Application Processing Update
We Admit It! The application engine needed a little bit of a kick to get started, but now it’s humming away. Early Decision and Spring Transfer applications are rolling in and making their way through our processing area (being downloaded from Common App, being matched with accompanying materials, etc.). There is still a bit of a backlog due to some of the technical glitches students, high schools and colleges have been experiencing, so we continue to ask for your patience.
Every 24 hours we update our system. So each day, any newly downloaded application from the Common Application will trigger the initial “we’ve received your application” email to both you and your parents. Likewise, any application completed in the past 24 hours will trigger the follow-up “your application is now complete” email to you and your parents. Remember, there can be a one to two week (and maybe even longer) delay between the initial and second email during Early Decision/Spring Transfer timeline and a three to four week delay during the Regular Decision timeline. Keep in mind we are also focusing our efforts first on Early Decision applications, than spring transfer applications, then Regular Decision applications and finally Fall Transfer applications. So if you’re a Regular Decision or Fall Transfer applicant, we may not process your application at this point as quickly as someone who’s applied for Early Decision or Spring Transfer.
If we get through processing every application and every accompanying document we have and your application remains incomplete, we will send you an email to let you know what we’re missing and how to submit it. So please check your in-boxes frequently.
We still do not know to what, if any degree, the extended deadline will alter our review timeline for Early Decision and Spring Transfer applications so please don’t press us for a release date. We will launch those decisions as soon as our process can run its course. We likely won’t know when we’re releasing decisions until we’re ready to send the emails but we promise to keep everyone posted.
Stay tuned for more on our Early Decision and Spring Transfer processes through our “Overheard in Committee” blog series in the weeks to come.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M. Ed. ‘09
Associate 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.
Wendy,
I love the blog. It is very informative. Quick question. When you state above that a “we’ve received your application” e-mail is sent to both parents and student, is that e-mail sent from William and Mary or the Common App? My son’s application was completed on October 7th, and we have not received any communication directly from W&M but did receive a confirmation e-mail from the Common App. Thank you for the clarification.
Paul
@Paul, glad you love the blog! We send emails from W&M in addition to those the Common App sends applicants. Did your son apply for Early Decision? Keep in mind that these emails can sometimes land in junk/spam folders so make sure to double check there. If he did apply ED and he doesn’t have an email from us in the next few days (given he applied in early October), feel free to call our office or email me and we’ll be happy to dig deeper.
Like Paul, I enjoy reading this blog. It is very informative.
My daughter applied ED and received a confirmation from W&M on Friday, but her father and I have yet to receive anything from either W&M or Common App. We have both checked our SPAM files and nothing. I am assuming as long as she has received something there is nothing more we need to do. Thank you.
@Angela, glad you like the blog and that your daughter applied ED. We began sending emails to students a few days before we sent emails to parents so that could be why you haven’t heard from W&M (Common App we believe sends emails only to the applicant). As long as your daughter is receiving emails that’s what’s most important. There may be some technical glitches early on with these emails that we will investigate but it’s simply possible that as we get everything going a few may be missed here and there.
My son is in a similar position as described by the prior posts. He applied ED, received common application confirmation, but neither he nor I have received an e-mail from W & M. What is the best way to find out if you have his application?
@Jake, as with our previous responses we first ask that everyone be patient as we have not yet downloaded every ED app from Common App and that everyone check spam and junk filters. If come early next week there’s still no word from W&M, you can follow up with us by phone.
Thanks so much for writing this blog! It is really helpful during the admissions process.
I also applied early decision about 3 weeks ago, and received the first confirmation email on October 28th. It has only been just over 2 weeks, so I know it is probably due to the backlog of applications, but I am worried that it may mean I am missing something in my application. When should I expect an email if I finished the application process around October 23rd?
@Emily, there’s no real way to answer that question. We’re processing applications every minute of every weekday. Just know that as long as we got your app we will be sure to follow up with you. If we ultimately find something missing, we’ll follow up with you to let you know that. So just keep an eye on your in-box. We will try to post a blog when we’ve basically completed the processing of ED apps to the extent that we can.
Hi there. My daughter applied ED and would like to submit her first marking period grades – which were just posted yesterday. How/where should she submit them? Also, she is still waiting for an e-mail confirming that her application is complete – 2.5 weeks after receiving her first e-mail from you. Is there any way to be sure everythign is moving along?
@Jean, she can have her school fax her updated grades to us. Just be sure her W&M ID Number (provided in the email she got confirming receipt of her application) is included. As we mentioned, it can take several weeks to complete a file. We are moving along as efficiently as we can, and we sincerely appreciate everyone’s patience. Again, as long as we have her application we will work with her to ensure it gets completed.
Hello. Thanks for all the useful information. My son also wants to send his latest grades, but his confirmation email, received on 10/28, did not include an ID number. Should his school just fax the grades with his name, school name…etc.? Thanks so much.
@Wendy, a few of the initial confirmation emails sent out early on could not include the W&M ID number (just a function of getting things up and running). In that case, yes, please have the school provide at least his full name, school and birthday for matching purposes.
Thanks for the quick response. I assume his ID will be on the follow up email?
@Wendy, yes. It should be
Hi, I read that last year you guys sent out a few postcards to a small cohort of transfer students who you felt had a strong chance of being admitted. Will you be doing the same this year, and if so when will these postcards be sent out?
Additionally, should we have received a secondary email by now?( just want to make sure I haven’t missed it!)
Thank you!
@William and Mary Transfer, we send postcards to a small cohort of Regular Decision freshman applicants. They are not used during our Early Decision, Spring Transfer or Fall Transfer processes because the timeline for those reviews is much shorter.
We are still in the process of completing freshman and spring transfer applications (and remember we focused first on ED applications, then spring transfers). Remember, either way you will get a follow-up email letting you know your application is complete or letting you know what we’re missing so just keep an eye on that in-box.
Hi, I submitted my application on October 31st and my transcripts & letters of recommendation were sent November 5th or 6th (I can’t remember) via Naviance. I got the original email from you guys saying you recieved my application but I am yet to recieve one saying it has been completed. Should I be worried? Thanks!
@Megan, as we said in our response to a similar comment earlier today we are still working to process a good number of applications. There’s never need to worry though as long as you received that initial email. As long as we received your application we will follow up with you to either let you know your application is complete or to let you know what we didn’t receive and how to resubmit it. We know that for whatever reason and all best intentions some items aren’t received by us. That’s why no penalty is assessed when that happens.
Thank you so much for the quick response!