Advance Info for VU Mailing Day
Today’s blog is my attempt to answer your questions before you even ask! This past year, if I’ve learned nothing else, I’ve learned our readers care about the details. So if you fall in that detail-oriented group, this post is for you. I’ll walk you through what our notification letters look like, when they mail, and some basic information for if you end up on the waitlist. Plus, I’ve injected some fun photos and a video for your Wednesday entertainment.
The Notification Letters
Repeatedly throughout our Early Decision rounds I received questions about what the letters look out, which service we mail with and in what order the letters go out. I would like to take a moment before I answer these questions to remind you to not sweat the small stuff. However, since there is clearly a strong interest in these topics, I shall proceed with the answers…
The “big envelope” goes out to all admitted students this round and also goes out to students admitted in our Early Decision rounds. In the admit packet you will find: your admit letter (unless you went ED earlier this year), the Open ‘Dores information book, The Investment of a Lifetime financial aid brochure, and your financial aid package (if you applied for need-based aid). Additionally, each college will include visit opportunity information for Regular Decision students who have not yet decided Vanderbilt is their first choice.
Students offered a spot on our waitlist will receive a “small envelope”. If you are interested in remaining on our waitlist, though, you must submit a waitlist response form online. Find more information on the waistlist below. Those not offered a place in the class or on the waitlist will also receive a standard size envelope.
We mail all of our notification letters on the exact same day at the exact same time via USPS. There were conspiracy theories in our earlier rounds about how perhaps we send admits first or we trickle letters out by school or by geography… nope, everything goes at the same moment.
Mailing Day Information
As I mentioned in my previous blog, we plan to mail on March 23rd in the afternoon. Most areas of the country will receive information by Saturday of that week, but we know it takes longer in some regions. International students will receive an email notifying you of your status on Friday, March 25th.
If you do not receive you letter you may call to receive your decision via phone on March 30th. We will not release any information prior to that date. We will never release decisions via email. No exceptions.
Mailing day is a fun day for OUA as we celebrate an entire year’s worth of work! I’ll post pictures from the craziness on the blog.
In case you can’t wait… here are a few of the best from Mailing Day 2010:
And a great VUcast from last year’s event:
The Waitlist
Rumors abound regarding our waitlist! I am here to give you the 411 on the situation at Vanderbilt.
First, we fully intend to use our waitlist. On average approximately 10 percent of our incoming class comes from the waitlist. There are only 1,600 beds in the Commons and we under-admit on mailing day in order to use the waitlist slowly to fill all of the beds, but not overfill the space.
Our waitlist initially seems large; we will offer spaces to several thousand students. However, do not feel intimidated by that wave of waitlist offers; last year only 35 percent (approximately) chose to wait it out with us. That makes our actual waitlist much smaller.
There is no ranking system to our waitlist. In fact, there’s not a single waitlist. Since we admit to four different colleges, there are waitlists for each college. Moreover, many of our colleges admit to specific programs, such as Human & Organizational Development in Peabody. Thus, no ranking system. We wait to see who says yes to us on May 1st and then we evaluate our open spaces and pull from the waitlist with that in mind.
If you want to see how many students have stuck with us on the waitlist in the past, and how many students we admitted from the waitlist, check out our Common Data Set. There’s actually tons of admissions-related data available through the CDS.
Stay Tuned
I know you’re anxious to receive an answer, and let me assure you, we’re anxious to give you one! I’ll update throughout the week to keep you posted…
Open ‘Dores, part of the admitted student packet
The OUA File Room, 3/15/2011
March 16th, 2011
Do international students receive their financial aid package in the email as well? Assuming they apply for need-based aid.
March 16th, 2011
Andy: Yes.
March 16th, 2011
Can’t wait until the decisions are mailed! Hoping for the best! Go Commodores!!
March 16th, 2011
Will you post about transfer admissions? How does that process work and when will we know? Thanks so much!
March 17th, 2011
John: I’ll start to talk more about transfer admissions in late April and May. The first transfer notifications won’t go out until around May and they are rolling throughout the summer. Check out my blog from this past January on transfer admissions.
March 16th, 2011
If I had any nails left to bite, I’d be biting them right now!
March 17th, 2011
I just wanted to post and thank Vanderbilt University for their openness and helpfulness during this college admissions process. As a current senior waiting to hear back (A little over a week now!!) it is so relieving to reading this blog and calm my pounding heart. Thank you Vanderbilt for this blog and helping me not have a heart attack every time I start freaking out about college.
March 17th, 2011
Ahh…
so Priority Mail is what you want!
March 17th, 2011
for the students that did get admitted and recieved Additional merit scholarships will they be notified in the admission letter.
March 17th, 2011
Amarachi: Yes.
March 17th, 2011
OMG I CAN SEE MINE FROM HERE!!! jk lol *knocks on wood*
March 17th, 2011
I truly appreciate this blog! It’s incredible to see that Vandy is transparent about their admissions process, while there are some schools that won’t even publicly publish their CDS. It makes the whole system less nerve-wracking and allows us to know what we can expect. Thanks!
March 18th, 2011
Dear Kylie,
One of my fellow international applicant has just received her decision. Is this a case of no news is bad news? :(
March 18th, 2011
Andy: No news is neutral. The only RD decisions out right now are those invited to MOSAIC or those who received a scholarship from us. All other decisions will mail out on March 23 or email to international students on March 25.
March 18th, 2011
Dear Kylie,
The friend I was talking about did not apply for a merit scholarship, nor was invited to MOSAIC. She said that her email actually said congratulations her on her financial aid decision (she applied for need-based aid), so I’m pretty confused here..
March 18th, 2011
Andy: I can’t speak to specifics I’m not familiar with, but don’t worry about an individual case. Just know that our official decisions will go out next week.
March 18th, 2011
Kylie – If one is offered a scholarship for being a National Merit Scholar, is that news already sent out?
March 18th, 2011
DandyDon: I’m not sure if you’re asking how Vanderbilt treats National Merit Scholarships, or if you’re asking about when the National Merit Foundation will announce awards. Here’s the language from Vanderbilt Scholarships –
“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).”
March 18th, 2011
Sorry for the ambiguity. What I am wondering is if one has been previously identified by Vandy as a semifinalist and received a letter from Vandy that one would be eligible for additional scholarship money (if accepted), has that admissions notification been already sent out?
March 18th, 2011
DandyDon: No, we do not give National Merit scholars advance notice of their admissions decision.
March 19th, 2011
My daughter did just receive notification from Blair of her admission! :) She is thrilled, and so are her parents.
March 20th, 2011
Are the announcements for merit scholarships besides the signature programs before the admissions decisions are mailed out? Specifically the curb leadership scholarship.
March 20th, 2011
Mike: The latest you would find out about a merit scholarship is with your admit packet next week.
March 20th, 2011
A fellow student found out she was accepted into Blair. How can that be? I thought decisions were not going to be mailed until March 23!!!!!
March 20th, 2011
Jenna: As I’ve mentioned many times on the blog, the Blair School of Music may notify students on a different schedule because the admissions process at Blair is drastically different (due to the audition requirements). However, there are still some Blair students who will not learn of their decision until next week with the other 3 schools (it varies by major in Blair).
March 21st, 2011
This blog keeps getting me more and more excited for that envelope! My family and I are constantly checking the mailbox. Hoping for good news, best of luck to all whom are reading! March 23rd can’t come any sooner. Hopefully, I will be able to sleep then!
March 21st, 2011
Is this information the same for the graduate school? (Mainly considering mailing day of 3/23)
March 21st, 2011
Jessica: No, this information is not applicable to graduate schools. Each graduate school admits on a different schedule.
March 21st, 2011
I am so excited/stressed! So basically, a rejection and a waitlist letter both come in a small envelope but I have to open it just in case it is a waitlist. ARRRGHHHHH!
March 22nd, 2011
Randomly saw this, but Good Luck to everyone!
March 22nd, 2011
Tomorrow! May good weather send the mail speedily along….