Happy Holidays!

Each December, the William & Mary community gathers for the traditional Yule Log ceremony to celebrate the holiday season. One of the many components of Yule Log is the annual reading of “Twas the Night Before Finals” to our current students. Not wanting to leave out our prospective applicants and their families, we created our own version of the poem to share. Enjoy!

‘Twas days before the deadline, when all through the house,
Not a sound could be heard, save the click of a mouse.
App after app and form after form, for high school seniors this is truly the norm.

As you slept all snug in your bed, ’twas visions of acceptances that danced in your head.
It was family and friends who all the distractions hid,
As they nagged about deadlines, ad nauseam they did.

On transcripts, on standardized tests, on recs, on resumes,
And for goodness sake what to write for those essays?
To the teachers, to the counseling office, to collect all your stuff,
Man this college application process sure can be tough!

But this process is not for naught, the value is real,
The four years you spend in college will be almost surreal.
The books you will read, and the classes you will take,
Will be amazing, not to mention the friends you will make.

Admission officers are overjoyed and excited, tripping over bricks,
To read applications, and build the Class of 2026.
So keep up the momentum all you seniors out there,
And we’ll read all your apps, we will, we swear.

You kept typing, kept editing, kept writing away,
Hoping all of your hard work will dividends pay.
If you still have applications to complete, keep your desk lamp lit,
For, as you know, there’s nothing quite like finally clicking submit.

Happy holidays from the Office of Undergraduate Admission!