Freshman Waitlist Update
We Admit It! May 2 has come and gone, meaning the next (and final) phase of the college admission cycle has begun: the waitlist review process. We realize that students on our waitlist are anxious to know whether or not they have a chance of being admitted to W&M. To help reduce your anxiety, today we are able to provide you with a few updates about this year’s process. Please note that while we do have some answers today, we don’t yet have all of the answers. Throughout the summer, as students’ plans change, and as other universities activate their waitlists, the composition of our incoming class will likely vary from day to day and week to week. This is something that we plan for and are prepared for, but this also means that, like you, we have to be flexible throughout this process. We will be sure to provide you with any pertinent updates on this blog as we embark on this next phase together.
Without further ado, here is what we know. We will indeed have the opportunity to admit a select group of students from the waitlist to our Class of 2020. What can you do to be considered for this select group?
- All students who are interested in remaining on our waitlist should have responded to the waitlist response form linked in their original waitlist decision email.
- To all students who submitted this initial waitlist response form, another email will be sent to you later today with another short online form simply indicating whether or not you remain interested in staying on our waitlist and still wish to be considered for admission. This is an interim request so that we can work through the waitlist process as efficiently and thoughtfully as possible.
- To students who did not submit this initial response form, we take this as a sign that you have decided to attend another college or university. We wish you all the best, and have no doubt that you are going to have a tremendous college career.
- If you remain very interested in W&M and haven’t done so already, you are welcome to send a statement of continued interest to your regional dean.
- Interested students are also able to submit any recent awards and/or academic information to our office, and we will make sure that they are filed appropriately with your application.
The Admission Committee will reconvene and determine which of our students who elected to remain on the waitlist are the most competitive for admission. During our deliberations, all of the above information (statements of continued interest, recent updates, etc.) will be taken into consideration.
Once these select students are identified, they will be contacted by their regional dean. We will try to reach you by phone and/or email, so be sure to check both your voicemail and inbox!
Those students admitted from the waitlist will receive the Good Things email (sent to all admitted students), admission materials in the mail, and will be given approximately two weeks to let us know whether or not they would like to definitively accept this admission offer. Students who accept their admission offers will have the exact same access to residence halls, roommates and Orientation as those students admitted in March. All students on our waitlist will get an update from us via email by mid-June.
As mentioned above, our Class of 2020 will fluctuate in size over the next few weeks. There’s a chance that we’ll make admission offers to an initial wave of students, receive “YES” responses and be all set for next fall. There’s also a chance that in a month we’ll see a wave of withdrawals from students in our freshman class, leading us to make additional admission offers from our waitlist. Time will tell what actually happens – we sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding.
We will be sure to keep you informed throughout the waitlist process (this goes for transfers, too). Have a wonderful weekend.
Brad Harlan
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.
Waitlists are awesome! So just to clarify, do you think you will start actually making calls this upcoming week, or is this week only for the committee deliberations? Thanks.
@Excellent!, committee deliberations and phone calls happen concurrently. Both of these processes began towards the end of last week.
Hi,
I indicated on the waitlist response form that I would like to remain on the waitlist, but haven’t received any confirmation emails or the email that you mentioned above. Is there any way I can check to see if I was successfully placed on the waiting list?
Thanks!
@Waitlist, absolutely. If you reach out to your regional dean (http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/contactus/meetthecommittee/) they can check to make sure that your waitlist interest form was successfully submitted.
What if you have already attempted to contacted you regional dean and have yet received a response?
@Waitlisted Student, this time of year is quite busy for us. Please allow up to 2-3 business days for your regional dean to respond to you. If after this amount of time you still have not heard from your regional dean, you are welcome to contact Assistant Dean Brad Harlan (bjharlan@wm.edu) directly. Dean Harlan will then check on the status of your application for you.
Hello! Have you completed the first set of initial calls?
@Jillian Reinhardt, the first set of calls are still occurring, and will continue until at least the end of this week.
Thank you for all of the great information you’re providing in these blogs. Are the calls made at a particular time of day? Or are they scattered throughout the day? Also, are calls being made by region? Or are all regions making calls within the same call window?
Thanks.
@W&M Hopeful, it is our pleasure to assist you throughout this process. We are glad to hear that you find these blogs helpful! Calls are made throughout the day, though most take place towards the end of our business day (between 3-5 pm). Calls are made by regional deans to applicants within their regions. If an individual does not answer our phone call, we will leave a message, as well as follow-up with that applicant via email.
Thank you for your prompt reply. Could you tell us how many students you plan to admit from this year’s wait list; have you completed the first round of calls and will there be a second round of calls?
Thanks.
@W&M Hopeful, we anticipate this year’s number of waitlist offers approximating the number of offers made during the past few admission cycles. As a reference, we were able to make 187 offers from the waitlist last year. Calls will continue to be made on a rolling basis until early-to-mid-June.
Does each dean make all of the calls/emails for his/her region at once? Some people from my school have gotten off the waitlist and I’m wondering if that means my chance is shot…
@Still Hopeful…, no we do not. We make these calls and send these emails on a rolling basis. Just because other students at your school have received admission offers and you have not does not mean that you are no longer in consideration. All applicants who submitted their waitlist response form (included in an email sent on Friday, 5/6) will continue to be considered until our waitlist review process comes to a close. All waitlisted applicants will receive a waitlist update from our office via email by mid-June.
Hi! If a student gets off the waitlist, will he or she still receive the same snail mail that students accepted from ED/RD received?
@Curious, yes, all admitted students will receive the same admission materials in the mail.
Hi,
How often does William and Mary rescind offers? I’m worried because on my MYs, I had a few B’s, and I was waitlisted. However, I requested my guidance counselor send in my 3rd quarter grades which showed straight A’s, and I was accepted off the waitlist. I predict I’ll have straight A’s at the end of my 4th quarter, too, but W&M only sees the final year long grade as shown on the transcript. I’m worried that I’ll be rescinded since it’ll look as if my grades improved during 3rd quarter (straight A’s), but then dropped back to a few B’s again (because W&M will only see my final year long grades). Would this happen?
Thanks!
You should be good! They only begin to look into rescinding offers if you have two C’s, or any D’s or F’s
@Worried, don’t be so worried! It is true that your offer of admission is “contingent on continued high standards of academic performance and personal conduct.” Should we see a drastic and uncharacteristic downturn in academic performance upon reviewing a student’s final transcript, we will contact that student in order to have a follow-up conversation with them. It does not sound like your situation qualifies as a drastic downturn in academic performance. We would simply recommend that you reflect on your recent performance, and actively plan how you will best set yourself up for academic success here at William & Mary.
Thank you for your reply!
To clarify, when you said that you recommend I reflect on my recent performance, is that to myself, or should I e-mail the W&M Undergrad Admissions Office and explain my situation?
@Worried, the above comment was referring to self-reflection. Should our office require anything written from you we will contact you directly.
Has the initial set of calls already been completed?
@Anxious, we have made a first round of calls, and are continuously re-assessing our freshman class. As of right now, it is fair to say that we will likely continue to contact applicants on a rolling basis through early-to-mid June.
If we haven’t received any further information yet regarding admission, does that mean that there is s very low chance of receiving an acceptance?
@Emily, all students who submitted their waitlist response forms are still being considered for admission. Another waitlist update will be sent via email to waitlisted applicants by the middle of this month.
Is there still time to apply for fall 2016 or to get on the waitlist??
I have not applied at all.
@Joanna Benjamin, unfortunately the application process for Fall 2016 has come to a close. If you have graduated high school, and are interested in applying to William & Mary in the future, the best option for you is transfer admission. To learn more about the transfer admission process, you can explore the following website (http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/how-to-apply/transfers/index.php) or contact our Director of Transfer Admission, Dean Whitney Link, directly at whitney@wm.edu.
Hi! I just wanted to say thank you for this very helpful blog. It has definitely helped me follow the admissions process!
This is an unrelated question, but are there TVs in the common area of the dorms?
Thank you!
Thank you! We are so pleased that these blogs have supported and informed you throughout this process. Also, in answer to your question: yes there are, and with cable! There are also free cable hookups in all of the dorm rooms if you or your roommate are interested in bringing a personal TV. Check out the W&M housing website too- they actually have video tours of the dorms to see more.
Hello- If I just received several awards from my school should I notify my regional admissions rep?
@Anxious Member Of The Waitlist, you are always welcome to send updates to your regional dean. If you do not know who your regional dean is, you can review the following webpage (http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/contactus/meetthecommittee/).
What more could we do at this point to try and get off the wait list? I’ve already sent in my final grades for the year, and my 3rd and 4th quarter grades along with updates with what I’ve been up to and a more recent award.
@Stressed, it sounds like you have done a great job of both updating our office and sharing your genuine interest in W&M. We will take all of this information into account as we finalize our waitlist review process. We know that continuing to wait can be difficult – we appreciate your patience. An update will be sent out to all waitlisted applicants by the end of this month.
How many people usually elect to stay on the wait list again at this point?
@Ugh, we don’t know exactly what to predict at this point. Unfortunately, we anticipate making very few additional admission offers this summer. If you are a waitlisted student, and you wish to remain on the waitlist should additional places in the freshman class open up, you should complete the form that was linked to the email sent to all waitlisted applicants this past Friday (6/17) evening. You are also welcome to continue to send updates to our office over the course of the summer.
Hi, I’m currently on your waitlist, but didn’t receive your additional email last Friday. I made sure to both fill out the intial waitlist form and the one on May 6th. Was there an error or am I out of the running?
@Julia, given your situation, we would recommend reaching out to your regional dean (http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/contactus/meetthecommittee/) to ask about the status of your application. If you are indeed still on the waitlist, you should have received this email last Friday, 6/17.
Hello! Would our regional admissions dean notify us if they haven’t received our final transcript? And if so, by when would we know they haven’t received it?
Thanks!
@Go Tribe, our office will contact you via email by mid-to-late July if we have not yet received your final transcript.