Admission and FA at Swat: the process?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
1

<p>I was curious how the process of admissions and FA work at a need blind place like Swat. Swat gets a lot of apps. Grinding out a net price is probably a bit of work, so I assume that the FA folks would not get an app unless the admissions folks admitted the app, right? </p>

<p>Or do admissions and Fa work in parallel?</p>

<p>Similarly, I assume that if an app were rejected, it would not even go to the FA folks for a net price, right?</p>

<p>One reason I ask is because my repeated (maybe 2 or 3?) emails to FA have gone unanswered, something that I have not seen before from Swat. When Swat was actively selling its product and we were prospectives, they always were prompt with any question. Of course, <em>I</em> think that right now we are still in the status as prospectives in that it is between the app and the decision. <em>BUT</em> to them , I wonder if we are in the deny pile already. Why entertain detail FA questions of someone that is not even in the work pile, I am wondering?</p>

<p>as they say, 'it is quiet, too quiet'.</p>

<p>or maybe they are, 'busy, too busy', right now?</p>

<p>I threw out similar questions to other need blind colleges (re tax stuff), and they got back to me - but not Swat.</p>

<p>If my fear were true, that there is a deny pile already (and we are in it), then why wouldn't Swat respond back to applicants w/ this news now? Why wait til 4/1 or whenever the official date that they tell people the answers? It would take a college out of consideration saving the applicant's familiy all the work, time, and hassle , and which time could be spent on ones actually in the running.</p>

2

<p>Swarthmore could be an exception, but FA and Admissions at need-blind colleges work, as you briefly surmise, in parallel, and not, as you fear, in collaboration. Don’t try to read the tea leaves, just jump through the (sometimes flaming) hoops they want you to jump through. When you’re sitting, rolling over and playing dead for them, take heart: their silence beats having them point their fingers and laugh.</p>

3

<p>If you have a question for the FA office that requires a prompt answer, I suggest you give them a call. Otherwise, just let them get on with things. I am sure they are very busy, and Swarthmore did have a large increase in apps. It is hard to wait, but all will be revealed in less than a month. Good luck.</p>

4

<p>parallel? But what about the so called ‘garbage apps’ that get sent to dreamy reachy schools such as the Ivys and Swat etc by the loads (one reason there are such low acceptance rates at such institutions-higher denominators) ? So colleges FA offices grind thru them, too? </p>

<p>i did phone and left a msg, too. When is the date that SWat promises an answer? and, in what form would they send this answer, usps , or email?</p>

5

<p>Not all applicants apply for aid, so the pool is smaller than the one admissions is dealing with. And, unlike the holistic review process for applications, the financial aid review is almost strictly by the numbers. For most, I assume it is very straightforward. If someone has a team of tax attorneys putting together filings for trust and estate returns and researching the tax treatment for an oil and gas exploration company…the materials may be complicated but the decision for the financial aid people is probably very simple and doesn’t require big numbers (in terms of aid). </p>

<p>I’m not seeing the efficiency in the process you suggest in which a financial aid staff member matches up your e-mail with a file to determine whether it’s an existing or prospective student and, if it’s a prospective student, there’s a further determination as to whether the admissions committee has signaled an outcome, all for the purpose of deciding whether to answer your query or leave you hanging. I would tell the staff to either answer every query or ignore all but the most urgent ones. Selectively screening queries to the financial aid office seems like it’s more hassle than it would be worth in terms of a corresponding benefit.</p>

<p>Still, even supposing that there’s a lot of discussion back-and-forth and we establish with moral certainty that the financial aid office learns of admission decisions within 10 minutes of the decisions – how is that useful?</p>

<p>Will you dare to interpret silence as indifference? Think of the downside to you if you bet incorrectly that their non-responsiveness is tied to a rejection decision: missed deadlines, no aid or a decision that comes back after the reply date on the admission. The upside if you bet correctly is you save yourself a few minutes of time dealing with the process for that one particular college. You don’t want to make that bad play, do you? That’s why I think it’s wisest to ignore the secret messages you think you’re getting and just do whatever they told you to do. In triplicate.</p>

6

<p>Peripherally, I know for a fact that Swarthmore’s FA office doesn’t compile data on the percentage of total applicants who receive FA (that is, excluding those who apply for it but are determined to have no need). Does this imply that not every FA application gets a full read? I don’t know.</p>

<p>Either way, I wouldn’t read too much into the radio silence. Swat doesn’t promise an “answer” except for the letter that comes with admission, and they are overwhelmed right now. Keep calling but don’t bother to leave more messages–just keep calling until someone actually picks up. (Really, I don’t see the point of ever leaving a voicemail message. If you want to send a message, get the written record of email. Otherwise, the only reason to call is to TALK to someone. Especially during busy times, I doubt that FA is going to promptly call back people who leave messages.)</p>

7

<p>What is the date that admissions/FA will give an admissions answer and in what form will this occur, email to the student, usps to the student?</p>

8

<p>I think it’s around the last week of March, by snail mail. Email notification is only for internationals.</p>