I thought homework was over after graduation!

It is at this time of year that I completely understand and sympathize with the high school seniors fighting the pressure of senioritis and ignoring the ever growing pile of incomplete homework. I thought my late nights of reading and writing were over. I thought wrong.

Currently, we have over 11,500 applications in our office. Each file has roughly 35 pages of information from an applicant. This equates to roughly 17,000 words in each application. 17,000 words that describe the achievements, background, personality, and aspirations of a young adult seeking admittance to the College.

This picture shows you the average reading a Dean will do every week to reach our goal of reading all of your applications in a five month season. That is around 150 files a week. 150 files= 5250 pages=  8,9250,000 words in a single week.

Over an entire reading season (November to February) we read around 1000 files a piece which equals 35,000 pages or 595,000,000 words. No wonder my hand and eyes are beginning to become tired!

Although this number breakdown helps us create a reading schedule and timeline, they do not drive the purpose behind our admission process. To us, you are not just one of the thousands of files we will read this year. Your personal essay is not just 500 words of the 68,000 I will read this month. We pride ourselves in being able to read each file with an attention to detail and thorough dedication that is truly unique to W&M.  We do this because we believe your story is unique and deserves our 12 sets of eyes reading every one of your 35 pages. The process may be tiring for us, but it is also one of the most rewarding parts of our job as we get to know each applicant on academic, personal and professional levels.

In other words, this number breakdown is just a means to an end, a way for us to make the massive goal seem achievable. Of course, achieve it we will when it is all said and done.  For the next few months as you put off completing your next paper or problem set, be grateful that neither procrastination nor senioritis will affect the Office of Undergraduate Admission’s April 1st deadline.

– Amanda Norris