Early Decision – Admissions Blog

Washington University in St. Louis sees 70 percent increase in applications

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Admissions.Blog

Ronné P. Turner, Washington University in St. Louis’ Vice Provost of Admissions & Financial Aid, informed counselors on Thursday, February 13, 2019 that inclusive of the university’s two Early Decision rounds and its QuestBridge rounds during this admissions cycle, the selective private Missouri university, “reviewed over 3,000 applications – a 70 percent increase from years past.”

For more clarity and context, last year during its one Early Decision round of admission, Wash U. reviewed 1,850 applications.

Wash U. has been selective for a long time, but this was the first year that Wash U. offered ED II. With the university accepting 250 students on Thursday when its ED II decisions were released, Wash U. anticipates that 60 percent of its first-year class – the Class of 2023 – will be populated by students who were accepted before Regular Decision. Last year only 40 percent of students enrolling in the university’s Class of 2022 were accepted ED. Turner did not provide any specific breakout information regarding Questbridge applications or acceptances.

This year, as in past years, students who applied Regular Decision will get their decisions by April 1, 2019.

Interestingly, despite being a hyper-selective university with an overall acceptance rate in the mid teens, some of those students accepted to Wash U. so far in this year’s admissions cycle will be required to attend the university’s First-Year Summer Academic Program from June 8, 2019 through July 13, 2019. According to Turner, “this is solely to help with the transition from high school to college. Their admission is contingent upon attendance/successful completion of this five-week program.” The First-Year Summer Academic Program “gives a select group of students the opportunity to ensure their readiness for STEM and pre-med coursework as well as to improve their critical reading, writing, and study skills. Students attending FSAP may be among the first in their family to attend college or coming from high schools with limited AP/IB offerings,” according to the university.

In no rush, Case Western and Tulane keep some Early applicants in suspense

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Admissions.Blog

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

Posted on November 30, 2018 by Craig Meister

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 us.

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 later in 2019.

Penn’s Class of 2022 Acceptance Rates

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Admissions.Blog

Eric J. Furda, University of Pennsylvania’s Dean of Admissions, provided high school counselors with a June update today, and in it he shared Penn’s three acceptance rates for the just-concluded admissions cycle.

Penn in the city of Philadelphia, PA.

Penn’s overall acceptance rate for this year’s roughly 44,500 applicants was a hair above 8 percent. Yet, this number tells only a small part of the story. Over fifty percent of Penn’s Class of 2022 was accepted Early Decision, and Penn’s Early Decision Acceptance rate this cycle was 18.5 percent. This meant that Penn’s third and final acceptance rate, it’s Regular Decision acceptance rate, was a paltry 6 percent.

In terms of ratios, this year’s numbers track well with Penn’s proclivity for having an Early Decision acceptance rate that weighs in at roughly three times as size (percentage-wise) as its Regular Decision acceptance rate (18.5:6).

Furda also shared information on the importance Penn places on fit it its applicants while also informing counselors that last year, 46 percent of Penn undergrads received financial aid. The average aid award last year was an impressive $50,348.

Washington University Adds Essay and Early Decision II

Posted on May 29, 2018 by Admissions.Blog

Julie Shimabukuro, Director of Admissions at Washington University in St. Louis has announced some major changes to the first-year application process for admission to the selective Gateway City university.

Washington University in St. Louis “will be implementing a supplemental essay in addition to the Common Application or Coalition Application essay. This will allow students to further express their interest in their academic area of choice.” wrote Shimabukuro in an email to high school counselors.

While that sounds all well and good, this news is clearly aimed at separating serious applicants (those who will surely claim to bleed Wash U. red and green) to the university from those just using the school as a great school that requires no extra work, which many high-achieving students have been doing for years because Washington University in St. Louis had no supplemental essay writing requirement beyond what many high-acheving students were already completing for other Common App and Coalition App colleges to which they were applying.

Shimabukuro went on to add that the new essay will also be used as the merit-based scholarship essay for scholarships offered by Washington University’s undergrad divisions.

It’s worth noting that applications for the John B. Ervin, Annika Rodriguez, and Danforth Scholars programs will continue to be awarded through a separate processes, which include more essay writing.

On top of this big news, Shimabukuro added the more curious news that Washington University in St. Louis will also add an Early Decision II application deadline for the first time this upcoming admissions cycle.

This means that Wash U.’s new deadline schedule is as follows for those students hoping to matriculate in Fall 2019:

Application Deadlines	Scholarship & Financial Assistance Deadlines
Early Decision I – Nov. 1, 2018	Need-based Financial Assistance (ED) – Nov. 15, 2018
Early Decision II – Jan. 2, 2019	Need-based Financial Assistance (EDII) – Jan. 15, 2019
Regular Decision – Jan. 2, 2019	Need-based Financial Assistance (RD) – Feb. 1, 2019
	Merit Scholarships – Jan. 2, 2019

Washington University in St. Louis is clearly trying to shake things up, but no reason was given for why EDII is being implemented. It will be interesting to see if Wash U. proactively communicates the acceptance rates for both of their ED rounds this time next year. The university has been one of the most successful users of ED as a means of loading up its classes early each admissions cycle.

US Department of Justice Investigating Colleges’ Early Decision Data Sharing

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Admissions.Blog

Following up on its probe of certain American colleges for their admissions practices relating to Affirmative Action, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Early Decision application data sharing between colleges that offer the binding form of admission.

Reporter Erica L. Green of The New York Times explains more in this informative article, which includes thoughts from Admissions Intel founder Craig Meister.

We will continue monitoring this important story and share updates as we receive them.

Villanova’s Acceptance Rate Falls to 29%

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Admissions.Blog

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.

Northwestern ED Acceptance Rate Now 26 Percent

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Admissions.Blog

Northwestern University received a record 4,050 Early Decision applications this fall, and the Evanston, Illinois university is only accepting 1,073 of them ED, taking its ED acceptance rate down to a slender 26 percent overall.

Northwestern aims to accept a bit more than half of its class through ED this year, which is in line with previous years.

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.

Congratulations to those admitted.

Visit Admissions Intel’s College Acceptance Gift Collection.

Washington U. Accepts 40 Percent of Class ED

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Admissions.Blog

Ronné P. Turner, Vice Provost of Admissions & Financial Aid at Washington University in St. Louis, has shared with counselors that Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) will accept forty percent of its Class of 2022 through Early Decision. This is a meaningful increase from WUSTL’s more typical thirty-six percent of its entering class being filled through the ED pool. Last year, WUSTL accepted thirty-five percent of its Class of 2021 through the ED pool.

In addition WUSTL received two percent more ED applicants this year – 1,850 – compared to last year.

Not shared was WUSTL’s overall ED acceptance rate this admissions cycle. Last year the university had an ED acceptance rate of thirty-eight percent and and overall acceptance rate of fifteen percent.

If you get in, congratulations!

Visit Admissions Intel’s College Acceptance Gift Collection.

Duke Early Decision Acceptance Rate Drops to 20 Percent

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Admissions.Blog

Christoph Guttentag, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Duke University has informed counselors that Duke Early Decision notification will take place at 7:00 p.m. EST on December 14, 2017. In addition, he provides the first details contextualizing Duke’s ED stats for this admissions cycle:

“I’d also like to provide a little context for our decisions. We received almost 4100 Early Decision applications this year, nearly 600 more than last year. We expect to fill roughly 850 spaces—about half of the class—which means that our Early Decision admit rate will be just slightly over 20%. That’s a meaningful decrease from last year’s 25%. After having had the chance to review many of our applicants, I’ve been struck by just how accomplished so many of these young women and men are, and how committed they are to their schools and their communities; I’m sorry we don’t have room for more of them. I hope these students (and their parents) appreciate all you do for them and how well you guide them through the college selection process.”

Duke Early Decision applicants should log on to Duke’s website on Thursday, December 14, at 7 p.m. EST to view their notification letters. Applicants should have received an email yesterday, Monday, December 11, 2017, with instructions on how to view their decisions on Thursday evening.

Good luck to all Duke ED applicants.