Random Admission Thoughts, February 2015

It is February, and we are deep into reading Freshman files, and just about to start reviewing transfer applications. As such, here are some thoughts about issues that usually pop up about now.

• Freshmen: At this time, our counselors are reading thousands upon thousands of freshman files in great detail, and it is a long and detailed process. As such, we have limited availability to speak with students or reply quickly to emails. But this also means that freshman decisions will go out within the next 1.5 months or so. We always have a small group of freshmen admitted in late February (you can look at my 2014 February Decision blog post for details, and a new post will be available later this month). As well, we expect final decisions to go out in mid-late March. Please be patient, know that we are reviewing files as fast as we can, but we need time to look at everything. We do not have any specific dates for these decisions yet, but I will post an announcement here when we do.
• Transfer applicants: We will start reviewing transfer files sometime within the next few business days. Transfer decisions go out daily once we start the review process, and we look at summer files first and then move onto fall applicants. I cannot guess when an applicant will hear a decision, as it depends on the number of applicants, when a file is complete, how complex the files is, etc. I am an admissions officer, not a fortune teller who can predict the future. In addition, we do not accept fee waivers for transfer applicants, so please plan accordingly.
• Documents: Transfers, please remember to give us 10 business days from the day a transcript is sent OR you submit your application, whichever is last. It is a mostly manual process to match college transcripts, so it takes a while. Freshmen, if your documents are not in yet, there is a problem. We are caught up on day to day mail, and in the near future, we will cut off the importing of freshman materials. We will be accepting the 1/24 SAT, and we expect to import this score group on Friday, 2/13. Shortly after that, we will shut off test score imports. If your scores/materials show up on the Status page, this means we have put them into your file. If not, then we cannot move forward with your file.
• Timelines: The Timelines page at under the blog header is the best place to understand more about when you will hear a decision. Remember, though, that the Timelines page has projected dates, and so these are not exact due to many factors that impact our reviews.
• HS Junior Parents: This is the time of year when HS juniors visit campuses for the first time, and are looking at planning out their senior schedules. We are thrilled to have visitors to our campus, just make sure to schedule your visit early, as March and April tours and information sessions fill up quickly due to Spring Breaks and lots of interest in UGA. As well, our office is not the best group to suggest what a student should take during their senior year. We suggest your family sits down with your HS counselor to see what the options are, and how your student can challenge themselves yet still be successful in HS. We also get a large number of questions about AP vs DE (dual enrollment) courses, and which is the best option. Since we do not know all the details of the situation or all the options, I suggest you review a past AP vs. DE blog post on this issue and then work with your HS counselor.
• Scholarships: We will be awarding scholarships through about mid-April, but again, this takes a great deal of time to review files and make decisions, so we ask for your patience. We made some scholarship offers in January, but we will continue with these during the next few months, and these will be for both EA and RD accepted applicants. At times, we will also offer an admitted student a higher scholarship to replace an earlier scholarship offer, but that is a rare circumstance. Please remember, though, that our office is limited in scholarship funding and we have a large number of strong/wonderful admitted students. In addition, we are not able to "match" scholarship offers from other colleges, as each institution has their own method and funding for scholarships.

I hope this helps, and Go Dawgs!