note about sending resumes with some more information about supplemental documents.

First of all, this post is not about the optional UVA supplements applicants interested in the arts, architecture, and the marching band are able to submit through SlideRoom. This is about all the other stuff that people want to send us.

1. Don't send resumes to UVA.

The Common App has a resume upload function and lets each school decide whether they want to use it. We are one of the schools that turned that function off. We prefer the Common App activity section to the various ways people choose to present their activities on resumes. Our reading loads are heavy and a systemic format ensures that we can zero in on the major pieces of information. Accepting resumes would slow the process down immensely (and increase the chance that we'd miss something) because everyone chooses their own resume style.

2. Don't send extra documents to Virginia Status unless prompted to do so.

The director of the Office of Virginia Status emailed me the other day and said that Virginia families are going through her website and filling out forms she has on there "just in case" they are needed. Submitting unnecessary documents slows the process for everyone. We ask our residency questions on the Common App. There are a few people who have to send extra documents and they will prompted to do so.

3. Proof of activities is not needed.

Some people seem to think they are getting into college because of their activities. Activities are part of the puzzle, but they play a role that's secondary to the information we get from your school. Listing your activities on the Common App provides enough information about your extracurricular work. We don't need documents that prove that stuff happened.

At the end of the Common App, you sign a statement saying that what you submitted is true. Certificates and nice notes from coaches or club advisers should go in your scrapbook, not get submitted with your application.

4. Application updates don't go to individual admission officers.

Right over the spot where people can find our email addresses is a note that application updates are sent to [update: portals] and that we aren't concerned with you demonstrating interest right now.

If you have some important information that needs to be added to your file, send it [update: via your portal], not to one, two, or several admission officers. Please don't copy us on emails to the application account either. We need to read applications right now and our inboxes are already getting flooded with lovely, but unnecessary emails from students.

It's no secret that applying to college can be complicated, but it seems like some are trying to make applying to UVA have even more layers. As a student, you need to request that school officials do their thing, have tests scores sent to us (posts about that here and here), and then focus on finishing up your Common App by the deadline. Once that is all done, go back to juggling all the other things that are part of being a senior.

The Timing of SAT Score Reports

I'm going to address four topics in this post.

1. Delayed score reporting by the SAT (the ACT was addressed earlier this week).
2. Rushing scores.
3. Canceled test dates.

1. Delayed SAT Score Reports

The SAT folks went on hiatus for a little while and weren't sending score reports to colleges. The files are starting to roll in again. Yesterday, we received just over 3000 reports in the first transfer since the break and it will take a few days for the system at UVA to match scores with applications that have already been submitted. 

If you are one of the students who has been told that your scores are delayed, please know that we will review your scores whenever they arrive. You can still apply under Early Action.

2. Rushing Scores

If you didn't send your scores already and you are applying under Early Action, send your scores ASAP using the standard delivery option. At this point, it is not worth $31 to rush your scores. We have enough files to read to keep us occupied until ETS can get those scores to us.You do not have to rush scores at this point.

3. Canceled Test Dates

This happens every year. A storm, a power outage, or some other problem causes a testing center to cancel the administration of the SAT or ACT. My own nephew was affected when Hurricane Joaquin came ashore earlier this month.

Admission offices have always been flexible around deadlines. If your SAT or ACT was rescheduled, you will be okay. Make sure you submit your part of the application by the deadline and that your teachers and counselors have everything they need to get their part done (we give them a grace period, by the way). The testing piece might just have to come later this year and that will be fine with us.

 CavPup's first major rain event. He was not pleased.

Regular Decision Deadline Tonight!

The Regular Decision deadline is tonight! If you are still putting the finishing touches on your application, don't wait until the last minute. There are lots of schools with January 1st deadlines and the Common App website is apt to have a lot of traffic on it today. Submit with plenty of time to spare in case something goes wrong and you need to submit a help ticket to the Common App team!

After you submit all required parts of the Common App (when we say "Common App," we mean the general app, the UVa section, and the payment), Common App will send the application to us. Within five days of that, our computer system will send you login information. The system is called SIS and that is where you'll monitor your application and your financial aid documents (if you submit them). Read more in the "After You Submit Your Application" section of the application instructions.

The first time you log in, you will probably see several items missing from your file. Don't worry about that yet! Your teachers and counselors have a different deadline for submitting their documents.

Good luck! I'll be monitoring the blog, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter tonight, so reach out if you have questions. 

Keep an eye on the clock!
(image by Jen Fariello, UVA '96)

Five Common Concerns of Early Action Applicants

Early Action applicants, you have one more day to submit your applications! I thought I'd write one post to cover some of the most common worries that students have around deadline time.

1. The Early Action deadline for UVa is midnight on November 1st. 

That doesn't mean those of you who thought it was midnight tonight now have permission to procrastinate. Avoid submitting at the last minute since there are thousands of students applying to schools with November 1st deadlines who will also be submitting tomorrow. Give yourself a nice buffer just in case something goes wrong and you need some help from the Common App folks.

2.  Double check the type of application you are submitting.

Every year, one or two students submit applications and forget that they designated them as Regular Decision. If you did that, we probably won't even touch your file for a couple months. Double check that you indicated that you are a first-year applicant submitting an Early Action application for the Fall 2015 term.

3. Contact Common App if you have trouble submitting. 

There is a help button on every single screen within the Common App's website. The admission officers at your schools aren't able to help with Common App issues. What's more, if there's a problem, the Common App team needs to know about it in case it is systemic.

4. Your UVa status page won't be current yet.

We have two processes happening simultaneously right now: the January transfer process (their deadline was October 1) and the Early Action process. Our staff is processing documents as quickly as possible, but it will take a couple weeks for everything that has arrived to be checked in. If we are missing something from you after all the documents have been processed, we will be in touch! Just focus on getting your application submitted. Don't panic about your status page just yet. Please don't call or email admission officers to check on documents. We will be immersed in file review and can't sift through mail bins or stacks of documents that are being scanned.

5. Your application won't be "downloaded" on deadline day.

Every year, we get frantic emails from students who submit before the deadline, but don't see their application as downloaded by their schools. Applications tend to be downloaded once per day and the download date is almost never the same as the date you submitted. No need to worry about that!



Here are a few blog posts that address some other things that might be on your mind. I'll be updating the posts from last year with some new thoughts in the coming weeks.
-All of the 2014-2015 first-year essay questions together
-Essay word length
-Essay formatting
-How we use demonstrated interest
-Sending Resumes to UVa
-About extracurricular activities

As a reminder, you do not need to rush your SAT scores to us at this time. As long as you get your request in to ETS before the deadline, we should be good.

Good luck, seniors!

The Best Time to Apply to UVa

These days, college application deadlines should be simple. Back when we had a paper application, we had to move our deadline to avoid New Year's Day, when the post office was closed. Going paperless in 2008 simplified many things for both applicants and admission officers. The deadlines for first-year applications haven't changed since.

The deadlines at UVa are November 1st for Early Action and January 1st for Regular Decision. There seem to be more people concerned with the "right time" to submit an application this year. Let me cover the three most popular assumptions.


1. Applications submitted early get "easier" reads and show interest.
I completely understand this thinking since it is true for some schools. There are plenty encouraging very early submission of applications these days. At UVa, we have the same review process for the entire application season. We probably won't notice the date that the application arrived. As for interest, it is not a factor for us.


2. We fill the class during Early Action.
About half of our applicants applied during the early round last year and roughly half the offers went to that group. I'm saying roughly because there's a lot more to the conversation, but suffice it to say we do not fill our class with the Early Action applicants. You can look at unofficial statistics about the admission process using the statistics tag on this blog. Official statistics are published by the Office of Institutional Assessment. 


3. Applications submitted around the holidays are read by "jolly" admission officers.
I saw this posted in the UVa forum of a popular college admission message board. When we go into reading mode, we are laser focused on the task in front of us. We realize how important our work is to our applicants and we isolate ourselves from outside influences so we give each file the time it deserves. As a result, we aren't always too jolly around the holidays, but we do feel good about the work we're doing.


In a nutshell, submit your UVa application when you feel it is complete. While I always caution students about last minute submission, there isn't a difference between an application submitted on September 1st and one submitted on November 1st when we read. Don't rush yourselves!

CavDog enjoying the summer

As I wrote this, I got word that our first application for the Class of 2019 was submitted on Saturday, one day after the Common App launched.

The Day After Deadline

So that thing we knew would happen? It happened. That thing that happens almost every year when students apply to college? It happened (though the issue is bigger this year than in the past). That thing that happens every Saturday at 10 AM when tickets for some great concert go on sale? It happened.

A really popular website crashed at a time of peak use. It's totally foreseeable. Some people hoped they'd be lucky, though, and jumped in during that period of peak usage.

Look, while we wish you didn't wait until the last minute, we realize that you are juggling a lot and you might have really needed the final hours to put the finishing touches on your application.

That's why we are always flexible.

On top of that, application deadlines seem to coincide with bad weather, which sometimes results in internet outages or blakouts.

That's why we are always, always flexible.

If you encountered a problem with the Common App website last night, get your app in today. I can almost guarantee that no school cut their applications off at midnight last night. There is always a grace period. You're in it right now. Get those apps completed and submitted! Double and triple check that you submitted all three parts of the application (application, writing supplement, and payment).

It will be okay!

Regular Decision Deadline Tonight!

The Regular Decision deadline is tonight at 11:59 PM. I'm sure you've heard it before, but if you haven't hit submit, make sure you do it well before the deadline. There is apt to be a lot of traffic on the Common App's servers and if you need help, you'll probably one of many submitting a help ticket.

After you hit submit and ALL sections of the Common App (the application, writing section, and payment), Common App will send the application to us. Within five days of that, our computer system will send you login information. The system is called SIS and that is where you'll monitor your application and your financial aid documents (if you submit them).

The first time you log in, you will probably see several items missing from your file. Don't worry about that yet! Your teachers and counselors have a different deadline for submitting their documents.

 Good night, applicants!

Now, here are some links to posts about common questions that arise around deadline time:

• Incomplete application status messages
• Submitting supplements that aren't art supplements
• Sending resumes
• How a Financial Aid application affects admission (remember aid forms are due March 1)
• How UVa uses demonstrated interest
• Quotas for different geographic regions
• Quotas addressed again
• SAT score submission 
• Superscoring
• How activities are used in our review
• Essay length and word count
• The role of parents in the process
• How we use social media part 1 and part 2