Overheard in Committee — Early Decision Edition
Admit It! You thought what happened in early decision committee stayed in early decision committee. But that’s not the case. Back by popular demand (or at least I’d like to think that’s the case), the Overheard in Committee blog series is back with its early decision editions.
Overheard in early decision committee: Let’s remember how great it will be for the Class of 2016 to have these students as members of the Tribe.
This was said before committee commenced earlier this week as we were discussing our task for the following week. All admission deans gathered in our large windowless conference room and hunkered down with hundreds of file folders, plenty of caffeine and the necessary snacks and prepared to discuss the merits of our early decision candidates. Reading season and the committee process can oftentimes seem like a daunting task, but this was said to remind us why the long hours, working weekends and cramped hands (resulting from the vast amounts of notes we take on individual files) is all worth it. We’re building classrooms, residence halls and an entire freshman class which in turn builds the College itself.
While institutions like W&M have many reasons for making use of an early decision process, one of those reasons is to build morale in the incoming class. No doubt come May 1, students will return their enrollment deposit to W&M even though W&M was not their top choice (much though we’d like think it’s everyone’s top choice we know that’s simply not the case). For the 1/3 of the class we bring in through early decision, W&M is their tippity-tip-top choice. They bleed green and gold. Many of them have wanted to attend W&M beyond all else since they saw the campus on a fourth grade field trip. They simply heart this place. And to have those over-the-top, rah-rah, enthusiastic students as part of the Class of 2016 helps build a groundswell of Tribe Pride. It’s likely that some of that over-the-top, rah-rah enthusiasm will spill over to those who are less excited about attending W&M which in turn helps the Class of 2016 transition into the fold of the College community.
So today we will reenter our windowless conference room and poor over more files, drink more caffeine and eat additional unhealthy snacks. Tonight we will go home and read more files and answer our backlogged emails. But we will do it all with the knowledge that our work is so worth it because the students we are admitting are the future of W&M.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Senior 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.
Loved this post, Wendy. Good luck!
I simply adore these blogs! I am so excited for ED e-mails to be sent out:) Thank you for all the hard work you guys are doing!
Thanks Jeni. So maybe there really is popular demand for them! We should have at least one more early decision edition of Overheard in Committee in the coming days.
Thank you so much for all of your posts! They really help calm my nerves while waiting for those early decision emails to go out.
Many thanks for all the compliments. Another installment of overheard in committee to come early next week.
I go over these blogs every single day 😀 Seriously, these are my holy grail! Very much appreciated!
Alexis, we’re happy to provide some insight into our process for prospective students and families. We’re glad you find them helpful.
I don’t know what I would do without these blogs, especially the Admit It! posts. They have become a daily read for me. I can’t wait to read the next Overheard in Committee post!
Wow! It’s great to have an idea of what actually happens in committee! Thank you so much for all of these posts. It’s hard to believe that it won’t be long before early decision emails will be sent out.
Tara and Rachel, we’re glad you enjoy the blog. We hope to post our next Overheard in Committee blog tomorrow. We’re working hard to complete our early decision review process and provide notifications to applicants the first week of December.
This blogs are great! very helpful and informative, but could you pleasseee make more about transfer students! Thank You for giving your time and effort to us the applicants!
Nic, we plan on doing an overheard in committee blog once transfer committee begins. Any other topics you’d like to see covered for transfers?
Thank you! I was just thinking about the transfer process, like what makes applicants more competitive and how much high school transcripts affect the decision?
Nic, we can certainly provide blogs that address these questions.