Decisions, Decisions — Regular Decision 2012 Edition
Admit It! The wait has been agonizing. We’re here to tell you it’s almost over. Decisions for W&M Regular Decision applicants will be released today, Monday, March 26. Decisions are emailed to the email address you provided in the Common Application. Students who applied to the St Andrews William & Mary Joint Degree Programme will receive two decisions: one for W&M and for the joint degree programme. For the most part, these decisions will be combined into one email. If you get an email tonight that does not mention the joint degree programme you will receive notification about your admission to the joint degree programme later this week.
Note that there is no specific time for a release. Our software is not such that we can push a button and have everyone receive their decision simultaneously. We have to upload every individual applicant’s decision email and then send it to the appropriate email address. This takes a lot of careful, precise work and several hours. But, decision emails are on their way to your in-boxes as we type.
If for any reason you do not have an email in your in-box by tomorrow morning, feel free to call our office (757-221-4223) and let us know. Each evening, we will make a second attempt to send your decision email using a different email method (but we will still send it to the same email address because that is the only email we can confidently say belongs to you, and we want to ensure that we are sending your decision to you the applicant and not to someone else). We will also mail a hard copy of your decision to your mailing address (we do not mail hard copies to waitlisted or denied students; only admitted students receive an email and a mailed admission offer).
The sender of the email will vary based on your email carrier but “College of William & Mary” will be a part of it. The subject will either be Good Things or William & Mary Admission Decision. To those who are admitted, this means Good Things indeed. The Class of 2016 promises to be astounding, and we are thrilled to welcome you to the Alma Mater of the Nation. To those of you waitlisted or denied, we know this wasn’t how you hoped your W&M story would end, but we know you are incredibly smart and accomplished individuals. We have no doubt that another institution will recognize your efforts and that institution will be the better for you.
Thank you for spending the past several months with us, allowing us into your lives. We’ve immensely enjoyed selecting the Class of 2016 and learning about the accomplishments of the high school class of 2012. Best of luck to all of you as you face the decisions, decisions ahead of you in April.
So enough typing, we’ve got some emails to send!
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.
Wow! I can’t believe this is almost over. W&M is my daughter’s last decision, and we are keeping our fingers crossed! Thanks for all you have done to answer everyone’s questions and make this a less stressful experience. Also, we appreciate how kind, upbeat and helpful everyone has been. My daughter enjoyed her interview, tour (tour guide) and overnight visit. I am hoping that my daughter gets a “good things” email. If not, we’ll see you at the UVA/W&M football game!
I am SO excited! It has been my dream to go to William and Mary since I was little and I can’t believe I’m about to find out if i got in. Thank you admit it blog! I have really loved reading your updates the past few months. You can bet I will be refreshing my email all night until I see the answer!
I am refreshing my e-mail every two minutes! Can’t wait:)
Dont constant-refresh just yet. The emails haven’t quite yet begun to go out.
So, just to clarify, everyone will (or should at least) receive their email decision tonight? Or is this typically stretched over a few days or so? Thank you very much!
why are some joint degree applicants going to find out later this week?
(by the way, sorry if this comment keeps showing up in some form multiple times. my computer keeps saying I’ve sent the comment but I can’t see it showing up)…
123, it’s a tad complicated. Basically, we could use a student in AP Stats to calculate all the combinations and/or permutations of different types of decisions that can be sent. So, to make things a tad more simple and easily understood from the applicant’s end, we will send some joint degree decisions later this week.
Around what time will the e-mails start going out?
Today is our daughter’s 18th birthday and what a wonderful gift this would be!!! No matter how things turn out, we thank you for this wonderful blog, which has been full of wonderful insight and humor for a stressful process. We shall look to Admit It with our younger children when their turns come. Thank you, and we are hoping for Good Things tonight!
I’m really anxious! Is it constant-refresh time yet?
Do you know if the emails have started to come out? super anxious!!!
Happy Birthday to your daughter fingers crossed. Go out and celebrate the day and enjoy. The email will be there later on!
Hi, “Admit it!” Blog! Would you happen to have a time-frame that the emails will be sent during? I don’t wish to break the refresh button on my keyboard if it isn’t necessary. 🙂
Have any emails gone out?
Not yet. We’ll let you know as soon as they are. As we mentioned, this takes several hours. It’s also okay to go about your night and the email should be in your in-box in the morning
I’m just going to play soothing 90’s songs to suppress the anxiety. Haha thanks for having this blog, it’s really quite nice to be able to keep up with things.
Should I focus on my homework or wait until I get the decision email?
Your call Tribe Pride. We’ll try to keep people updated
Will the decision arrive tonight for out-of-state students as well?
What exactly does “several hours” mean?
Is it out yet?
Dana, we have no way of knowing. We’re dependent on the speed of our servers and your’s.
PNB, we’re getting close.
Do you know how people get offered a spot into the St. Andrews program?
*how many
First set of emails is out…we’re off and rolling. It will still take some time (as you might imagine sending thousands of emails can bog down a server) but we’re working our way through
This is hard on me, I can’t only imagine what the kids are feeling. Will financial information be included in admitted emails?
Scott, are you wondering how people find out whether they’re admitted to the St Andrews programme or are you wondering how we select students for that programme?
I haven’t been able to concentrate on anything. How many batches of emails are being sent out? Am I going to be waiting till 12:00 AM?
I was just casually checking the blog when I saw this pop up…I am not going to sleep tonight. No matter the decision, I just really need to know!
Anxious Mom, students who are admitted will receive an email in approximately 7-10 days with their financial aid information
I was wondering about how many get in. Thanks.
I agree q! I’m literally having minipanic attacks. I’m so nervous, I want to be part of the Tribe SO badly! God luck to everyone 🙂
I know, q, I’m absolutely freaking out because William and Mary is my DREAM! Sleep is not imporant. I guess it’s back to watching Gossip girl and painting my nails for the 10th time to distract from my panic attacks. Good luck everyone! 🙂
q, don’t lose sleep on our account. The email will still be there in the morning.
Scott, the admission rate for joint degree programme applicants is comparable to W&M’s admit rate (in the low 30th percentile)
Taylor, I will not be doing the same thing, I am pacing around my room repeating “I got in, I got in, I got in” hoping to reduce some of the anxiety….not helping!
I’ve found that listening to some soothing 90’s music will help to suppress the anxiety haha
What is the latest I’ll get an email by? I’m worried I’ll be sitting at my computer for hours, literally shaking with anticipation!
Alex, we’ve got more ahead of us then behind us so it could be late. That’s why we’re telling people that it’s okay to wait. The email will be there in the morning. We recognize that people are anxious but it’s paramount that we be incredibly precise and triple check everything to ensure we send the right decision to the right applicant. While we know every minute seems like an hour right now, what’s a few hours given how many months you’ve waited until now right?
What are others doing to pass the time? Working out? Raiding the fridge? Checking Facebook? Feel free to post other time passing ideas!
Are the batches being sent out according to their decision? In other words, are all of the “yeses” being sent out first, or something of the sort?
Thanks!
Devouring some chocolate from the Deutschland to soothe the nerves haha
I think it’s really ironic that I happened to grab one of my brother’s W&M shirts to wear today, I’ve never even seen this shirt before in my life, and it just popped up in my closet. I’ve been obsessively tweeting/creeping on anything W&M related. It’s helping!
Good one Jessica. Any other ideas out there?
I’ve never tweeted this much in my entire life. My friends are staying up with me!
If you’ve nothing better to do, I highly recommend http://www.sporcle.com/. You can waste hours on that thing, I promise…
I’m just going to take a nice, quick nap and hopefully wake up to good news, but if not, I won’t be depressed because I’ve done everything I could have! 🙂
I washed all the cars at my house…twice!
try watching 30 minute tv shows. that’s what I always do to pass time when waiting for something specific. after every episode, an entire half an hour has passed while you’ve been engrossed in what’s on the screen. works every time.
p.s. I totally agree with Elizabeth about Sporcle. It’s addictive and perfect to waste time!
Haha baking helps immensely. Just make some brownies or homemade cookies and the time will be gone before you know it!
Am curious too, Nervous. Are the admits sent first, waitlist second and denys third or are they just sent out alphabetically or what?
Father of St. Andrew’s JDP applicant. I won’t sleep tonight. This is so exciting!
What not to do while waiting? Write your senior literary analysis paper! I’m so anxious and excited and nervous to find out the decisions! I hope the emails come soon, preferably before morning! At least I’m in CST!
Sitting back and reading. Nothing better when you’re trying to get something off your mind. And to stop myself from constantly checking, I make myself do 10 pushups before checking my emails.
on a side note, I think this blog is a great way to unite the entire (potential) class of 2016 in shared anxiety! First class: Waiting Anxiously 101. Prerequisite to Going to College 101.
Does anybody know when the second round of emails will be sent out? Also, are they going out in alphabetical order? Just curious and hoping somebody can answer my question.
Emails are going out slowly but surely. We have many many more to send. It’s a long night, we know, but your email will make it’s way to you, all of you, just as soon as they can.
judging by College Confidential, it would seem that first round was rejections. Is this true, or just a coincidence that those who posted were all denied?
I don’t feel like it’s in alphabetical order, my friend who has a last name beginning with “M” got waitlisted, and my last name is Johnson. But then again, it could be in different batches of decisions. But then again, I kinda sound like a conspiracy theorist right now.
There are so many iterations of decision emails and so many different server speeds that two students who get the same decision could get them at different times. We’ve sent thousands of decisions to thousands of applicants but certainly only few are posting their results.
Our best advice, don’t psych yourself out trying to decipher everything. Eat some chocolate and be patient a little bit longer 🙂
I just had a friend on facebook post that she was accepted, so it looks like it could be just random. Her last name starts with S, so it’s even less likely that it’s alphabetical…I just wish I knew so I could focus on anything else!
How many total applicants were there for this year?
q, we had over 13,500 applications for this year
How many were admitted?
Gee whiz, I’ll just go to bed then. I can wait.
Got accepted! So happy. Oh so happy. TRIBE NATION FTW!
Way to go A!
The post says that if my email doesn’t say something about the St. Andrew’s JDP, then I can expect an email in a few days about my “admission” to the program. Does this mean I have gotten in? Or is it supposed to say decision?
wondering, did you get the Good Things email?
if i already got in a few weeks ago (postcard/monroe) and also applied to the joint degree program, should i expect 1 or 2 emails (as it would probably be redundant to get the regular admission email)? in this case, should i even expect one at all tonight? if not, i kinda want to finish my homework and go to sleep. thanks in advance
Got accepted!! Now only depends on the sport side. Hopefully I will be able to be part of the team!! GOOOO TRIBE!!!!!
Hello! I was wondering if general admission is required in order to get into the St Andrews William & Mary Joint Degree Programme. In other words, could someone solely be admitted to the specific program? Thank you!
123, those who already received their admission decision a few weeks ago will receive a separate mailing later this week regarding the joint degree program so get some rest…no more news headed your way tonight.
The “expect good news in the spring” postcard doesn’t count as the admission decision right? So I’ll still get an email tonight?
I have to wait a few more days? wish I had known that earlier. i don’t know how much longer i can last. :'(
How’s the progress on the percentage of decisions sent out?
D, Congrats! Hopefully you’ll hear from our coaching staff soon.
Kate, if you applied to both W&M and the joint degree programme we would not be likely to admit you to the joint degree programme if we didn’t admit you to W&M. This is only the second year of admission to the joint degree program and our process evolves each year but we’re cautious about admitting somebody to the joint degree programme (which includes time at W&M) if we’re not willing to offer them admission to W&M outright. If students applied only to the joint degree programme and not W&M outright they could be admitted to the joint degree programme only but there are very few of such applicants.
123, we’re sorry for the confusion. It’s a small cohort of students who received Monroe and applied to the joint degree programme and most of our blog and comments have been directed to the masses. The good news is you know you’re in to W&M and you know you’re a Monroe. Hopefully more “good things” are coming your way.
Scott, we’re at that point where far more have gone out then are left to go but we’re not at the end of the tunnel yet.
before i head off to go finish my hw, just one last question:
why is it that we get mailed the decision days after everyone else got the decision by email? is there a particular reason for that? it doesn’t seem to make sense, but then again i’m not on your side of the table so i guess i can’t see the big picture as you guys can…
oops, crossposted. thanks for the info
are decisions still being sent out?
I still haven’t gotten any e-mail, is this normal?
Anxious, they are. Not tons more to go but there are some.
D, we encourage you to contact the coach to see where you stand in the recruitment process so you have all of the necessary information in front of you
Waitlisted….very sad in CA! 🙁
Just accepted! I can’t sleep. Thank you so much, Admissions Staff, for your tireless efforts and steadfast dedication in reviewing each candidate and in shaping the Class of 2016! Go Tribe!
KHollister, waitlist is an accomplishment. Not the one you hoped for we know but it is an acknowledgement of your strengths as an applicant.
Brandon, congrats! Welcome to W&M!
I’m convinced that I’m going to be the very last person sent an email….
not sure if i’ll get the email today. probably not
We’re going to sign off for the night. We encourage anyone who doesn’t have an email to check their spam/junk filters and then to check again in the morning. We have found that sometimes some email servers are simply incredibly slow and unfortunately, we have no control over that. If, come tomorrow, you still don’t have a decision you can call our office in the morning. The third paragraph of the blog explains our process for re-sending any decisions that weren’t received (sometimes cyperspace just isn’t our friend).
Congrats to admits and good luck to all!
I got accepted! Thank you to all the commitee and staff who helped grant this wonderful opportunity to me!
Scott, the postcard you got is not an official admission offer. You will receive an email and if you haven’t, follow the instructions provided in the blog.
123, today we just had to focus on sending decisions to students who don’t have any decision yet and they’ve been waiting several additional weeks beyond your wait to hear any news at all. Plus we don’t have a email template for the small number of Monroe Scholars who also applied to the joint degree programme but you will hear soon, we promise.
@Patient, to answer your comment from last night, we generally admit about 1/3 of those who apply give or take a percentage point.
@Money, a comment we made last night addresses your question.
@Michela, decisions were sent to all in-state, out-of-state and international applicants.
Other posters, we’re sorry if we missed some comments last night. Some got caught in spam filters but looks like they were all addressed at some point but other questions and comments. If anyone doesn’t have a decision, follow in the instructions in the blog!
I got WL. It was a great disappointment. What percentage of applicants was accepted/wait-listed/denied this year?
GNJ, generally we admit about one-third, waitlist between 22-25% and deny the remaining applicants. These aren’t hard and fast targets but generally how the pool settles out.
wGPA 4.46 + ACT 32 + top 2% class rank + strong extracurriculars + dedication + integrity = “waitlisted”… right. Hats off to W&M for your first rate marketing, beautiful mailings and building false expectations. A note of consolation is in order to your admissions board as the absence of my daughter in the class of 2016 significantly diminishes your collective potential.
Frustrated Father
John, we know that we miss out on a lot of great students. Your daughter is clearly an excellent student and highly qualified and we hope that our waitlist decision acknowledges that. It’s truly unfortunate that we cannot admit all of the students who apply with top-notch credentials but we simply have more students with credentials like those you stated then we can admit.
We definitely want students to be excited about attending W&M; that’s why we send our mailing, emails, give campus tours. But we try to be up front with our selectivity and admission rate in the hopes that students enter our process knowning that it is competitive because we do not want anyone to have false expectations.
Again, we understand the disappointment and frustration and sadness and all of the other emotions students are feeling right now and we understand why they feel that why; they’re entitled to. We do know though that their hard work will garner them admission at other colleges and universities and they will having a wonderful collegiate experience.
My son was thrilled to receive his official acceptance this morning. He had received a likely postcard and I must say that it was an amazing gift to have had the advance heads up that more “Good things” were coming for him in the Spring. Thank you, Dean Wendy, for your wonderfully helpful posts throughout this entire process!
I called the Office of Admissions today because I did not receive an email in my inbox or spam folders by this morning. The information I received indicated that I should be receiving a new email sometime today. Do you know around what time I can expect that email to be sent?
@slow server, we send them out each night after 5:00pm but not at a specific time. However, because we are sending so few (as opposed to the 12,000+ emails we sent last night) they go through very quickly. We will also mail a hard copy of your decision tomorrow to ensure that some form of communication reaches you in the near future.
I called the Office of Admissions today because I did not receive an email in my inbox or spam folders by this morning as well. I still have not received an email. Should I be worried?
No, don’t worry, the re-sends haven’t gone out yet. They will in the next few hours. We will also mail a hard copy of your decision tomorrow so something is on its way to you by multiple methods.
Hi, will you please post when you send the emails out tonight? I don’t think we’ll stay up past midnight waiting again tonight…this old body can’t take it:).
All emails were sent before 8:00pm
Hello, I also did not get an email today. My sister got hers with in the first 5 minutes. Does that mean anything? and should I call tomorrow or just wait? Thanks
Brittany, did you contact our office today letting us know you didn’t get one yesterday? If not you can call tomorrow and ask us to re-send. If we attempted to resend today then we’ve done all we can do via email but we’ll also mail yu a hard copy of your decision. Do you and your sister use the same email domain? It would be odd it got to one of you and not the other if you use the same email client.
My sister and I do not have the same email domain, which I thought was weird not to get it either. Plus she is afraid to open hers so I have no idea if she got denied or not. I’ll try to call tomorrow. Just a quick question if you get denied can you call and see why from your regional admission advisor and see if something on the application needed to be explained. It was brought to my attention that my counselor forgot to include a letter regarding crucial information that was needed.
Congratulations to all of the new class of 2016 🙂 You’ve all found a great place to spend the next four years!
Hi there,
With the regular decision emails out, does that mean the transfer decisions will be released within the coming weeks?
Brittany, if you and your sister use different email clients then that could explain why she received an email and you didn’t. If you contact our office we will resend your email during the evening using a different method.
Yes, students can call if they have any questions after decisions are made. Know however that we would not have reviewed your application nor released a decision if any critical components were missing.
@Alison, transfer decisions are released in late April. That committee process has not yet started.
Thanks for the quick response! Looking forward to the next Overheard In The Committee: Transfer Edition.
When were admittance packets mailed?
@Bennett, we mail only to those who were admitted and those packages left our office on Tuesday.
were the JDP decisions mailed on Tuesday as well?
I was just wondering if the financial aid information was sent in the acceptance packages as well? If not, when should we be receiving them / when are they going to be sent? Thanks!
@d, yes, JDP decisions were mailed Tuesday.
@Margaret, financial aid information is not included in your admission materials. Financial aid will be available likely next week of the week after and you will get an email notifying you when it’s ready to view online. The admission package will provide some background information on costs and financial aid and some instructions for how to view it when it’s ready.
I have not received a decision about the Joint Degree Program? Should I have been notified by now?
I have not received a JDP decision yet. Should I have been notified by now?
What number of out-of-state non-Hispanic white females applied and were subsequently offered admission?
@Kat, some JDP decisions were included in the original admission email sent Monday night. The remaining JDP decisions were emailed last night to the same email to which your W&M decision was sent. Did you get one email and not the other? Check your Monday night email to see if the info was included in that email.
@John, we actually don’t break down our statistics so specifically. Can we ask why you asked? Additionally, we worry that questions like these make unerlying assumptions that simply aren’t either necessarily fair or accurate and we worry that such questions could come across as hurt to particular cohorts of students.
Wendy: Every college application, including the Common App, solicits demographic information. To what end am I suppose to presume? For you to claim that W&M does not track that information exposes fault in credibility. Furthermore, for you to make any assumption regarding the nature of my question that relates to an intent to render “hurt” to any cohort of students is off base. W&M has sufficiently managed that initiative on an individual basis. The intent of my question was merely to acquire a statistical measure of probability for personal reference.
@mary, yes, all JDP decisions were released Wednesday night via email. Also see my response to @Kat’s comment above for more info.
@John, of course the Common Application asks students to self-identify by race (as an optional component) and yes, that data comes into our system. But we don’t break down our applicant pool and admit rates by certain cohorts. For example, we also don’t keep statistics on how many legacy athletes apply and are admitted, how many first-generation Indian students apply and are admitted. The W&M Common Data set does provide information on gender break down of applicants and admits as well as an in-state/out-of-state break-down of applicants and admit. The best measure of statistical probability that we think we can provide is that we admit approximately one-third of our applicants (slightly higher for in-state and slightly lower for out-of-state). The question was asked because there have been some hurtful questions posted on these blogs about particular applicant cohorts and their qualifications for admission and we’re simply hoping not to perpetuate any additional hurtful comments. If sounds like that was not your intention and we apologize if any offense was taken.
Thank you. I have reviewed the Common Data Set and it is apparent that, in general, the probability of successful admission increases significantly with early application (in the realm of 45%). Can you tell me what percentage of early applicants who are offered admission are out-of state? In other words, of the early applicants who are offered admission, does the composition mirror the general undergradute campus out-of-state cohort (32-35%)?
@John, as you might guess our Early Decision pool is dominated by in-state students so no, the composition of those admitted ED does not mirror the 65/35 composition of our entering class because there are relatively few out-of-state students to select from in the ED pool.
Thank you for the information. And thank you for your tolerance of my OCD!
I only applied to the Joint Degree Program. I still have received no email. Should I call the office?
How many early decision applicants received Monroes?
@DJ, there’s no set number. During January and Februrary, we review each early decision applicant to determine who is competitive for the Monroe award. Those who are receive it. Certainly a majority of the Monroe awards go to regular decision applicants (as to the majority of our admission offers given how much bigger the regular decision pool is).
@Kat, we apologize. Your comment got caught up in spam. Have you received a decision yet? If not you should definitely call our office.