The Big Decision: Getting In and Enrolling
Review of Your Application
Colleges and universities have sophisticated admission systems designed to put together
entering classes that meet the needs of their unique institutional profiles. They
want to be relatively sure that they admit students, who match what the school has
to offer and who can be expected to succeed academically and as contributors to
the college community.
In order to accomplish this challenge, your application will be reviewed carefully
by individual admissions officers and, at most institutions, in admissions committees
where their findings are discussed candidly.
Before you begin to apply, formally, for admission, you are considered a prospective
student (or “prospect”). When your application appears online or application documents
begin to arrive in the admission office, you become an applicant and an official
applicant’s file bearing your name is established.
Once this file contains your application and all of the supportive documents—your
essay(s), your transcript, your counselor and teacher recommendations, your official
test scores, and any other material needed to arrive at an admission decision, it
is considered complete. Your file will then start on its journey through the application
review process.
To arrive at the decision to admit you or deny you admission, they use all the material
available to them in your application file, including notes from their school visits
or contact with you during interviews, college fairs, etc.They are interested in
knowing all they can about you academically and personally. If they have questions
about things in your application, they may contact you, your counselor or other
school personnel for clarification.
Some colleges and universities—particularly, state institutions where the applicant
pool may be extremely large—use a formula based on a combination of the applicant's
grade point average, test scores and other key information.In these cases, decisions
may be made by one or more admission officers who rely on committees only when the
applicant is borderline for admission and the decision could go either way. (The
admission committee may include faculty members and other members of the college
community who have a stake in the admission of a solid first year class.)
Final admission decisions—particularly at highly selective colleges—are not usually
made by a single person. To ensure fairness in the selection process, colleges and
universities rely on input from a group of reviewers who can bring different perspectives.
Most colleges use a more subjective review process. At these institutions, your
application may be read by several admissions officers or by a committee that includes
faculty and other university personnel along with a number of admissions officers.
As each member of the admissions staff or committee reviews the application, comments
are recorded in the file.
In many cases, the admission officer assigned to your school, state, and/or region
and with whom you may have had personal contact may "present" your application to
the committee and make a case for or against your acceptance. The committee may
arrive at a decision by a formal vote or by more informal agreement or “consensus”.
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions…
With the increase in the use of online applications, some colleges may post decisions
online. However, most institutions will notify you by mail.For early decision, early
notification, or rolling admissions applicants, notification of decisions will,
in most cases, begin in December. Notifications will continue to arrive throughout
the year. Regular decision applicants—many of whom are still completing their applications
for December-April deadlines—will have to wait until spring (March or April) to
learn their decision outcomes.
Since the wait can be stressful and filled with self-doubt and anxiety.You and your
classmates should work hard at supporting each other during this phase of the admission
process, knowing that none of you are alone in feeling a bit anxious about whether
your notification envelope will be “fat” (containing an offer of admission and info
on housing and enrollment) or “thin” (denying you admission for the coming year).
Try to understand that your admission decisions should not be viewed as an indication
of your personal worth and that—in every applicant pool—there is competition for
admission and some students will have to be denied.All of these things are factors
in the admission process.
If you can, you should discuss this with your counselor or advisor, trusting them
to give you good advice on how to handle your feelings.They can be helpful in making
your parents, teachers, and school administrators aware of how difficult this waiting
period can be for seniors.
It is also important that you ask your family to leave the opening of your college
mail to you. You reserve the right to share the news about the decision with them
and others when you are ready to do so.
If the decision is good news, you will probably be very happy to tell everyone about
“getting in”. If the news is disappointing, it
may be hard for you to digest and handle the decision—particularly if you believe
you are well-qualified for admission at the college or university that has denied
you an offer. You may need time to “grieve” a bit and to decide how you will tell
people that you have not been accepted.
The Final Decision: Where will you go to college?
Once you have heard from each of the colleges to which you have applied, you will
have to make the biggest decision of all—where to enroll!
If you have been admitted to your first choice, this is a no-brainer.However, there
are lots of factors that may influence your decision, including issues related to
paying for college or financial
aid. Therefore, you will need to narrow the choices down to the college
or university that will best meet all of your needs.
Below are five tips for making a wise final decision:
- Take your time. In most cases, you will have at least a month to think about where
you will actually go to college. Because this decision may have a huge influence
on other aspects of your future (your career, where you live, if and who you marry,
etc.), you want to be sure it is more than an emotional response to the choices
you have.
- Do some more research. Look over the literature from the colleges that have admitted
you and your notes from the admission process. Visit the college again, if possible,
paying serious attention to the academic and social climate of the campus, as well
as the dining and housing options, and other things that you will have to deal with
daily, if you choose to enroll there. Talk candidly with current students and with
alumni about their experiences as students at the institution. Ask yourself if you
feel comfortable in the environment and if you can handle being there for four years
or more.
- Trust your instincts! College is a big investment of time and money and how you
feel about it counts a great deal. If you have two or more choices, it may be wise
to go with the one that just feels right for you.
- Talk frankly with your parents and your counselor about your feelings and your reasons
for wanting to go to each college on your list of acceptances. Ask them for input
and listen carefully to their opinions to get different perspectives on the possibilities.
- If you are still unsure after serious deliberation, consider taking a year off (called
a “gap year”) before you enroll. You may not be ready to attend college and a year
of growth gained from further study, travel, community service, or work might be
just the thing for you.(Click on “Gap Year Options” in the StudentLounge for more
information.)
The Wait List
The number of students who are accepted for a college’s first year class is determined
by predicting how many students will accept the offers of admission.To be certain
that the enrollment in the class will be sufficient to meet the budgetary and demographic
enrollment goals of the institution for the coming year, many colleges establish
a wait list.
This list contains a small percentage of their applicants—students who qualify for
admission but are not as highly qualified as those who were offered enrollment and
who would be readily admitted if there were spots available for them in the entering
class. Recognize that you will be accepted for enrollment from a wait list only
if a significant number of those already admitted choose not to enroll. Therefore,
since some of these lists are longer than others, you should not be overly optimistic
about being fully admitted if you find yourself on a wait list. Discuss your wait-list
options situation with your counselor or advisor as soon as possible for help in
deciding whether it makes sense for you to accept a wait list offer.
Recognize, also, that timing can mean a lot. If you decide to remain on the wait
list, return the card indicating your intent promptly. You might also want to write
a letter to the Director of Admission to express how much you want to attend the
college and share any honor or achievements that have occurred since you submitted
your application.
In the meantime, you will need to secure your enrollment at another institution
by sending your commitment notification and your (non-refundable) enrollment deposit
before May 1 to an institution at which you have been offered admission.(May 1 is
the universal notification deadline honored by most American colleges and universities.)
It could be as late as August before you are offered admission from a wait list
and you do not want to jeopardize your chance to attend another college by holding
out for the uncertain wait list school.
Enrollment Deposits
When you have arrived at a final decision, make only one enrollment deposit!! Double
deposits are unethical.In fact, the Joint Statement of Principles of
Good Practice in College Admission and the Statement of Students’
Rights and Responsibilities in the College Admission Process, published
by the National Association for College Admission Counseling and The College Board
both declare that multiple deposits are not appropriate.
You should also notify all of the other colleges where you have been admitted that
you do not intend to enroll in their first year classes.Writing notes to thank the
directors of admission at those institutions for their offers of admission (and
financial aid) and telling them where you plan to enroll is a nice gesture, as well.Colleges
and universities may find this information helpful as they collect research data
pertinent to their admission programs.
Finally, it is important that you let your counselor and/or registrar know your
decision since they will have to send a copy of your final transcript to the college
at which you plan to enroll. (Many schools also publish this information in the
graduation program, in the next year’s school profile, and in end-of-the-year reports
to the school board or superintendent of schools.)