Decisions, Decisions — Admitted Edition
Admit It! You’re thrilled (or at least we hope you are). Good Things indeed. Whether W&M is at the top of your list or somewhere a bit farther down, being admitted just feels good. After having reviewed over 14,000 applications, we can say with absolute certainty that you are the best of the best. Each of you individually has astounded us with your intellect, excited us with your extracurricular accomplishments and inspired us with your stories. As a group you are unbelievably intelligent, talented, diverse and deserving. You are W&M’s 320th class; you are our future. Congratulations, and welcome to the Tribe!
We are so incredibly honored that you are considering William & Mary, and we are crossing our fingers that among all of the honors and acceptances you have been offered, ours will rise to the top of the pile. Your “Good Things” email is just the beginning. In it you will find a link to a website exclusively for our admitted students. There you will find all you need to know about what we hope is your future alma mater. From social media exclusively for the Class of 2017 to opportunities to visit, you can learn so much more about the Tribe through that website. Keep an eye out for that coveted thick envelope that should be in your mailbox in the coming days. There you will find even more information about upcoming visit opportunities, a timeline for admitted and enrolling students, and of course, the admission letter suitable for framing, signed by none other than Dean Broaddus. Information about financial aid should be coming to your email inbox within the next 7-10 days.
We hope to see you on campus on April 13 for our Day for Admitted Students, and we hope to see you on campus this fall as part of the Tribe’s Class of 2017. Congratulations and welcome. One Tribe and now it’s yours.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission
PS: Admitted edition and Admit It! Note our blog name, Admit It!, is in essence a play on admitted. Say them both out loud, quickly and you’ll get it. We live for this blog each year when we get to use both. Yes, admission humor is rare, but we love it.
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.
If I was already accepted as a Monroe, I will still get an email tonight with my St. Andrew’s dual degree decision, correct? Thanks!
@Caroline, congratulations on your admission as a Monroe Scholar! You actually will get an email about the joint degree programme in a few days. That’s explained in more detail in the third paragraph of the Decisions, Decisions — Regular Decision blog if that helps.
Is this where you will post when all emails have gone out?
@Nervous wreck, we will update the Decisions, Decisions blog. We’re more than half-way through but still have some making their way through the server
So excited! Just got the e-mail. Thanks for your careful consideration. I can’t wait to get there in the fall.
@William, way to go! Welcome to the Tribe. #wm2017!
Thank you so much. You say admissions humor is rare, but I have thoroughly enjoyed (and laughed out loud) reading the posts you made over the year. Thank you so much for doing this blog.
@William, no, thank you. We’re gratified by all of the support from our loyal readers!
Thanks you so much!!!! W&M has been one of my top choices for years. I’m really happy right now.
@Sam, we’re happy for you. Congrats!
When one of my friends received an encouraging postcard from William and Mary in the mail some time ago, I ran home only to find an empty mailbox. My eyes grew sullen as I dragged my feet to the front door. Approaching my room, I felt as though nothing could console me. Even after filtering through College Confidential and consuming copious amounts of ice cream, I still felt a pang of disappointment. I was worried that this was a sign of things to come. Yet, all of this seemed so trivial as I opened a surprise email titled, “Good Things.” At last, my doubts were shattered. As I bask in the greatness of an acceptance from one of the most prestigious colleges of this nation, I cannot help but express my sincere thanks to each and every staff member who tirelessly reviewed the deluge of applications this year. You all have brought a beaming smile to my face.
@DMB, is it weird if we just saw Aweeeeeeeeee! Way to go and so glad it all worked out in the end. Sorry we couldnt’ send you the likely postcard but the Good Things email makes it all ok…better than ok…awesome!
@Admit It!, Aweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! 🙂
GO TRIBE~ Cannot wait! Thank you SO much, beaming, ecstatic, 1693, breathe, GO TRIBE!
@Alice, #wm2017, #SighOfRelief. Congrats and way to go!
Just found out my acceptance! I had to come on the blog to make sure that the “Good Things” email was truly the acceptance email, and was happy when it was confirmed. Thank you for welcoming me to the Tribe. 🙂
@Madelynn, yes, Good Things means good news! We just don’t want to send people a generic email so we try to spice it up! It gets some pretty good play. Congrats and welcome to the Tribe! #wm2017
I was notified tonight that I was accepted. Would I know by now if I was selected as a Monroe Scholar?
@Madelynn, congrats! Well done! We actually sent Monroe Scholars their letters a few weeks ago. Remember however, those not admitted to that program as entering freshmen can be invited to apply at the end of their freshman year at W&M.
Just wanted to give everyone a huge congratulatory comment! We stressed over grades, SATs, and ACTs, possible pondered “is this all enough for W&M” But the committee saw a light in all of us that clearly shined brighter than our “academic resumes” they found us distinguishable, even among a sea of other wonderful and amazing candidates. We made it! Now just to push on for a little bit more till graduation 🙂
@Aminatta, indeed! We look forward to welcoming you and your classmates to campus in August!
THANK YOU! I am so excited to be a member of the Tribe!
@wantiing to be a griffin, so excited for you! Congrats!
We are all very excited that our son will be joining his brother at W&M and continue the family tradition (this makes the 7th W&Mer in the family)- but he already asked me a question I am not sure of. Exactly what does “gender neutral” mean on the bathroom floor plan for Spottswood? I am pretty sure W&M doesn’t have shared gender bathrooms- I told him I thought it meant toilets in stalls only, but wasn’t sure.
Checked my inbox this morning and screamed with joy! So proud to be a part of such an amazing university, part of an amazing W&M culture!
@excited beyond measure, way to go! So excited for you and the Class of 2017!
@Happy alumn, that’s a great question and not one we’re sure we can answer. Our best guess is that the bathrooms can be used by either men or women depending on who they place on the hall that year. Might be best to pose that question to Residence Life. They’d be able to answer.
YAY SO EXCITED! May or may not have shrieked out loud when I got my email…. Also may or may not have woken up my sleeping parents with that shriek. Whoops…. But anyway, I’m pumped.
Now comes the next hard part: figuring out how to pay for W&M without graduating with a bajillion dollars of student debt, haha.
@Hopeful future Tribe member, we hope you can join us next fall soon. Let us know if you have any questions that we can help with.
Thank you so much W&M! The past 22 or so hours have almost been unreal. I can’t believe I’ve been accepted to such a prestigious school and am absolutely honored, thrilled, excited, elated, and a thousand other positive adjectives. I cannot wait until the fall!!
Also, I screamed so loudly upon receiving that email titled “Good Things” that my dad thought something was wrong. He came rushing down to help but instead was enveloped in a big hug and tears of joy.
Again, thank you and stay awesome admissions committee. I am proud to officially call myself a member of the Tribe!!!
@Caroline D, LOVE IT! We love hearing back from all the admits and learning of the joy they’re experiencing. Welcome to the Tribe.
I Pray I get accepted!!!
@James L, we already sent decisions so you should have yours by now. Or are you applying as a transfer?
I am so excited to have been granted admission to such a fantastic school! Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the Day for Admitted Students, but I want to further explore William and Mary since I do have some other colleges I’m considering and some hard decisions to make this month. Aside from taking a tour, as I’ve already taken one in the past, is there anything else you recommend I do? I’m definitely willing to visit again and want to make the most out of my visit!
I feel so extremely lucky to have been admitted, because I felt (knew?) that my application strength was very borderline and had practically convinced myself that I wasn’t going to be admitted. Needless to say I was overjoyed when I found out the good news. But, is it alright if I ask what W&M found interesting in my application? I’m really curious.
Thank you so much 🙂
Daughter just happened to be sitting in her high school counselor’s waiting room (he lets students just hang out there) when she checked her e-mail. Her scream caused him to dash in, no doubt concerned. What did the e-mail mean exactly. He quickly confirmed that “Good Things” was indeed just that; something good. Thank you for the vote of confidence in her.
I didn’t receive an email even though I applied for regular descion
@Suchita, explore the visit section of the Welcome Website and you’ll see our myWM Mondays throughout April. They’re essentially shadow days for admitted students. Could you attend one of those?
@Dwight, congrats! Welcome to the Tribe! On an anonymous blog post there’s no real way to answer your question but whenever we admit a student we believe their record of academic and personal accomplishment to be simply outstanding and intriguing and we believe they have something to lend to our campus culture.
@Larry, congrats to your daughter! Hope she didn’t give her counselor a heart attack!
@James Lloyd, as we mentioned in our Regular Decision edition of this blog series, those not receiving their decision need to call our office so that we can investigate why and try to send it to you again.
Thank you so much for the effort you all have put into reading the applications (and also posting on this blog!). I’m an international student and I’m so glad and happy to be admitted into William and Mary! I’m just wondering (if it’s possible to disclose), approximately how many countries will the international students come from for the class of 2017?
@Hui Xin, congratulations on your admission to W&M! We won’t know the answer to your question until all of the admitted students respond to our offer. We hope to have as many as possible. In the student body we currently have students from 49 states and 60 countries.
After I heard that decisions were emailed on Tuesday night, I couldn’t bring myself to open my email account until about 2pm the next day…Good Things! I think my reaction to being admitted proves to myself that William and Mary has been my top choice all along. The whole family took me out to dinner to celebrate!! #wm2017
@Tyler, congratulations. What great news. So excited to have you join the Tribe!
Hi I was wondering if we have yet be notified of any scholarships from WM i.e. Monroe, etc does that mean we (sadly) did not meet the standard to recieve one? Will we be able to prove ourselves for admittance into these scholar/aid programs once at WM?
@Worried about fees, most scholarship recipients were notified in mid-March. The few remaining recipients who received their Good Things email this past week would learn of any awards in the mailed letter. All students were considered for any scholarship we do award.
A select group of W&M freshmen are invited to apply for the Monroe Scholarship at the end of their freshman year but remember the Monroe award does not include tuition money, only a research grant.
Was it necessary to have straight As all throughout High School to be awarded these said scholarships? Because I only had a splash of B+ with two Bs total, a total of 6 B+s/Bs out of an entire transcript, and continuity in my extra currics with four years of cheer, and many otter credentials, I guess I am wondering what every other non scholarship is wondering…why did I get bypassed for a scholarship?
I wanted to commend the admissions office for the great job they did keeping everyone up to date with your blogs. W&M was the only school I saw chime in and try to give real information to applicants to stem the speculation on the chat sites. My son is thrilled to have been accepted and considers our visit to admitted students day a mere formality. Can’t wait to see campus!
@Worried about fees, we have a very limited number of scholarships to make available. So it’s not that you got bypassed, it’s just that we have more qualified students then we have awards to give out. For example, the 1693 award will go to only 6 students in our entire applicant pool, the Monroe award to about 100 and the W&M Scholar to about 50. We had over 14,000 applicants. While we understand your desire to help pay for your college education, do remember that you were among the select group to be admitted which we hope conveys just how much we appreciated your accomplishments. We denied or waitlisted thousands of students who would glady switch places with anyone who was admitted.
@My3SonsMom, so glad you’ve found this blog helpful and we can’t wait to welcome you to campus in a few weeks!
SO I am really nervous and want some reassurance that I haven’t gotten into trouble before I start! I had applied to another school that has rolling admissions. It was ok and I would have gone there if I hadn’t gotten into my dream school (W&M of course). They have very nice dorms for their honors students, but to get in, you had to put down a housing deposit in December. To put down a housing deposit (which is refundable) you had to put down an enrollment deposit which is not refundable. They had told me that they knew that not everyone had all their decisions and that I could take back my acceptance if I decided to go elsewhere (but that I would lose that portion of the deposit- but if I didn’t do it, I didn’t get the honors housing). So I did put it down. I was looking at the card that I am supposed to send to W&M accepting my spot and it says I have to swear that I didn’t put down another deposit anywhere else. I don’t want to lie, but I did put it down. I emailed the other school today to say I will not be enrolling and to refund my housing deposit. Does that mean that I can (without violating the Honor Code) say yes- or did I just totally goof up and now have no where to go next year?
@sweating bullets, no need to worry. You haven’t done anything wrong but we appreciate the keen sensitivity you have to the issue. Basically, when you send your deposit into W&M (welcome to the Tribe by the way) you’re affirming that you are not double depositing (meaning you’re not telling multiple institutions you plan to enroll with them). Since you’ve withdrawn your enrollment from the other institution, you’re in good shape!