Decisions Decisions: Fall Transfer Edition
Admit It! transfer applicants: you’re anxious to receive your decision email. We are equally anxious to release them and will do so by May 1 at the latest. We will email all decisions on the same day (with minor exceptions such as those whose applications remain incomplete). We will email the decision to the email address provided in your Common Application. The sender’s name differs depending on what email program/server you are using to view your email, however undergradadmission@wm.edu as well as “Do Not Reply” appears in the sender field of all decision notifications sent. If you have not received an email, please check your spam and junk folders thoroughly. If no email from W&M can be found, you can contact us at 757-221-4223 on Monday during business hours to inquire as to why you have not received your decision. There could be several reasons, so please give us a bit of time to investigate why you did not receive a decision and to find an alternate means of providing you with your decision. There are several types of emails being sent. What follows is information for each decision category.
Admit: Transfer applicants who are admitted will receive an email congratulating you on your admission to W&M. You will also receive a welcome packet in the mail next week. This pool was one of the largest and most competitive transfer applicant pools we can remember; thus congratulations are most deserved. Each of you has compiled an incredibly accomplished record both in and outside of class. Whether you are in-state or out-of-state, currently attending a two-year college or a four-year university, of traditional college age or a non-traditional student, we know you have much to contribute to the W&M campus and we welcome you to the Tribe. Included in your email are three hyperlinks: one directs you to information on our day for admitted transfer students program, one directs you to our admitted transfer student website where you can learn more about W&M and what comes next for those deciding to enroll at W&M this fall, and one is for those of you who are so eager to join the Tribe you want to send in your enrollment deposit ASAP! Again congratulations and welcome to the Tribe!
Waitlist: Those applicants who are offered a place on the transfer waitlist will receive their decision via email only; no letter will be mailed. Approximately 100 transfer applicants were waitlisted which is a number a bit higher than normal. This only serves to underscore just how the highly competitive nature of this year’s pool of transfer applicants. Please understand that this decision does not reflect any weakness on your part but instead reflects the incredible strength of the applicant pool itself. W&M’s smaller size is oftentimes what attracts so many great students to apply to the College, but it also limits the number of incoming students we can admit each year. A waitlist decision is our way of saying that if we were able to accommodate more students you would certainly be among them. In order to remain on the waitlist for admission consideration, please click on the hyperlink in your email and complete the online form. Should we be able to consider students from the transfer waitlist, final grades for this semester will be incredibly helpful to the Committee in determining who should be admitted. Please send a final college transcript to our office by May 26 if at all possible. All students on the transfer waitlist will be notified of their admission status, one way or the other, by June 15.
Deny: Those applicants who are denied will receive their decision via email only; no letter will be mailed. We know you had hoped for a different outcome and that this decision is a difficult one to receive. Because each transfer record is so unique we cannot provide any general reasons for why a student was not admitted. Sometimes it’s because the student’s academic record is not strong enough in terms of course work and GPA and likely could not ever become so. Sometimes it’s simply that the student’s record isn’t strong enough at the moment but could become so with additional semesters (this is often true for those applying during their freshman year of college). Sometimes it may be due to a personal misconduct on the part of the applicant (note that personal misconduct never makes an applicant an automatic deny, but the infraction and explanation thereof are considered heavily). Other times it may be due to lack of recent course work or an inconsistent academic record. And yet other times it may be due to poor writing demonstrated in the essay or writing that demonstrates the student is not the right fit for W&M. Because there are so many reasons why a transfer student could be denied, the transfer dean is happy to speak with any applicant regarding the deny decision received and she will let you know what, if anything, you can do to become a competitive applicant for transfer in the future. Her name and contact information are provided in the decision email. As the recent Overheard in Committee: Transfer Edition blog noted, a deny decision is not something a student cannot overcome. While it is a final decision for this fall it may not be the absolute final decision your admission to W&M in the future.
We thank all of you for the time and effort that you put into your applications. Regardless of the decision, the Committee enjoyed reviewing your applications immensely. Whether your next step is W&M or elsewhere, we wish everyone the best of luck with their future endeavors.
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.
when will stats be posted about how many were accepted and rejected?
Alison, generally we admit about 45% of the transfer applicants who apply…give or take. We anticipate having about 100 students on the waitlist (just over 10% of those who apply) and the remaining students are denied.
Wm Admission how many transfer applicants did you have total for the fall of 2011. Thanks.
You guys still don’t know if decisions are going to be sent today or tomorrow, right?
Marie, we had around 950 transfer applicants for fall 2011.
Alison, correct. We do not yet know when decisions will be in your in-boxes. We just know they will be there by May 1.
One more question. Since the number of applicants was higher than expected, does that mean that the number of students admitted is also higher. Or there a cap on the number of accepted regardless of how many apply? Thanks.
Do you think you guys will be able to post specific stats about admitted students, like what the average gpa was and so on?
Marie, there is not a cap per se on the number we can admit but we know that in order to allow all students to have the best experience possible, we should only enroll so many freshmen and transfers each year in order to keep class size small, in order to allow for a small faculty-to-student ratio, in order to continue to provide a residential campus, etc. If the pool grows the number of admits do not grow proportionally necessarily.
Alison, we don’t post specific stats about transfer students because not all applicants have the same 4.0 GPA scale (maybe they go to a foreign university or are new to a college and thus don’t have a GPA or have been to many schools and have many GPAs). Generally, students with about a 3.5 GPA or higher are the most competitive for admission
I can’t get the link to work in the waitlist email. Is there another way to access that form? Also for the waitlist, is there a ranking? Is there a way to find out what number you are on the waitlist?
waitlist link doesn’t work for me either…
should i contact the transfer dean to see what i can do to make myself more competitive in case spots do open up for waitlisted students?
Alison, we do not rank the waitlist. If we’re able to admit students we review everyone remaining on the waitlist to see who is the most competitive. If the link isn’t working, first try scrolling over it and see if the address pops up at the bottom of your browser. If that doesn’t work, call us on Monday or email us and we can provide you the URL for the online form.
No need to contact the transfer dean. All we recommend of waitlisted students, as it says in the blog and email is to send your final transcript.
link still doesn’t work. this is upsetting.
Mark, no need to be upset. It’s likely just your email program (if your email doesn’t read HTML emails the link won’t work). Feel free to email me or call us on Monday and we can give you the URL. You’re not losing a thing by not being able to respond to the waitlist offer immediately. We promise
I was just admitted and could not be more excited! William and Mary is my dream school! When will I be notified about financial aid?
Anne, congratulations. Financial aid information will come by email in the coming week sometime.
will the transfer dean be able to talk during the summer? assuming i’m not admitted off of the waitlist, i’ll want to talk to her asap. If she won’t be able to talk during the summer, I would prefer to call her now (and assume I will be rejected) rather than in the fall.
Mark, yes the transfer dean is definitely available this summer. Should you not be admitted off the waitlist you can definitely contact our transfer dean in June to see what you might do to become more competitive. If you’re currently waitlisted there might certainly be something you can do to make yourself more competitive for a future application.
Would you suggest waiting until June or calling the transfer dean sooner to talk as a waitlisted applicant?
Mark, definitely wait ’til June if at all possible. At this point, the transfer dean doesn’t know whether or not we’ll use the transfer waitlist. Again, we urge all those on the waitlist to send an final transcript as soon as it’s available and we’ll be in touch by June 15.
Could we contact the transfer dean after the May 15 deposit deadline to see how many spots are opened up and what our chances are of getting off the waitlist? Also, I’ve decided to change my major to something different from what I put on my application and it gives me a little more of a reason to want to go to WM since the program there is amazing… would that be of any significance come June?
Alicia, we won’t know if we can go to the transfer waitlist until a bit after May 15. It will take her a while to discern whether we can go and if so, for whom. We will notify all those on the waitlist as soon as we have information to share.
We do not admit students by major so that did not affect your admission. If you indicated business and wish to change or did not indicate business but now wish to that is helpful information since there is a separate application to the School of Business for those who enroll at W&M.
How likely is it that transfer students will get housing? Also, are there seats in classes reserved for transfer students?
Laura, unfortunately transfer students are not guaranteed housing. We cannot give you a statistic answer. It depends on how many incoming transfers desire on campus housing and how many bed are still available after our housing lottery process.
There are seats reserved for incoming transfers in various classes.