To get into America’s top colleges, you need to demonstrate interest, which is a fancy way of saying, you need to flirt with colleges. Yet, when is just as important as how.
In no rush, Case Western and Tulane keep some Early applicants in suspense
Slow and steady wins the race?
Once upon a time, refined Early Decision and Early Action etiquette dictated that by December 15 colleges would inform such applicants of their admission, deferral, or rejection. My how times have changed!
While the likes of Penn, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Wash U., and Yale got on with it last week, some big names are keeping their powder dry to seemingly the last moment. University of Michigan and Boston College are notorious in recent years for December 18 or later admissions notifications to their Early Action applicants; yet, this year, two more colleges seem to believe the maxim that they should, “save the best for last.”
The two notable stragglers this December are Case Western Reserve University and Tulane University.
In Case’s case, Robert R. McCullough, the university’s Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, announced Monday, “We expect to send applicants an email providing a link to the secure webpage with their admission status on Wednesday, Dec. 19. We will begin sending these email notifications around 8 p.m. EST. Students who have applied for financial aid will also be able to see their financial aid package online at that time.” Just two years ago Case’s Early Action notifications came out a whole week earlier in December. That was before Case Western introduced Early Decision I and II into the mix and with it gone are the days of earlier Early notifications.
UPDATE 12/19/18 @ 7:20 EST: McCullough needs more time! On December 19 in the evening he announced, “Unfortunately, we find that we need a little more time to be absolutely sure applicants’ decisions, scholarships and financial aid packages are correct. We are therefore rescheduling decision release for Early Action and Early Decision admission until 8 p.m. Eastern Thursday, December 20.” He also expressed “regret” for holding students in suspense for another day but wanted to ensure the decisions they receive are accurate.”
Tulane will let Early Action applicants to the New Orleans university know of their admissions decisions on Thursday, December 20, 2018 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Jeff Schiffman, Tulane’s Director of Admission shared, “I think it is also worth mentioning that Tulane saw a 14% increase in applications this year. Bottom line, we could fill up multiple freshman classes with students who are academically qualified to attend Tulane. We could fill up multiple freshman classes just with students who would be great fits here and genuinely want to be at Tulane. The problem is we can’t admit all of them.”
To Shiffman’s credit – and Tulane’s – the university notified its Early Decision applicants regarding their admissions decisions refreshingly fast. Tulane’s ED admission letters left Tulane’s Office of Admission on November 16 and were made available online at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on November 19. Talk about a nice Thanksgiving present! More universities should try to turn around admissions decisions in fewer than three weeks (Tulane’s Early Decision application deadline was November 1)!
Tulane, back in the day, released its Early Action notifications in November, but that was before they got into the ED I and ED II business recently.
So, seniors dreaming of a Case Western or Tulane acceptance letter this Christmas, hold on just a bit longer.
Don’t Despair if you Don’t Get in Early
Attention ED/EA Applicants (and Parents)!
Many of you are just days away from learning whether or not you have earned early action or early decision admission to your top choice college or university.
If you get in, celebrate and congratulate yourself (and all those who have supported you) for such a terrific achievement.
If you don’t get in, don’t flip out! It is human nature to become quite sad when one does not get what one wants. This is understandable. Please remember that your school-based college counselor should be there for you to strategize best next steps should you get news from colleges in the coming days that you don’t want to hear. If your school-based college counselor is unable or unwilling to discuss the implications of an EA or ED deferral or rejection, contact me.
We all handle disappointment differently, so some of you who are deferred or rejected may scream, cry, or stay in bed all day, while others may simply go for a run, workout at the gym, or eat a lot of ice cream.
While you can react in any of the above ways in the moments and hours immediately following bad news, I suggest that you reengage with the college admissions process quickly in order to increase your chances of getting acceptance letters both from any college that defers you early and any colleges you have applied to (or will apply to) regular decision.
Make sure to finish up your applications strong before your regular decision college application deadlines. Make sure to request that your transcripts be sent to regular decision colleges if you have not already done so (if you don’t remember how to do this, speak to your school-based college counselor right away, as each will have different procedures in place regarding how and when you must request transcripts/letters of recommendation be sent to colleges on your list). And make sure to have CollegeBoard and/or ACT, Inc. send your test scores promptly.
In order to help you reach your college admissions potential, if you have not done so before, now would be a wise time to send your essays, resume, short answer responses, or overall applications to us to review so that we may provide constructive feedback. This will help resolve any objective or subjective weaknesses in your writing before regular decision deadlines. Yet, please make sure to send content for review no later than December 20 to ensure that the we will be able to get you comments/edits before all January 1 deadlines.
If the college at which you have been deferred is still your top choice, you can and should also write a formal letter via email to the admissions officer for that college who covers your region. Please share such a letter with your school-based college counselor and/or us before sending it so that together we can make sure that you are doing all that you can to get in regular decision. What should be included in this deferral response letter? Please watch this quick video to find out.
I wish you all the best of luck whether you expect to hear from colleges this month or in a few months during the regular decision notification period.
Villanova’s Acceptance Rate Falls to 29%
Villanova University will release its Regular Decision admissions notifications on Thursday, March 22, 2018. Yet, before it does, the suburban Philadelphia university has shared with high school counselors important bits of information about its Class of 2022 applicant pool.
According to Michael M. Gaynor, Villanova’s director of undergraduate admission, Villanova received 22,727 applications for the 1,670 spots the university has allotted for first-year students entering this fall. 22,727 first-year applications represents a 7.65% increase in first-year applications from last year’s previous high.
In addition, Villanova began offering an Early Decision application option to students who applied this past fall. In its inaugural year, 24% of Villanova’s entering class will be admitted through the university’s new Early Decision program.
Villanova also still offers non-binding Early Action, and 12,677 Early Action applications were submitted this past fall.
As a result of its new differentiated admission options, Villanova’s overall acceptance rate has fallen to 28.8%. Last year, when the university only offered Early Action and Regular Decision, Villanova’s overall acceptance rate was 34.9%, and during the previous admission cycle, it was 43.2%. Long story short, Villanova has now joined many other colleges in using Early Decision to reduce its overall acceptance rate.
Of those students accepted, the middle 50% earned weighted high school GPAs on a traditional 4.00 scale between 4.10 and 4.48. Note that such GPAs are not final GPAs, but rather cumulative GPAs students’ earned at the time of their application submissions. Also, of those students accepted, the middle 50% SAT score range fell between 1380 and 1490 and the middle 50% score range on the ACT was between 32 and 34.
Finally, Gaynor notes that some Villanova majors are harder to get into than others. In particular, the most competitive programs were Biology, Business, Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, and Nursing.
Penn State Creates Early Action Deadline for Fall 2019 Applicants
Big news for students in the high school Class of 2019. Pennsylvania State University, which for many years has had a Priority Application deadline of November 30 for first-year applicants applying for fall admission, has just announced that starting this summer (for students applying for admission for Fall 2019 and later) the popular university is instituting a new Early Action deadline.
Students applying by Penn State’s new November 1 Early Action deadline will receive an admissions decision – admit, deny, or defer – by no later than December 24. Penn State will still offer a November 30 Priority Application deadline for those students choosing not to applying by the university’s new Early Action deadline, and students choosing this later Priority Application will still hear of their decisions by January 31, 2019. In the past, students have heard back from Penn State in a rolling manner if they applied in the weeks leading up to its November 30 Priority deadline.
In addition to announcing the new Early Action option, Penn State has made additional changes to its application timeline that are important to note:
- Penn State’s application for undergraduate admission will become available on August 1, 2018
- Schreyer Honors College’s priority filing date will now be on November 1, 2018
- The FAFSA recommended filing date is now December 1, 2018 (FAFSA goes live on October 1)
- Early awarding of student aid begins for Early Action applicants in Mid-February, 2019
The big take-away is that Penn State is telling high school counselors to encourage their students to apply using the new Early Action deadline, which sounds to us like getting into Penn State using the priority deadline is about to get harder than ever. Students need to get their applications together quicker than ever for PSU; yet, their Early Action deadline is still later than early birds University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and University of Georgia, which both have EA deadlines of October 15.
It should also be noted that students hoping to apply to Penn State’s accelerated pre-medical/medical program or to its music, theater, musical theater, acting, dance, and golf management programs, will need to submit supplemental information to complete their applications – such as interviews or auditions – that will preclude Penn State from offering December 24 decisions for such applicants. Such niche program applicants, along with World Campus applicants, are not invited to participate in Penn State’s new Early Action program.
Penn State accepts its own institutional application and the Coalition application for domestic freshmen applicants. International students, U.S. citizens or permanent residents living abroad, and all transfer students must apply to Penn State via its institutional applicantion, which is available at MyPennState.
To learn more, visit Penn State’s admissions office here for additional information on the application review process and take a look at Penn State’s Early Action FAQs here.
UNC and a tale of one – make that four – acceptance rates
June 7, 2020 Update: Do you want to learn how to get into University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill? Watch this in-depth video.
March 22, 2018 Update: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Vice Provost for Enrollment and Undergraduate Admissions, Stephen Farmer, informed high school counselors that his institution received more than 43,000 applications during the 2017-2018 admissions cycle – another record and a six percent increase from last year.
“We’re grateful to every student who honored us by applying, and we’ve enjoyed getting to know them over the course of the last five months. At the same time, this increased interest has made our decisions especially difficult. With more applications, a class no larger than last year’s, and yields that we expect to remain healthy, we will reluctantly need to decline the applications of many students who would have received better news from us a year ago.” wrote Farmer.
Previously: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill released its Early Action decisions on Friday, January 26, 2018; therefore, now is as good of a time as any to remind our readers that UNC at Chapel Hill doesn’t have one annual acceptance rate – the one that is published in popular college guides and online data sites such as CollegeBoard.org. In fact, UNC at Chapel Hill has a grand total of four annual acceptance rates for first-year applicants. Understanding this reality will put your recent acceptance or rejection or your future acceptance or rejection in proper perspective.
First, what the student on the street would say about UNC at Chapel Hill acceptance rates: “I will just go on Naviance Family Connection or College Board’s Big Future to figure out my chance of getting into UNC at Chapel Hill…Oh look, Naviance Family Connection says the university’s acceptance rate is 28%. College Board’s Big Future says UNC at Chapel Hill’s acceptance rate is 27%. That’s a bit odd. La di da di da…Let me compulsively check Snapchat…”
But as a reader of admissions.blog you are not going to be the student on the street. You are going think multi-demsionally and realize that University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill actually has multiple acceptance rates EACH admissions cycle, four of which are extremely important to know in order to properly place the university into either the safety, possible, or reach section of your college list.
For first-year applicants, UNC at Chapel Hill offers both Early Action and Regular Decision consideration each admissions cycle; yet, the university has quite different standards for students applying from North Carolina versus students applying from outside of North Carolina. Thus, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill actually has four distinct acceptance rates each admissions cycle:
1. Early Action (North Carolina Residents)
2.Early Action (Out-of-State Residents)
3.Regular Decision (North Carolina Residents)
4.Regular Decision (Out of State Applicants)
We are only half-way there so far this admissions cycle, so we only have the two EA acceptance rates (reportedly 48 percent for EA North Carolina Residents and 18 Percent EA Out-of-State Residents). Those two numbers tell us quite a bit, as it’s clear that UNC is statistically far more difficult for out-of-state residents to get in than it is for in-state residents. That trend will continue Regular Decision even as the exact acceptance rates for Regular Decision will differ from those EA. At the very least, please note that the 28% and 27% acceptance rates mentioned above for UNC that are reported on two of the most trusted online college websites are averages of the four distinct acceptance rates that UNC has each year. Long story short, right about now, with EA decisions sinking in, North Carolina residents are not nearly as impressive as they feel and non-North Carolina residents are not nearly as unimpressive as they feel.
While Naviance Family Connection and College Board’s Big Future don’t even try to explain to visitors the differences in first-year applicant acceptance rates between in-state and out-of-state applicants to UNC at Chapel Hill, we are thankful that UNC at Chapel Hill itself at least shares on its website that the overall first-year application acceptance rates for in-state and out-of-state residents differs quite dramatically.
We are big fans of University of North Carolina Chapel Hill here at admissions.blog, but we would appreciate if in the future the university could err on the side of even greater transparency by also reporting its bifurcated acceptance rates by admissions plan so that prospective students, their parents, and those who advise them are able to make more accurate assessments of students’ chances of admission in the years ahead. Until that happens, though, do note that UNC is slightly harder to get into for both North Carolina residents and out-of-state residents Regular decision than it is Early Action. So, if you didn’t get an admissions decision EA from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this January, buckle up for Regular Decision later this spring, which is sure to bring acceptance rates of lower than 48% for North Carolina residents and lower than 18% for out-of-state students. Good luck.
Princeton Early Action Acceptance Rate Drops to 14.6 Percent
Just 799 students were accepted out of 5,402 applicants who applied to Princeton this fall using the university’s single-choice early action deadline for Princeton’s Class of 2022.
Princeton’s Office of Communications shares that its single-choice early action pool was the “largest in the last seven years, representing an 8 percent increase over last year’s early applicant pool and a 57 percent increase from 2011. The admission rate was 14.7 percent this year compared with 15.4 percent last year, and 21.1 percent in 2011.”
Decisions were mailed to students on December 13 and they are also available online to applicants on December 13.
Of those applicants accepted, forty-eight countries and forty-four states, in addition to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are represented. Forty-four percent of the admitted students are U.S. students from “diverse backgrounds,” fourteen percent are the first in their families to attend college, seventeen percent are children of Princeton alumni, and eleven percent are international students.
The gender breakdown of accepted applicants was fifty percent male and fifty percent female.
Interestingly, twenty-one percent of the admitted students indicated they want to study engineering.
In 2011 Princeton began offering an early application round for prospective students whose first college choice is Princeton. Princeton’s early action applicants are allowed to apply early only to Princeton and public colleges concurrently. If admitted, such applicants may still wait until May 1 to accept Princeton’s offer of admission.
If you do get the unfortunate deferral letter, please read this important article: How to Respond to an Early Decision or Early Action Deferral. If you get the stinging rejection letter, please read this article: How to Recover from Early Decision or Early Action Rejection.
If you get in, congratulations!
Visit Admissions Intel’s College Acceptance Gift Collection.
MIT Received 16 percent more Early Action Applicants this Fall
MIT Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services, Stu Schmill, has provided context relating to the Early Action notifications that MIT will be sharing with students on December 14 at 6:28 p.m EST.
According to Schmill, MIT received approximately 9,700 applications, which is 16% more compared with last year’s Early Action pool.
“Last year, we admitted 657 students in Early Action; we plan to admit a similar number this year. As you may know, our early admission rate tends to be relatively low, as we try to avoid admitting a disproportionate percentage of our class in Early Action,” Schmill shared. Taking that information at face value, that would mean that MIT’s EA acceptance rate would be roughly 6.8% this year.
“Because our applicant pool is so strong, we defer many applicants to Regular Action for further review. While many of them are not ultimately admitted, we do admit some portion of our deferred applicants. In the last few years, we’ve typically admitted ~100–300 deferred applicants,” Schmill continued.
Finally, Schmill added, “While this is always difficult, we will give definitive decisions to applicants if we are certain they will be denied admission this year, so that they can focus on their other college options.”
If you do get the unfortunate deferral letter, please read this important article: How to Respond to an Early Decision or Early Action Deferral. If you get the stinging rejection letter, please read this article: How to Recover from Early Decision or Early Action Rejection.
If you get in, congratulations!
Visit Admissions Intel’s College Acceptance Gift Collection.
Register NOW: Test sites are in short supply for August SAT
When the College Board first announced the addition of an August test date for the SAT beginning this summer, cheers went up among those who had lobbied for adjusting the test schedule to accommodate the reality of earlier application deadlines. ACT added a September test several years ago, which turned out to be enormously popular among students with time to prep over the summer who wanted one last try before going the early admissions route. And the College Board finally saw the wisdom of doing the same.
But enthusiasm for the August test date wasn’t universally shared, particularly among test site administrators in school districts starting late in August or after Labor Day. They could easily see how difficult it would be to open buildings and find staff willing to end summer vacations early to proctor one more test.
And it appears they were right. A quick comparison of test site availability for the August 26 SAT as compared with the October 7 SAT shows that so far the College Board has come up a little short in finding seats for the test.
For example, the College Board ordinarily offers up to about 40 sites that are considered a reasonable distance (under 40 miles) from my Virginia zip code. For August, there are only 12 locations, and they do not include the high schools closest to my home which have been popular sites in the past. Instead of traveling 3.6 miles to take the test, my nearest site is about double the distance away–admittedly not too much of a hardship as long as seats remain open. But I certainly would not want to have to travel to some of the further locations suggested by the College Board, which would take me 35 miles from home and across the Washington Beltway!
Using information provided by the College Board, it appears that about 1,970 sites in the U.S. (including D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) will be administering the SAT and SAT Subject tests on August 26. On October 7, however, almost 3,440 sites will be giving the test.
In Virginia, there will be 134 test locations for October and 84 in August. Pennsylvania will open 231 sites in October, but only 87 in August. In New York, it’s 263 locations for October, and 53 in August. Massachusetts has 140 test sites in October and 37 in August. And in New Jersey, students will have 203 locations from which to choose in October, but only 69 in August.
Note that the number of available test sites offered doesn’t necessarily correlate with or predict the number of seats available. In this area, it appears that the larger sites will be open for business in August, while some of the smaller sites have opted out.
The August date is also replacing the relatively unpopular January test, which will no longer be given. And it’s possible that sites simply don’t want to add another working Saturday to their calendars.
But given the convenience of the new August test relative to making decisions about application strategies—binding Early Decision vs. nonbinding Early Action vs. Regular Decision–and ensuring timely delivery of scores, it seems entirely possible that the new date could be very popular–possibly more popular than October.
“We’re seeing a great degree of interest for the August test in all of our markets, coast to coast. Students have so many academic demands as juniors. APs wrap in May, then final exams, and then the early application deadlines hit in Mid-October to November. August stands out as an excellent time to take an SAT, fully prepared, with minimal academic distractions,” explained Jed Applerouth, founder and CEO of Applerouth Tutoring. “I’m personally a huge fan of summer testing. Ideally students will be able to take these college assessments entirely on their own schedule. The summer, not surprisingly, is one of the most spacious times for many students, affording them the time to focus, prepare, and go in with the greatest chance of success.”
In other words, if I lived in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania or Virginia, I would be registering NOW and not later!
ACT is countering with a summer test of their own. In 2018, the ACT will be adding a July test date to the standardized test calendar.
UVa increases early admission offers to 5914 for the Class of 2021
Early applicants to the University of Virginia’s Class of 2021 received decisions earlier this week—well ahead of the January 31st published release date. Following the recent announcement from UVa President Teresa Sullivan that she will be leaving at the end of her current contract in 2018, the admissions office decided to give over 5000 prospective ‘Hoos some good news to consider.
And it’s clear that admission to the Commonwealth’s flagship university remains a highly sought-after prize among high school students—both from within the state and across the country.
Even with plans to increase undergraduate enrollment for 2017-18, the competition for admission under UVa’s early action program continues to be intense, as the overall number of applications grew to 20,446—about a 24 percent increase over numbers reported the same time last year.
Predictably, most of the early applicants, 14,968 (or 73 percent) came from out of state. The balance—5,278 applicants—came from within Virginia.
Out of this year’s early action pool, 5,914 students were admitted—about 14 percent more than for the Class of 2020, which experienced a seven percent jump in EA admits from the year before. Of those admitted, 2,575 were from Virginia (47 percent offer rate—down three percentage points), and 3,339 were from out of state (22 percent offer rate).
Among the offers, 4,496 were for the College of Arts & Sciences, 1,180 were for the School of Engineering and Applied Science, 97 were for the School of Architecture, 75 were for the School of Nursing, and 66 were for the Curry School of Education.
Typically, more offers are made to nonresidents because the yield among students faced with out-of-state tuition is significantly lower. But it’s worth noting that offers made to out-of-state students increased by over 13 percent from last year.
According to assistant admissions dean Jeannine Lalonde (Dean J), those offered early admission bids were very well qualified. The middle range of SAT scores of this year’s admitted students fell between 2020 and 2290 (ACT between 31 and 34). And 94.6 percent of the offers went to students in the top ten percent of their high school classes (this number only reflects those who attend schools that report rank).
Although over 9000 students were denied admission during the first round of consideration, another 5458 were thrown a lifeline by being deferred to the regular decision pool, which stands at about 16,250 additional applicants. The entire group will receive decisions before April 1. Note that deferred applicants are specifically encouraged to send new test scores and midyear grades as soon as possible.
All students will have until May 1, to make up their minds. And those early applicants who were lucky enough to be admitted to UVa’s Class of 2021 can expect to receive significant encouragement to commit as soon as possible.
Nancy Griesemer is an independent educational consultant and founder of College Explorations LLC. She has written extensively and authoritatively about the college admissions process and related topics since 2009.