Overheard in Transfer Committee – Spring Transfer Edition

We Admit It!  When one committee ends, another one begins.  As we wrap up Early Decision Committee we move forward with Transfer Committee for those applying for spring enrollment.  The process is fairly similar to the one employed for freshman applicants.  We meet as a staff to review together many of our transfer applicants and make decisions about which ones to admit.  The deliberations are shorter as the number of applicants is fewer, but like in other committees, we discuss all facets of the application in order to arrive at the best decision.  So without further ado, here’s what was overheard in transfer committee today.

Overheard in Transfer Committee: I really like the degree to which she’s gotten involved.

Admittedly, with transfer application review, extracurricular engagement is not as salient a component as it is with freshman review.  Far more of our focus goes to the applicant’s collegiate academic record.  Furthermore, unlike high school where extracurricular involvement is more readily available, that’s not always the case for transfer students.  We certainly recognize that extracurricular involvement will vary greatly depending on the transfer applicant.  For example, some transfer applicants may be supporting themselves and/or a family and may need to work instead of being involved on campus.  Other students may be attending a community college where clubs and organizations are less prevalent.  Still other students may be commuting to campus which limits their ability to be involved in organizations that meet at night or on weekends.  So our review of extracurricular engagement, like any component of our process, is contextual.

That being said, we wouldn’t ask applicants to provide that information if it wasn’t helpful.  When a student is highly engaged in life outside the classroom it helps make their application pop or standout.  At W&M, students are deeply committed to clubs and organizations; it’s part of what makes our campus so dynamic.  Seeing that engagement in transfer students (especially given they’re looking to transfer and not necessarily stay at their current institution) really speaks to us.  It leads us to believe that they are able to become an integral and involved member of any community.  That’s an attractive quality in someone we’re considering.

In this particular applicant’s case, her level of involvement on her current campus was a tip factor to us in deciding to admit her.  We could envision her continuing that involvement and contributing to W&M through it.

And with that we will continue on with Transfer Committee.  Just as with ED, we cannot predict a launch date for decisions at this point, but applicants can keep an eye out for our Decisions, Decisions blog.  That will signal that decisions are on their way.

Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission

Categories: Admission, Faculty & Staff Blogs Tags: , ,
34 Comments
  1. Curious
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  2. Also Curious
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  3. Hopeful
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  4. Jack Tobin
  5. Eric
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  6. JB
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      • lucky
  7. DBD
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  8. RZ
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  9. Worried!
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  10. Concerned Parent
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  11. Information
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  13. Megan
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  14. Nicholas
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  15. Applicant
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  16. Thanks!
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  17. Anxious
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      • Anxious
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