It’s Not Easy Being Green – Admission Committee Season

I’ll let Kermit the Frog demonstrate what our admission team has been up to over the past few months.

In other words, we’ve been reading. A lot.

Prior to this year, our team read applications using a combination of electronic and paper records. This year, for the first time ever, our office is reading applications entirely online. This means that while our hands now hurt a bit less from not having to write as much, these same hands are just as busy typing away on our computers as we learn more about our many impressive applicants.

Though the medium in which we review applications has changed, the process by which we review them is exactly the same. We still take great care in reviewing your story, and still use a thorough and holistic review process in order to get a full and complete picture of all the talents that you bring to the table. We are honored that so many students elect to apply to William & Mary each year, and want to give each individual applicant every consideration possible for admission to our university.

As I’m posting this, all of our applications have been read by at least two members of our admission committee. Your application is first read by a dean other than your regional dean. This individual is taking diligent notes on everything from your transcript, to your extracurricular involvements, to your essays, to the letters of recommendation submitted on your behalf, as well as all other pertinent information included in your file. Your regional dean then completes a second read of your application, which entails completing another thorough review of your application, and combining their own impressions of your application with the first reader’s notes to make an informed admission decision.

The next step in our review process is where we find ourselves for the next couple of weeks: committee. Committee is when our entire dean staff gets together to formally discuss each applicant and to build our Class of 2021 one individual at a time. Each committee focuses on a specific part of the country with your regional dean presenting your application, so that we can be sure to discuss your application in a regional and school-specific context. During these meetings, we’ll re-examine the various parts of your application, be moved by your essays and accomplishments, and be impressed by the ways your mentors describe you. Committee lasts all day each day for the majority of March, but to be honest, these days fly by. Our conversations are that passionate, and despite the long hours, committee is one of most rewarding aspects of being a college admission counselor.

So, as Kermit would say, it’s not easy being green, and at this time of the year it’s not easy being a member of the William & Mary admission committee. But we wouldn’t have it any other way. We embrace the grind, and genuinely love what we do. It’s a privilege to get to build the next exciting chapter in William & Mary’s history.

As is tradition, over the next 2 weeks we will be posting Overheard in Committee blog posts in order to give you updates on our conversations here in Williamsburg. Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes looks into our committee process. Go Tribe.

Brad Harlan
Assistant Dean of Admission

Categories: Admission, Faculty & Staff Blogs Tags: ,
8 Comments
  1. Tribe Hopeful
    • Admit It!
  2. Kim Tobin
    • Admit It!
  3. Barbara Furson
    • Admit It!
  4. Robert's mom
    • Admit It!

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