Decisions, Decisions — Fall Transfer Applicant Edition

Admit It! transfers. You’re more than ready for that decision email. Well today is the day; we’re even a few days ahead of schedule. We are releasing decisions as we speak, and all decisions should be in your inbox within the next few hours (we will post a comment when all emails have left our server). Keep in mind that we are in the process of emailing nearly 1,000 students. This will take some time on both the part of our email server and yours. Please be patient. All decisions come in the form of an email and are sent to the email address you provided in your Common Application.

Decisions are emailed to the applicant only. The sender is College of William & Mary at undergraduateadmission@wm.edu.  This will likely appear as a “Do Not Reply” email. We use a do not reply email address not to offend or because we don’t want to hear from our applicants, but because we need to keep this channel open to release decisions. Decisions are sent to all applicants for fall transfer admission; regardless of decision (unless your application remains incomplete in which case you will not receive a decision email today).  The subject will be either “Good News” or “William & Mary Admission Decision.” Only those students who are admitted will receive a follow-up in the mail. Waitlisted and denied students receive the email only. If you do not receive an email, you can contact us on Monday at 757-221-4223, and we will attempt to resend the decision using a different email tool or find an alternative method of communicating your decision to you. Read on to find out more about the decisions we made and how we made them.

Admitted! – The subject line “Good News” should tell you all you need to know. Congratulations and welcome to the Tribe! This email is just a preview. A shiny admission package, complete with letter suitable for framing, is on its way to your mailbox. The email you got has a link to our transfer welcome site. You will find a great deal of information there that is often helpful to newly admitted students.

Your applications were truly impressive, and we are honored to have you join the Classes of 2015, 2016 and 2017. You will add so much flavor to our student body. We hope you will join us on campus on May 4 for Day for Admitted Transfer Students to learn more about what awaits you in Williamsburg.  And don’t forget to submit your enrollment deposit by May 15 to officially join the Tribe.  Again, congratulations!

Waitlisted – We know this wasn’t the “Good News” you were hoping for, but a waitlist isn’t the end of the line. First of all, it recognizes the competitiveness of your application. The transfer process is a selective one and this year we had an increase in the number of transfer applications forcing us to make some tough decisions. A waitlist decision recognizes that your application was strong, that you were right to apply. We know you would be successful at W&M, and we’re sorry we do not have room at this time to make you a formal admission offer.

There could be a number of reasons for the waitlist decision. Maybe you’re part of one of our guaranteed enrollment programs and we’re waiting for you to finish your semester (or even summer work) to see if you meet the terms of the agreement. Maybe we didn’t receive mid-semester grades so we’re waiting to see how you fare this semester. Maybe your application was incredibly solid but other applications were just a bit more compelling. Whatever the reason, again, do not look at this as something you did wrong.  It’s simply the case that so many applicants do everything right.

So where do you go from here? Well, if you remain interested in W&M, complete the waitlist response form linked in your decision email. Then, be sure to send us a final transcript when the semester ends. We will then wait and see what happens among those who were offered admission.  If come late May or early June we find that we have room to admit additional transfer students, we will turn to the transfer waitlist (initially about 100 students are placed on the transfer waitlist).

Denied – That’s never an easy decision to get. It’s disappointing, it’s frustrating, it’s irritating, it’s sad, it’s a million different other things. It may not even seem fair. We totally get it. You’re allowed to be upset, mad, enraged, confused, miffed; just realize this decision in no way conveys a judgment about you or your accomplishments. Most of the students who are denied are smart, capable, talented men and women. They simply aren’t as competitive in a selective admission pool as other students. We know how fortunate we are to have such accomplished individuals apply to W&M. The not-so-great flip side to selective admission is that we have to send out bad news. For that we are sorry.

Yes this is the end of the road for this particular application cycle.  However, it may not be the end of the road to W&M.  There are students who have reapplied and gotten more favorable news after taking additional courses and receiving additional grades. That’s not always the case, but it is sometimes. If W&M remains the place you want to be, feel free to contact us in the coming weeks. We can try to guide you as to how to improve your application.

We would once again like to give a shout out to all of our fall transfer applications. We’ve very much enjoyed the opportunity to learn your stories and review your applications. We Admit It! We’re glad this reading season has finally come to a close. Thanks for helping us to wind down the cycle on a high note.

Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission