Yippee! It’s Time for Committee!

Admit It! The time between submitting your application and receiving an admission decision is nerve-racking. You’ve spent years accomplishing tremendous things both in and outside the classroom, and days putting together your actual application, only to wait weeks before hearing back from us. It’s only natural to feel at least a little anxious right now. But rest assured. We are giving every application that we’ve received (including yours) full and thorough consideration for admission. Here’s what we mean…

As of today, each application has been read at least twice, from cover to cover, by two different members of our admission committee (one of these reads has been done by your regional dean). While reading, we have been taking each and every part of your application (transcript, standardized testing, extracurricular involvement, essay(s), letters of recommendation and any submitted optional components) into account, and assessing their strength in relation to our overall applicant pool.

Throughout this reading process, there is no “magic formula” that we are looking for.

_____ GPA + ____ test score + ______ involvements ≠ Admit (or Deny or Defer)

Such a linear approach couldn’t possibly create our student body full of innovators, athletes, club presidents, historians, scientists, writers, activists and countless other fantastic individuals. The only way to accomplish this is to look deeper, to understand your interests, passions, talents, and background, and to get a sense for how you might contribute to our campus. We pride ourselves on this thoughtful, thorough, genuine and human approach to application review.

After being read twice, many applications do not yet have a final decision. These applications are reviewed again during our Early Decision Committee (picture this, not this), when all of our admission deans gather to discuss the merits of each remaining applicant. In these meetings (which will start taking place later this week!), applications are discussed one at a time, allowing each of our deans to provide their own unique insight and perspective about each student. Decisions made as a result of this process are neither right nor wrong, but are carefully made, and are the best decisions we can make based on both this year’s applicant pool and what we know about William & Mary.

It has been our pleasure to read your impressive applications, and it will be a privilege to review them again during our Early Decision Committee. It’s always a thrill to build the Class of 2020 one student at a time (and to enjoy snacks throughout the day in order to keep our energy up…). Be on the lookout for Committee and Decisions blogs in the coming weeks, both of which will keep you updated on how things are going here in Williamsburg.

Brad Harlan
Assistant Dean of Admission

Categories: Admission, Faculty & Staff Blogs Tags: , , ,
19 Comments
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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.