A New Year, A New Fantastic Freshman Class: Working to Build the Class of 2020
We Admit It! All of us here in the Admission Office had wonderful, relaxing and rejuvenating winter breaks. After spending the holiday season re-connecting with family and friends, enjoying delicious food and watching Star Wars as many times as possible in theaters, we all returned to Williamsburg with one goal in mind: to continue building the talented and distinguished Class of 2020.
This time of year is especially busy for us (much like the last few months were for you as you finished and submitted your college applications). Each day our entire staff works tremendously hard to download applications, open, sort and index mail, respond to and file emails, as well as actually create application files for our deans to read. This process is repeated each and every day as we carefully process the materials that you, our impressive applicants, send to our office. Remember that each application is then read at least twice by members of our admission committee.
While this process can admittedly be a bit overwhelming at times, it’s a good overwhelming, if that makes sense. Let us explain. Every admission cycle that we participate in is our opportunity to create the next chapter in William & Mary’s distinguished history. Each part of our process – the emails we respond to, the mailings we open and sort and the applications we read and discuss – do not exist in isolation. They are crucial components in our overarching mission to create a diverse, vibrant and dynamic freshman class—a class that will challenge, support and inspire one another and the world at large. Keeping in mind that this process is bigger than those of us working in Admission, these overwhelming times of the year then not only become manageable, but exciting, and they drive us to continue marching towards August 2016 when we’ll welcome the Class of 2020 to campus.
As a result of our team’s hard work, we have now successfully downloaded every freshman Common Application into our system. This means that if you applied for freshman admission, you and your parents should have received an email from us stating that we have received your application (titled “Your Application to William & Mary” or “Your Student’s Application to William & Mary”). If you applied to W&M and have not received such an email:
- First: Check your spam/junk folders to see if the mail accidentally landed there.
- Second: Check with your parents to see if they received an email (if you included their email address in your Common App).
- Third: PLEASE DON’T PANIC. If you have not received such an email, contact us as soon as possible so we can investigate what happened and work with you towards a resolution. Don’t stress. These things happen, and we’re happy to work with you to get your situation figured out.
Also, please note that this DOES NOT mean that all applications are complete. We are still working to match many applications with their transcripts, test scores and application fees. You and your parents will receive a second email when we’ve completed your file (titled “Your William & Mary Application is Now Complete” or “Your Student’s Application to William & Mary is Now Complete”). If we are unable to complete your file, and/or parts of your application are missing, we will email you (the student) to alert you as to what is missing and how you can best submit the missing materials.
There is still much work to be done, but we are well on our way to bringing the Class of 2020 to fruition. We promise that your application is in good hands. Going forward, be on the lookout for additional blog posts as we keep you updated leading up to, and following, decisions release in early April.
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.
First off, I would just like to thank you so much for writing this blog! It has definitely helped in calming my nerves, especially during these stressful weeks. That being said, I was wondering how strongly you guys take the non-academic information (essay, ec’s, reccomm., etc.) into consideration when a student’s academic performance is not exactly as impressive as the reputation of the school’s. Is there a specific range you guys look for in regards to GPA and test scores, or will a winning essay and strong ec’s be just as good? I look forward to hearing your response!
@Hopeful2020 you ask a terrific question. While we are not able to provide you with an average GPA for admitted students, roughly 80% of admitted students last admission cycle were in the top 10% of their graduating classes. Additionally, the middle 50% score range for the SAT for admitted students last year was roughly 1260-1460 (math + critical reading only), and for the ACT it was roughly 28-32. Are these two categories (academic performance and standardized testing) important in our decision making process? Yes. Are they the only factors that we take into consideration? Not at all. We also look very closely at the extracurricular activities you are involved with, the letters of recommendation that your mentors submit on your behalf, as well as the essay(s) that you yourself write as part of your application. We use ALL of the above components in our holistic review process in order to get a sense of your strengths both inside and outside the classroom. We hope this helps, and that you’re having a terrific weekend. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.
Thank you so much for the helpful info you share on this blog. I have two questions. First, will you be sending likely cards this year? And second, from the question above, how do the stats differ between VA students and out of staters? Thank you!
@Notfromva we will indeed be sending likely postcards this year. They start going out this week! Check out our latest blog post for more details. Admission statistics for in-state and out-of-state students from last admission cycle can be found here: http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/facts-figures/admission-stats/index.php. The standardized test ranges referenced above are bumped slightly up for out-of-state students. The middle 50% SAT range is roughly 1300-1460 (math + CR) and the middle 50% ACT range is roughly 29-33.
Thanks for your response!
Hey! I’m not sure if this is the best place to ask, but I saw on your website that you like to see that students take four years of a language, physics, and calculus. I will take four years of a language but not calculus and I’m on the edge for physics. Math is definitely not my strong suit so how much would it affect my chances if I don’t take it? Thanks so much!
@Kait that list of courses are classes that we like to see applicants take, but are in no way requirements to be accepted to William & Mary. In general, we simply ask that students take full advantage of the educational resources available to them at their school. You can still absolutely put together a challenging course schedule without taking calculus. And if you perform to the best of your ability in this class schedule, you could have the beginnings of a competitive application in our applicant pool.