Sunday, February 28, 2016

Deadline Time

Deadline day is upon us.  You guys are lucky with the leap year.  You have that extra day to work on the application.  We hope you'll use it wisely.  We hope many of you are putting the finishing touches on your applications this weekend.  How terrible would it be if your internet went out, or your computer crashed, or you became sick and you couldn't apply the evening of March 1.  Don't delay.  Let's leave Super Tuesday to politics and not to applicant meltdowns. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you submit.

-Read the application instructions. There's a whole section specific to transfers about "Accessing the Student Information System" and so many of the questions we get on the phone or over email are answered here (or on the sidebar to the right). 


-A few days after your file is pulled into our system, UVA's Student Information System will send an email with login information to the email account you used on your Common App. On the main screen, you'll see a "to do" list of items that need to be checked into your file. The first time you log in, you might see items that are in our system, but just haven't been matched up to your file yet. Please be patient. It takes a few weeks for our staff to match all those transcripts to newly submitted applications.

-You don't have to "rush" your standardized test scores. As long as you have submitted your request for the ACT, SAT, TOEFL or IELTS, we can work with you. In an ideal world, you'd have submitted those requests earlier in the month, but we'll have plenty of things to work on if the scores aren't here on deadline day.

-This is probably what's most important.  Paying the fee doesn't submit your application. Every year, there are people who submit a payment, but don't submit their actual application.  Please watch out for this. Please be thorough.




Good luck!



Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Your journey as a transfer applicant

We are full of application tips these days.

Oftentimes we come to an application and the student has not take a traditional route --matriculating to college a few months after high school graduation.  We have a number of students who have taken time off, or attended two or more colleges, stopped school to raise a family, to earn money, to serve in the military.  This is time away from school and we would love to have you fill in the blanks for us.

If this is your situation, please make sure you address any interruptions or delays in your college education in your essays.  If you don't, you'll leave us to guess and make assumptions and unfortunately, we tend to believe the situation is worse than it actually is.  So, tell us all you can about your personal journey and that will help us make an informed decision.

Less than a month until the March 1 deadline!