Decisions, Decisions — Early Decision 2011 Edition
Admit It! At this point you simply want to know. Were you admitted? Were you not admitted? You’re screaming at us “Just tell me already.” Well we are preparing to do just that. Decisions are being released today (Wednesday, November 30). There is no specific time we can provide. Our software does not allow us to simply push a button and poof, have everything land in everyone’s in-box. It takes time for us to load individual decision emails, send them and have them received by your email server. However, we will deploy all decision emails today (Wednesday, November 30). Depending on your email client the sender/sending email address will appear differently but “College of William & Mary” should appear somewhere in the sender information. Emails will be sent to the email address provided in your Common Application and will be sent to the applicant’s email address only; parents will not receive a copy of the decision email. Please check all spam/junk folders just in case. If for any reason you do not receive an email you can call our office (757-221-4223) and will resend your email using a different email tool after 5:00 pm the following business day. We will also mail a hard copy to you at that point.
Those who applied Early Decision can receive one of three decisions: Admit (breathe a sigh of relief, do a little dance, whoop and holler and wear all green and gold to school tomorrow), defer (meaning your application will be automatically reviewed again, in full, during our Regular Decision process), or deny (a final decision for your admission to W&M for the fall of 2012).
Good Things for the Admits: To the first members of the Class of 2016 (W&M’s 319th graduating class), first of all, don’t overanalyze the email you receive. The subject line is “Good Things.” What else could that possibly mean right? If you need it spelled out for you it means “YOU’RE IN!” The Tribe is now yours – see directions above (breathe, dance, yell, deck-out appropriately). In the coming days you will receive your official admission letter (suitable for framing) as well as an invitation to a special admitted student website that we encourage you to explore in the coming months. We will continue to be in touch throughout the next few months as we build the rest of your class and prepare to welcome all of you to W&M in August.
*Note: your offer of admission is contingent upon continuing to meet high standards of academic performance, personal conduct and completion of all work in progress.
Deferred Applicants: We know that you had hoped for more but please understand that this decision recognizes the competitive features of your application and the tremendous success you’ve experienced heretofore. This year we saw an increase of approximately 100 applicants in our Early Decision pool but no increase in the number of admits, so the process was more competitive than it’s been in the past several years. Rest assured that your application will be reviewed again, in full, during the spring in the context of our entire applicant pool. We will send you another decision notification in April. Any new academic information (first-semester grades, new standardized testing) should be forwarded to our office to be reviewed along with your original application materials. However, as the pool will only become more competitive as more and more students apply, we encourage you to submit applications to and invest your energies in other great institutions.
Denied Applicants: We absolutely appreciate your strong desire to attend W&M. What drew you to W&M also draws thousands of other highly-accomplished students and we simply have more qualified students in our pool than we have room for in our entering class. This year we saw an increase of approximately 100 applicants in our Early Decision pool but no increase in the number of admits so the process was more competitive than it’s been in the past several years. That leaves us in the unfortunate position of having to turn away some stellar students. While this is a final decision for your freshman admission to W&M it is in no way a final statement on your college aspirations or your personal accomplishments. It is a reflection of a very competitive pool; nothing more. There are literally thousands of wonderful colleges and universities to which you can apply and your experience there will simply be different than it would have been at W&M; not worse, just different. We wish you all the best with your continuing college search.
So there you have it. Early Decision is done. Regular Decision will soon be underway. Releasing decisions is the culmination of much hard work on your end and on ours. We look forward to our continued work together in the months to come.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ’09
Senior Assistant Dean of Admission
Comments are closed on posts older than one year, but we still want to hear from you. If you have a comment or question for us, please email admission@wm.edu.
Congrats to the whole admissions staff! I know the amount of work that must go into this process, and your dedication to building the best Class of ’16 possible is certainly appreciated. Now you can all go home, shower, and eat a real meal before going to sleep for a well deserved rest! Great work!!
Thanks Jeff. We really love our work and the role we play in the continued growth and history of W&M.
great blog, helped resolve some anxiety
Do you know at what time tonight the emails are no longer being sent and it becomes necessary to call?
What time next week will transfer decisions be emailed?
Sue, we’ll release spring transfer decisions next week. When we know an exact date we’ll be sure to make that known.
Dear W & M admissions staff,
Even though we received a deferred e-mail for my child, I want to thank you for taking the time with all the applications, updating this phenomenal blog, and responding to inquiries in a timely and professional manner. I hope you can all take some time to relax before you start the process with the regular decision applications.
Thankful parent, thank you so much for your thoughtful comments. We absolutely enjoy working with prospective students and families throughout this process and we wish your daughter all the best as she continues through her application process.
Great! Read your comment/reply to Sue and that was exactly what I had on mind haha! ^^
Looking forward to it
Cheers!
Today is my 17th birthday and recieving my acceptance email was the best present anyone could have given me. Thank you for granting me this wonderful opportunity and I cannot wait to be on campus next year. Go Tribe!
Thank you for putting in the many hours of hard work required to make all of these decisions. I was deferred. What would you reccomend I do to increase my chances of receiving an acceptance email come April? I have already applied to a good amount of other institutions of higher learning (had all the apps ready to go so all I had to do was press “send” once I heard back from you) so I am able to put in time and resources.
Also, congratulations to everyone who got in! 🙂
I’ve been dancing since I received my acceptance email! Thank you so much for all of the wonderful blog entries and all of the hard work that you’ve put in this past month. I can tell that William & Mary’s admission staff is like no other when it comes to how much they truly care about keeping contact with prospective students, and I couldn’t thank you enough for that. I’m so proud to call myself a member of such a wonderful Tribe!
Katie, Happy Birthday and Congratulations! We’re thrilled we could make this a special birthday for you.
Katherine, congratulations and welcome to the Tribe! We’re thrilled that you’ve appreciated our office’s efforts and we appreciate yours. Clearly you’re a very accomplished young woman and we’re excited to welcome you and your classmates to campus in August.
Hello W&M. I am an International student applying for this school for ED.
emmmm…I received my “Good Things” email. So according to the article, I am accepted by this school?
Thank you very much! Feeling so nervous right now..
ZiMei, “Good Things” can only mean “Good” news. And the bottom of the email says “Welcome to the Tribe!” That says it all! Congratulations! And “Welcome to the Tribe” is linked to an admitted student website where you can get more info without having to wait for the mail to cross oceans.
It makes me so happy that W&M keeps it unique by starting the admission emails with “Good Things” instead of the stereotypical “Congratulations…”. Thank you so much! GO TRIBE Class of 2016!
I got in! Thank you so much admissions staff!
I think it is absolutely wonderful that you all do these blogs.
Unfortunately I was deferred. Naturally I am very disappointed, but I would really like to know what are the chances of getting in in the RD pool? I am fully prepared to apply to more colleges, but I would just really like to hear from a W&M representative, are my hopes shot for WM?
(PS- Congratulations to all the accepted students!! I mean that wholeheartedly.)
As a parent, I cannot thank you enough for the open communication via this blog throughout the application process. Thank you to all on the Admissions Staff for the hard work, long hours, professionalism and excellent communication.
Amanda and Destiny, congrats and glad you like the Good Things email. We do too.
Lisa, glad to hear that parents appreciate our office’s efforts. We understand that parents are an important part of the college search process and we appreciate all they do for their children.
Laura, we certainly understand your disappointment and also appreciate your mature/thoughtful post. Unfortunately, the applicant pool will only get more competitive come Regular Decision (there will be likely an additional 11,000 applicants) and therefore we usually admit a very small percentage of the deferred student which is why we encourage deferred students to continue their college search with effort and enthusiasm and we wish you all the best.
Thank you very much!Sorry I just posted another thanks on a different article..:)
No problem ZiMei. That’s what we figured when we say your other post. Congrats and welcome to the Tribe!
Thank you for your response! You all are truly amazing for answering all of these questions this late after such hard work. I just have one additional question: Are deferred applicants distinguished within the regular decision pool? Or are they included just as normal regular decision applicants?
No problem Laura, we’re happy to help (thought we will be signing off the night soon).
When we review your file during regular decision we will know that you applied early decision. You’re not “distinguished” from the pool of other applicants in that you go through the same review process they do but it is obvious when we open your file that you applied Early Decision and when we review your file again we will review the original materials submitted along with any substantive new information you provide (generally speaking any new SAT/ACT results, first-semester grades, and any new awards).
I didn’t receive any email at all. I’m pretty sure it’s because my email server was full, but I’ve cleared it out now. How do I get admissions to resend the letter?
Thanks!
Do you know how many students were deferred and how many of those will get in in April? Also, can deferred students submit any additional essays or additions to strengthen their applications?
Ryan, we’ll be happy to assist. The last sentence of the first paragraph of this blog tells students who did not receive an email what to do. If you contact our office we will try to send your email once again and also we will mail a hard copy of the decision.
Even though I was denied, and I was quite saddened by the news, I just wanted to thank you all for EVERYTHING 🙂 Your blog has been such a great source and its definitely helped me along my college search. Although William and Mary won’t be my home for the next four years, I do hope to still apply later on as a graduate student!
What a great evening! The whoopwhoops and screaming cannot be described in an email but you made our daughter one of the happiest people today! She is thrilled to start her journey at William and Mary!
I’m so proud to be a part of the Tribe!!! My sister (class of 2013) and I were on Skype crying and screaming with happiness for over an hour yesterday. I can’t wait to get started next year!! 🙂
Thanks so much for posting these! I’m a sophmore in high school, and it’s my been my DREAM to be a part of the tribe, ever since I was a kindergartener learning about Thomas Jefferson for the first time 🙂 I read every single one of these blogs, and they both make me nervous and at the same time more convinced that this is where I belong! So thank you so much for them!
My husband and I second what “Really Happy Parent” said. Our house has never seen as much joy, excitement, smiling, screaming, Facebook postings, etc. – ever. The green and gold banner (hidden for several months) is already hanging above our front door. Thank you for all your time, effort, care, patience, and the professional way you go about everything you do. We are proud and thrilled to become part of the William & Mary family. 🙂
Another very happy parent and super excited daughter!
What a difference a day makes…
Thank you for this blog and thank you for emailing decisions before December 1! You saved me money on another college application fee due today and postage on supplements. Now I have more to spend at the William and Mary bookstore! 🙂
To all of the grateful students and parents who are posting we are thrilled for all of you. Comments like these really are gratifying and appreciated. My colleagues and I have been trading happy emails/social media posts/blog comments all morning.
Kiana, we certainly understand your disappointment but we know you will find success as your college search continues and we wish you all the best.
Alexis, glad the blogs are helping you as you begin your college search. What is making you nervous? Anything we can clarify or anxieties we can alleviate?
Dear W & M admissions staff,
Even though I received a deferred e-mail, I wanted to thank you for taking the time with all the applications, as well as for updating this very informational blog. I wanted to also ask if you (W&M Admissions Office) provides feedback as to what areas of an application that may not have faired well during the decision process? If so, how do I go about getting that information from you? Thank You / Vr, Katy Bonaro
Thank you so much for the informative and timely blogs! My husband and I are both UVA grads but are thrilled at our daughter’s show of independence to become part of the William and Mary “Tribe”! We are all wearing Green and Gold today! Hannah cannot wait to make Williamsburg her second home for the next four years, and we predict many road trips to Williamsburg!
Christina, way to sport the green and gold (maybe you can match it with a UVA baseball cap!). Congrats to your daughter!
Thanks so much for answering 😀 I guess the thing that makes me nervous is when I read and remember just how competetive the applicant pool really is! No matter how hard I work in school, there’s always that little part of my mind that tells me I could never measure up. William and Mary seems so…untouchable, I guess. But these blogs, and the rest of the things I learn about W&M, have me remember that the college is worth striving for, and worth going that extra mile for in order to MAKE myself a more outstanding applicant. It’s beyond worth it, actually. When this blog says to jump, I grab the trampoline and my rocket boots. I bleed green and gold! That’s the only thing that makes me nervous, that I won’t be able to make it. But I’d never forgive myself for not trying 🙂 Thanks again, for both the blogs and for just being encouraging!
Thank you all for the hard work you put into reviewing our applications! I opened the “Good Things” email last night, and it really was a dream come true to get that email. I’m sporting my green and gold at school today!
GO TRIBE!!!
Our son gave us the good news this morning! Great way to start the day. But I haven’t been able to concentrate at work today…. I’m sure the same is happening to him. GO Tribe!!
To say you all made my daughter Stephanie’s day is an understatement. She dashed off to swim team practice sporting the appropriate green and yellow swim suit, green t-shirt, and yellow soffies. We think the griffin sitting patiently under the lucky bamboo plant in the yellow pot in her room brought the good luck of hearing “you’re in” before more SAT testing came this Saturday! Instead, Steph will be reading her new book with the green & yellow cover entitled “Inheritance”–her surprise in the event she made it. Looking forward to the W&M experience! You all have surpassed our expectations thus far!!
Gina and Bill, congratulations to your students. So thrilled that they are so thrilled!
To everybody in the Admissions team,
I cannot even describe all the emotions I have gone through in the past two days. I have never cried so much, never hugged so many people, never returned so many eager high-fives, and never been more proud or excited over any other single thing in my entire life. I have loved W&M since I first stepped onto campus when I was in 7th grade, and every day since it has been my biggest goal to be accepted as an official member of the Tribe. THANK YOU to W&M for allowing that dream to come true – it’s hard to believe that it’s really happening.
Thanks again for inspiring me and giving me the greatest opportunity in my entire life! I can’t wait for it to begin. GO TRIBE!
What a clever e-mail. So proud to be joining the Tribe!!
Like the other Laura on this post, I was also deferred. I found this blog very helpful because it opened my eyes to the fact that by January 1st, I will not have received my first semester grades yet. At my school, midterms are after Christmas break, not before. What should I do?
Congrats Tara and Morgan and Morgan, glad you enjoyed the email. We know it’s a little unorthodox but we like its style and creativity.
Congrats, Admissions team, on surviving ED! I am curious: How many applicants were admitted in this round?
Love the blog — thanks for all the great and helpful insights.
Melissa, generally we enroll just over one-third of our class during Early Decision. The admission rate for Early Decision is generally in the upper fortieth percentile.
Thanks for responding 🙂 I guess the only thing that makes me nervous is that these blogs serve to remind you just HOW competetive the application pool really is. As I’ve said, it’s been my dream to attend college here ever since I can remember, so it’s very easy to feel insecure about your abilities when faced with just how amazing the incoming class really is. But even though that apprehension is there, these blogs also reaffirm that William and Mary is more than worth the extra effort! Everything I read makes me fall even more in love with this school, everything about it. It’s more than a top-choice, or a goal. It’s a passion! So thank you, for writing these amazing blogs and being part of such an amazing community, one that even makes little kindergarteners take notice 🙂
Alexis, fair enough. The unfortunate thing about so many great schools is that they are highly selective and therefore have to turn away some great applicants.
Since you’re already into your college search and doing your research you’ll have the ability to craft your application over the next few years and help yourself become as competitive as you can be.
Laura, first-semester grades can be sent whenever they are available. We do not expect them to be here by January 1. Most schools send them in late January which is just fine. They’ll be added to your file at that time.
How many applicants were deferred to Regular Decision?
Generally we defer about 30-35% of those who apply Early Decision
My son has wanted to attend William and Mary since he was in sixth grade. Thank you for making his dream come true! I’m not sure I can fully express the joy this brings to our family. No one in our immediate family has stopped smiling since Wednesday night!!! =D
No thanks needed Mary but you’re most welcome.
Can deferred students add anything to their application apart from sending in their transcripts and testing scores?
Ashley, deferred students can send a letter of continued interest as well. Plus if there any significant updates that are new since you applied earlier you can include those in your letter. These are not requirements of course but options for those who wish to pursue them. Aside from that we have everything we need.
Thank you admissions committee for your hard work! It is very much appreciated. Will students be notified by the CSS profile before the deadline to make their deposits?
Kellie, not sure what you mean by “will students be notified by the CSS profile” but if you’re asking whether or not you’ll receive your estimated financial aid package prior to the deposit deadline the answer is maybe. The Financial Aid Office will try to return all estimates prior to Dec. 23. Some may come earlier, some may not. However, students who applied early decision committed to attend W&M as part of their application and the deposit is due by Dec. 15 (two weeks from the date of your decision letter — Dec. 1).
My daughter is so happy to be part of this wonderful school. When she walked on the W & M campus,there was no doubt where she wanted to attend college. Could you give more info as to where to send the deposit money? I know it is due Dec 15th.
Gina, congrats to your daughter! Students can pay their deposit online or submit a check by mail. If paying online, go to the admitted student site (linked in the decision email your daughter received) and click on the deposit link on the left. If paying by check, use the response card provided in the admit pack mailed to your daughter last week.
Thank you for answering my question in a timely manner. I am excited to be a member of the Tribe!
Courtney, Jordan, Sierra and Katy, your comments got caught in our spam filters and just released today so we apologize for not responding sooner.
Courtney, we assume you received your decision email by now.
Jordan, Sierra and Katy, we generally defer about 35% of the early decision pool and only a very small percentage of those students are eventually admitted because the pool will only become more competitive with the addition of Regular Decision applications. Deferred students are encouraged to send us any new academic information (first-semester grades, new SAT/ACT results) and a short statement of continued interest. No additional essays or recommendations are necessary. Katy, there’s no specific reason any student was deferred. It is a reflection of the overwhelming strength of all applicants rather than the reflection of any shortcoming on an individual’s part.