Decisions, Decisions
Admit It! Those of you who applied early decision are on the edge of your seats waiting for decisions to be released. Well, the wait is almost over. Decisions will be released on the evening of December 1 via email. Emails will be sent to the email address supplied in the Common Application. Please check all spam, junk, and forwarded folders. The email notification will come from tech@targetx.com and the sender will be “on behalf of the College of William & Mary”. There are three possible decisions: accept (Welcome to W&M, your college search is over), defer (your application will be considered again during regular decision and a second decision notification will be sent to you in April), and deny (a final decision for your freshman application).
To the first members of William & Mary’s Class of 2015 (the College’s 318th graduating class): congratulations and welcome to the Tribe! We are excited about all of the intellect, talent, and personality you will bring to our community next August. Take this time to congratulate yourself on being admitted to the nation’s best small public university and enjoy your senior year. We will be in touch with you via mail and email throughout the rest of your senior year and we have created a special website just for you that you will learn more about soon. There is only one William & Mary, and now it’s yours.
*Note: your offer of admission is contingent upon continuing to meet high standards of academic performance, personal conduct and completion of all work in progress.
To those applicants who were deferred: we understand that this is not the outcome you hoped for. While your application will be reviewed again during regular decision in the context of the entire applicant pool, we encourage you to apply now to other institutions that interest you and to give those institutions serious consideration. Should there be any new information between now and April (mid-year grades, new standardized testing, new awards or accomplishments, etc), please feel free to send those updates to us by mail, fax or email. These new materials will be added to your application file and reviewed with your original application materials during regular decision.
For those applicants who are denied: we know that this news is disappointing. Please know that this decision is not a reflection of any wrongdoing on your part but is merely a reflection of the incredible strength of our applicant pool. Those students applying to William & Mary, yourself included, are incredibly accomplished, talented and high-achieving. The College’s small size, which attracts many prospective students, also compels our admission committee to make many difficult decisions regarding which applicants to admit. Unfortunately, we cannot admit all qualified students. We know that there are many other wonderful collegiate opportunities out there for you and we wish you all the best with your 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.
this is cruel and unusual…there is plenty of “evening” before 7:15.
I agree, “evening” is turning into “night,” and still no word.
Alright, I DO admit it! I am so anxious, I can’t focus. Has anyone received an email yet?
I agree, this is getting nerve-racking….
I’m very confused by my e-mail…seemed more like a riddle than an answer…
According to other ED people, if it says something about big things in small packages, and to be looking in the mail… That means you were accepted! The denial and deffered emails were straightfoward. I still haven’t gotten word, but congrats!
We were confused by the Good things come in small packages email. It may be witty but somewhere there should have been “accepted”. Now we have to wait some more to be 100% sure.
I agree the small packages email is very confusing and am hoping William & Mary will update their site to clarify what they meant.
I also agree. Sadly, we had to wait until a friend was denied before we could celebrate. That took a little bit away from the joy.
I’m another parent chiming in that the “Good things in small packages” email was very confusing, especially given what this blog had posted as to what to expect in the email.
We – parents and applicant-child alike – were on edge all day and this email did not help. It took us awhile, as our child checked in with other Early Decision applicants to see what was going on, before we felt comfortable enough to believe that this was the acceptance email. We really would have appreciated the inclusion of a straightforward acceptance message.
We know that receiving emails took some time. Unfortunately, our software package only allows us to send out so many emails at a time and since other schools were likely using the same server to do the same thing, the emails were sent slowly but appear to have been received.
For those of you confused about the wording the email entiteld “Good Things”, the subject line should say it all! We wouldn’t title a subject good things if it didn’t mean good news. Would adding “congratulations” help. We still want your admit pack to have impact and for you to have that thick envelope moment, hence what we considered to be a subtle yet obvious email.
Thanks for the “Good Things” explanation, but please realize that a lot of the confusion arose from the posting yesterday about what to expect in the email – if it weren’t for that, perhaps we would have been less confused. At any rate, seems our now-Class-of-2015 WM son figured out the subtlety better than we, his parents, did.
I thought the style and content of your “Good Things” email was adorable, witty, and only added to the marvelous suspense of this whole process. I’m in love already!
I agree. The Good Things topics was a very nice touch and reflects the unique character of the school. We’re thrilled to be part of the WM Family!
I agree, I appreciate the Good Things idea but not all students have recieved word yet, including myself. It’s making this day go by slower than most, and I just want to know a decision at this point. I hope W&M is able to tell all of us soon!
The “Good Things” email highlights the creativity and wit of William and Mary, and is another example of why I love this school. Don’t get me wrong, it took a while to “unpackage” the meaning, but in the end I am glad I am glad I was notified of the good news in such a unique way!
Witty, but cruel considering the lack of clarity and context upon which to base the Good Things email. I would urge the Admission office to rethink this strategy in the future.
I appreciate all of the feedback both positive and negative.
To Waiting Student: please contact our office if you haven’t heard from us and we can investigate why that might be because all decisions were emailed last night.
To those who found the messsage unclear or cruel, could you please elaborate on why it was unclear. I understand that maybe the blog could have provided a bit more background. We figured the “good things” subject line, the picture of our happy mascot checking the mailbox (found only in HTML versions of the email), and the hint that a thick envelope was on its way all made it clear that the decision was accept. But if it’s not being understood that way, we will definitely rethink. We’d just love some feedback on how to be our witty selves in a way that’s more clear.
Personally, I loved the email. Although it was quite nerve-wracking to have to wait until 8:58 PM to get my decision (I saw the post about the emails on facebook about 8AM, I was panicking for 12 straight hours). I thought the email was adorable, and the having to read through the entire email was exciting. I liked that it was a little quirky, it reconfirmed that WM is perfect for me.
My one suggestion for the future is to post a more concrete time frame for the decisions. Although waiting all day did raise the suspense, and I don’t want to complain too much because I got exactly what I was hoping for, having absolutely no information other than the very ambiguous evening and waiting till 9 PM was a little like slow and painful torture. Knowing I would be likely waiting until 9 would have made it a little easier.
But I loved the email and am eagerly awaiting my big fat envelope.
Though the email was ambiguous, I was thoroughly thrilled that it was quirky and fun; however, some of my intial excitement was subdued after I read it because I wasn’t quite sure of the meaning. Adding “congratulations” would probably have helped ease the tension. I also agree with the admitted student above in that the time frame should be more defined.
There were a couple of glitches, but I commend William & Mary for being itself even down to the last admission letter!
We still haven’t gotten an email. Notified W&M and they said to give them 24 hours. My child even took her laptop to school and set it up in her theatre teacher’s classroom so she could watch for an email all day. Everything has been going through our minds today. Did the transcript get there, the optional submission, the essay? Was the email correct? Still love you W&M but this is killing us.
We were wathcing a blog on CollegeConfidential.com during the painful waiting period, which really helped a lot, since it allowed us to note what others were experiencing and how others were interpreting the Good News notice. It would have been helful for W&M to set up such a blog on the WM Facebook page or on this site for this type of sharing among the waiting, rather than having to go to an outside ‘unofficial’ blog source.
As one of those who found the Good Things email confusing, I found the email’s inconsistency with the “it’s coming” posting yesterday the main reason for my confusion. The post told applicants (and thus their equally anxious parents like me) that,among other things:
The email notification will come from tech@targetx.com and the sender will be “on behalf of the College of William & Mary.”
When my son showed me the email, I was skeptical at first because it didn’t match what I was expecting and so I was concerned it was either some sort of joke, or not the “real” email but kind of a preview. As I posted before, were it not for this rather specific description of what was supposed to be coming, we would probably have been less confused.
In addition, as of late last night, two of my son’s friends were still waiting for their Early Decision emails. I hope the Admissions Office has worked out the kinks in the notification system now because the delay in getting out the message to those applicants while their peers have received theirs is probably the most difficult aspect of this process.
Thanks for all of the feedback. Certainly understand the confusion based on slightly different messages between the web/blog and the email sent. We will absolutely correct those in the future. As for the clarity of the actual message, would something like “(and yes, this means what you think it means”) have helped? Would it be better than “Congratulations!”?
As for the timing of the emails, that’s unfortunately not really under our control. The software we use sends out the emails as it can so we can’t pinpoint a time exactly not can we prevent the fact that some students will hear before others but we will absolutely try to manage expectations better.
For the parent and student still waiting, we tried to resolve all calls from those without a decision today so I hope you’ve heard back from us by now.
Nope, still haven’t heard :(.
To Admit It! re: clarity of messages – yes, “Congratulations” or something along the lines you posted would have helped. In my opinion, adding “Congratulations!” is better than the suggested phrase, but we would have understood the other message and been just as ecstatic with the news.
For what it’s worth, my son reported that his 2 friends finally got their notification emails late this afternoon – about 5pm EST.
Hope this helps for the next round. Hope all those still waiting finally got the (good, I hope!) word.
Still no email. I understand email notification is new to W&M but at this point I think we would have preferred snail mail. My daughter would happily accept a quirky, witty letter. At this point she just feels forgotten.
No matter how the email was worded, I think most important point is that we are accepted. We are now a part of the Tribe, and for me that is the biggest honor I could ask for. Subtle email or not, acceptance is acceptance, and I cannot wait for my fat envelope.
Applicant parent, there are some students who heard today because either they just turned in their early decision agreements (we won’t release a decision without them) or because our email was rejected by theirs so we had to send it again.
Parent and Child Still Waiting, I’m not familiar with your particular case and for anyone who didn’t receive an email we will likely send a hard copy as well as trying to re-send the email. I’m sure you will hear today if you notified us yesterday that you hadn’t received it and we apologize for the delay but know that we are working on it as fast as we can.
Thank you for all the feedback. We are taking all of it into consideration as we prepare to release regular decisions in April.
Parent of Accepted Student who was watching the play-by-play on College Confidential, we didn’t do any kind of play-by-play on Facebook or this blog because we believed that might increase student’s anxiety if they hadn’t heard yet even though there would be a perfectly reasonable explanation. We understand however that we need to do a better job of managing the expectations as they related to the time a student will hear and we will absolutely do that in the future. Congrats to your student and welcome to the Tribe!
I want to thank the Admissions Department for hosting this blog – which I only recently discovered – and for this interaction with the applicant community. I appreciate your efforts with the Early Decision notification process and glad you’re working with us to improve it.
The “big envelope” just arrived, so we are looking forward to our son’s new wave of excitement when he gets home and opens it. As I didn’t say it in my earlier posts, I’ll say it now – he is so thrilled to be accepted and very excited to be a member of the W&M Tribe. I should also add that he “got” the notification email and liked it – it was mostly this nervous parent who was confused by it and put the initial damper and delay on our celebration.
Here’s hoping that everyone got the news by now, and that it’s all good.
Although the email mechanism for Early Decision may be improved upon next year, we though the “Good Things” email was very clever. My daughter can’t wait go get her “big envelope”.
We also appreciated this blog!
I understood the email as soon as I read the subject line, and immediately started screaming! Thank you, W&M, for your generous admissions decision. I do believe, for those who need solid proof, that you should include an “accepted” or “congrats” at the conclusion. However, it worked for me! I can’t wait to meet everyone on accepted students day!
It’s sad that so many comments are being made about the way the acceptance letters were worded. I would have taken one in morse code or smoke signals for that matter. Sadly, I am the dreaded “deferred” (and from out-of-state, so how do you think my chances of still getting in add up?). More stress and more waiting. Still, I know God has a plan and I am thankful for time I spent in W&M’s dance department one summer learning from their amazing staff. We have traveled to Colonial Williamsburg at least twice a year for as long as I can remember just because we love it so much. I may not be accepted as a full-time student but I still intend to take every opportunity W&M offers me (summer programs, etc.) to learn at a place that for years has felt like a second home.
I got deferred also and am really confused by it. It sounds like we are just dumped back in on an equal playing field with everyone else that didn’t make the commitment to ED. How on earth can I stand out among 11,000+ applicants when I didn’t stand out enough in only 1000?? I’m guessing you won’t accept any other essay or submissions and there isn’t time to take another sat or act. I know my scores were slightly less than average but my school grades were almost flawless so another semester will only show the same as I am now. Very frustrating…..WM is still my dream school. I guess it was good not getting a deny but defer just seems to prolong the agony when it seems the decision has already been made.
I know the email wasn’t crystal clear but as I said to my son, “Is there any other way to interpret an email with the subject line Good things?” I think he’ll remember that email and that night for the rest of his life. For that matter, so will I.
Thank you again to everyone for all the interaction on this blog. We know that the college admission/application process is stressful for parents and students alike.
To those who were deferred, you are correct in that your application will be reviewed in regular decision within the context of our entire applicant pool. We deferred you because we saw many competitive aspects of your application and therefore felt you to be a worthy applicant. We will accept additional information/submissions on your part including first-semester grades, any new standardized testing results (and yes you could still take a January SAT and have that submitted), and any new information not included in your additional application. We do encourage you however to begin looking closely at other schools so that you leave yourself with some great options come April.
Could you give us some stats? Like total # of ED apps, # of instate admitted, # of out of state admitted, # of out of country admitted, # denied and # number deferred. Might give us a better perspective and some encouragement for the RD.
Wow Sarah, your attitude is so awesome! Good luck to you with everything.
I know this is late, but I actually like the email. I feel like people who were admitted to W&M should know that a subject “Good things” usually means, well, good things.
Good luck to everyone.
Oh, could you also tell us how much of a role ethnicity plays?
Confused, I can give you some rough estimates for some of your questions but the early decision (ED) pool is not reflective of the entire applicant pool. For example, our ED pool has nearly twice as many in-state applicants as out-of-state applicants. However our overall pool will be approximately 60% out-of-state students.
Just under 1,100 students applied ED and we admitted approximately 50% of those students. Approximately 30% were deferred and 20% were denied. When all is said and done at the end of an admission cycle, our in-state admit rate is approximately 37% and our out-of-state admit rate is approximately 27%.
A student’s ethnicity is an intangible quality he/she can bring to the table which can contribute to the W&M community in a substantive way. Just as our athletes and artists can bring special talents that many other students can’t, those students who come from unique backgrounds (be those backgrounds racial, cultural, religious, geographic, socioeconomic, etc.) can add to the W&M community in a way that makes our campus community more informed, better, and stronger. So we take into account any unique background or upbringing that a student may contribute. Like any other factor, one’s background alone will not be the reason a student is admitted or denied. It’s simply one factor among many that is considered.
I hope this provides some more context for you. We are very fortunate to have an incredibly talented and high-achieving group of applicants. Thus we make some tough decisions and unfortunately cannot admit all of the wonderful students in our pool.
That actually is very encouraging. It sounds like percentage wise chances are better for out-of-state during regular decision. Thank you for all the information.
Thank you for all the information. It does make me feel better. It sounds like out-of-state may actually have a better chance in RD. And not knowing who has what talents in the total pool I can see how you would not want to accept too many athletes or too many artists, etc. during ED.
Just wondering – of those admitted under Early Decision, what is the percentage of in-state versus out-of-state students?
Thanks Skyler, I haven’t given up yet. I’m thankful I can send in by fist semester transcript and new awards. Never give up right? Keep your fingers crossed for me. Either way I will be at the W&M dance intensive this summer with bells on :).
Confused, actually because there are more out-of-state students in the RD pool there are more of them in RD competing for the same smaller percentage of spaces in our incoming class (35%) so the competition is a little stiffer for everyone (out-of-state included) in RD than ED. Sorry if that was confusing in my earlier post.
Applicant parent, we don’t break down the percent of in-state and out-of-state admits for ED during RD just overall and those statistics were in my earlier post.
Sarah, we wish you all the best as you continue your application process.
For those who are actually complaining about the way the acceptance was worded, try and imagine how a W&M Alumni father felt as his daughter sobbed over an email that said “deferred” and pretty much shattered a lifelong dream.
I guess the hardest part from my perspective is knowing that she is so much more qualified than I ever was. Needless to say, she has applied to many good schools and will certainly find a good fit somewhere. I really liked the green and gold and hope wherever she enrolls has decent colors.
Congrats to those that got accepted and be humbled by the fact that many good students did not.
Thank you Stu, I completely agree. Good luck to your daughter! I am very sorry for her disappointment, but as you said, she will end up at a great school.
I am very humbled. I will never know why they chose me over so many others who were as or more qualified. I wish the best for all those who were heartbroken on December 1st.
I am overjoyed to have recieved the “Good Things” acceptance email, and I am anxiously awaiting the “Big Envelope.” I have yet to recieve it, though I have local aquaintances who recieved it 5 days ago. At what point should I contact the Office of Admissions? Excited regardless!
Stu, we certainly understand your daughter’s disappointment given her family connection to the College. It amazes us all the time how competitive our pool is and how much more talented the pool grows every year and we know that means many great students can’t be admitted.
EMK, if you haven’t yet received the thick envelope, please call us so we can confirm your address and try to determine why you haven’t received it.
Mr Stu, tell your daughter I feel her pain and she will get into a great school. We all will. (BTW, my school colors have been green and gold since I was in Kindergarten :)) I feel like I’ve grown up so much just this past week. It’s hard to hear “the pool is so competitive” and think that somehow you are missing that special quality but I see it from a whole new perspective now. The fact is….we are who we are, the cream of the crop and there just aren’t enough spaces for everyone who loves W&M. I know W&M WANTS to accept students and in doing that some(many) of us won’t get the honor. Our choices have been made, the best ones we were capable of making at the time and we have to trust in that. I go to the same high school my mom and dad graduated from. The year they graduated was the first time the school even offered calculus but now so many years later taking AP Calculus is the norm along with other AP courses. I decided to forgo some APs to take extra theatre classes because that is my passion. Was it the right choice to be accepted at W&M?…we will see….but I do know it was the right choice for me. I’m sure your daughter made the right choices too.
Sarah, I appreciate your thoughtful response. We know that we disappoint more people than we make happy and that’s something that isn’t easy on either side of the desk but we also know how lucky we are to have such fabulous students applying. That’s why we know they’ll end up somewhere great.
My daugher was deferred to RD. Does she need to re-apply entirely (Standard App/Essay et al) or will her application stand (with further transcripts/test scores submitted, of course).
Thanks!
ProudMomma, your daughter’s application will automatically be reviewed during regular decision. The only thing she needs to send is her first-semester grades (which her high school will likely send automatically). Any new information (new standardized test scores, awards, etc.) can also be sent to our office and will be reviewed with her original application materials this spring. She will receive a second decision notification in April.
Thank you! Then she’s set! Crossing our fingers that she becomes a member of The Tribe!
Happy Holidays.
If I have been accepted and have already sent in my RSVP and deposit check through the mail, will the College notify me once they recieve it? I just want to make sure it doesn’t get lost in the mail, or some other unfortunate event happens that delays my response.
ProudMomma, while we look forward to reviewing your daughter’s application again, we do encourage her to also apply to and gain interest in other colleges so that she has many wonderful choices come April.
Future Student, we will send you an automated email when we receive your deposit.
Are we notified for William and Mary’s financial aid tonight? The letter in the folder said we would, I’m just making sure everything is on time.
Thanks!
The Financial Aid Office will be mailing financial aid estimates beginning today (you will likely not receive them tonight). Remember, these are estimates only. All students must complete the FAFSA by March 1 to receive an actual financial aid package.
Check wm.edu/welcome often for updates on all things related to admitted early decision students.
When is the admissions office open next? I submitted all my materials and I want to check if you have received everything. Thank you!
Alex,
The Admission Office will re-open on January 3 at 8:00 a.m. but no need to call us. Just check your email regularly. When we download your application from Common App we will email you and your parents. Then, when we match your app with all other required materials we will email you and your parents again letting you know your application is complete.
As long as my application is submitted by the due date for RD (I did get the email saying you received my application), can I send it everything else (SAT, teacher/counselor recs, etc.) later? I have sent everything to you, but I’m not sure you’ll receive all of it by 1/1/11. I believe I’m just waiting for the SAT scores to get you W&M.
We ask that applicants do their best to have everything sent (postmarked) by the deadline of January 1. However, if materials come in shortly after that deadline (say early January) they will be gladly accepted. We just don’t want applicants to wait until after the deadline to request these materials be sent. However, if you requestd that these materials be sent before the deadline and they arrive shortly after it, that’s fine.
You and your parents will get a second email when we receive these materials and complete your application file.
Good luck