February Wrap-Up

Posted by Kylie on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 in Admissions Committee, General Information.

We’ve finally dug out from the snow this winter and the first signs of spring are in the air here in Nashville! Believe it or not, there’s only about one month standing between us and mailing day.  I know if you’re a Regular Decision applicant waiting for that April 1^st admissions decision, you feel as if we have a long way to go.  We don’t, though!  OUA kicked into high gear this week (as if we weren’t already) and it resembles a mad house some days.  The best way to describe the current state of the office is organized chaos.  Here’s what’s happening:

Early Decision

We’ve completed both of our Early Decision rounds and we are finishing up official appeals.  Check out my previous blog for Early Decision 2011 information and statistics.  We must receive all matriculation deposits by March 1^st.  Please contact your admissions counselor if you are not able to get the deposit to us by that date.  If you have financial aid questions or concerns, contact the Office of Student Financial Aid and Undergraduate Scholarships.

Merit-Based Scholarships

Merit scholarship committees are in the final stages of the selection process.  We hosted our Ingram Scholarship finalists last weekend and will be announcing those scholarship recipients in the coming week.  Each of the four undergraduate colleges are in the process of selecting their Cornelius Vanderbilt recipients.  Just last week I sat in on a scholarship discussion with Peabody College of Education and Human Development faculty and it’s fascinating to see how much they invest in learning about applicants in order to pick great and worthy students!

If you’re wondering about National Merit scholarships, here’s the information from our scholarship site:

“Vanderbilt provides scholarship assistance for students named National Merit or Achievement Finalists. Students must designate Vanderbilt as their first choice school with the National Merit Corporation by the final deadline to receive Vanderbilt’s National Merit or Achievement Scholarship. For those finalists who also receive one of Vanderbilt’s merit scholarships, we guarantee an additional $2,000 in National Merit or Achievement total scholarship dollars per year from all sources (with Vanderbilt supplementing any smaller corporate or one-time National Merit Corporation awards). Those finalists who do not receive an additional merit scholarship from Vanderbilt will receive a total of $5,000 per year in National Merit or Achievement scholarship from all sources (with Vanderbilt supplementing any smaller corporate or one-time National Merit Corporation awards).”

Need-Based Financial Aid

If you intend to seek need-based aid, you need to fill out both the FAFSA and CSS Profile.  The due date for these forms was February 5^th.  If you missed the deadline we can still work with you, but you need to start acting fast!  Contact the Office of Student Financial Aid and Undergraduate Scholarships with specific questions.

Regular Decision Files

We are so close to the end!  As I type this the OUA leadership team is meeting to review “the numbers”.  This means they are sitting down to formulate a plan for our committee process this March.  Committee begins March 5^th and will continue for about 10-14 days depending on our progress.  Check back for updates on what that means, how committee operates, and how the application pool is looking.

Although each officer has a few files yet to read, we are very near the end of our initial reading period.  In the next week or so there will emerge three primary groups in our application pool: clear admits, clear denies, and the muddy middle.  Thom discussed the muddy middle last year; these are files we will take to committee, all of which have a reasonable chance of admission, but need discussion.

The last week of March will include mailing day!  We scrutinize every decision letter for error and, once confirmed correct, send it on its way via USPS.  Let me clear up a rumor out there: we send all of our letters out on the same day.  No letters go out earlier or later than the others.  The only students who receive earlier notification are those in special groups described in previous posts (Early Decision, MOSAIC, and scholarship recipients for example).  Another mail day note: we will send out admit packets to those admitted (so yes, the “big envelope”).  These admit packets will also go to those students admitted in our earlier rounds and include all the fun information about what to do now.

I’ll get into more depth about Regular Decision committee and mailing day as we move through March.  Check back each week for updates!

Joy Beth Bodie celebrating Mailing Day 2010

Tags: admissions blog, Admissions Deadlines, Application Process, Balance, Commons, decision process, Early Decision, Early Decision at Vanderbilt, Freshman Commons, Nashville, Vanderbilt Admissions, Vanderbilt Admissions Blog, Vanderbilt Admissions Blogs, Vanderbilt Admissions Committee, Vanderbilt Admissions Website, Vanderbilt Early Decision, Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Admissions