Overheard in Committee: Let’s see those mids!
Overheard in Committee: “Let’s see those mids!”
We admit it! Senior year is an exciting time. With prom right around the corner, spending time with treasured friends, and of course college applications, it can be easy to let grades slide by the wayside. While midterm grades oftentimes come in after your application has been submitted, they are an important part of the application process.
Having been through multiple committee sessions, I can’t tell you how important those senior grades are. Countless times while reviewing an application, someone in committee will exclaim, “Let’s see those midterm grades!”
Really strong performances senior year have propelled some students that were just teetering on the edge to near the top of their class. And unfortunately sometimes less than stellar midterm grades have raised some eyebrows for some otherwise outstanding applicants. In other words, they can really make a difference.
The best thing to do if you find yourself in the latter category is to reach out ahead of time to let us know of any extenuating circumstances that led to those grades. We’d rather hear it straight from you, rather than have to see it for the first time reflected in your transcript. Just like the end of a marathon, it is important to finish off strong.
As we continue to review all the wonderful applications, feel free to send us your questions or things you would like to be featured in a future blog.
Our goal is to take something like the admissions process, which can seem mysterious and sometimes daunting, and show you what is like at the other end. (Hint: it’s us)
Best of wishes everyone, and as my favorite blue-finned fish (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) once said “Just keep swimming.”
Assistant Dean of Admission
Jack Zhang
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.
Hello!
Can you give a ballpark timeframe for emails to be sent out? We are anxiously waiting to hear. We are nervous that we will not make deadlines for paperwork. Thanks so much for you time…
Lisa Manolakis
Hi Lisa! We have traditionally released decisions near the end of March. We are wrapping up committee and looking forward to releasing decisions soon!
Thank you so much for your reply! Crossing fingers for Academic admissions and for your Men’s gymnastics team as well!
Too short to get in
I found this on the admissions page – it states the evening of March 23rd? https://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/announcements/regular-decision-release.php
Hi Jen! It looks like that announcement was from a previous year. We expect to release decisions around a similar time this year.
Thanks for the reply!
Maybe you have done so elsewhere, but I would think that this would be a great time for the W and M admissions team to post some in-depth thoughts in reaction to the recent college admissions scandal. If you can, it would be worthwhile for you to discuss how athletics, legacy, a history of donations and family connections impact your decisions, for surely they must. We are well past the point of just saying that admission decisions are “holistic” – clearly these factors I just listed matter a lot. And I would also love to hear you talk about the “numbers” issue. Yes it is true that you get many more great applicants than you can admit – but that is by design. W and M makes a huge effort to always increase the number of applicants you get because it furthers your prestige. This tends to feed the pressure and anxiety of many, leading a few to take extreme measures. This blog is probably the best by any college in reaching out to parents and I would love to see you build upon that tradition to address these most serious issues at what is now a crisis moment. There is now well-founded skepticism about the entire process.
Can “good things” please please please happen today?
They’re up!
The suspense is killing us!
Let’s just say the suspense will end soon!