<p>So far, my son only has checked the online sites to see that his applications were complete, but do these sites also tell you the admissions decision when it's made and, if so, might they be an earlier way of learning the decision than mail?? Can anyone tell I'm anxious? My son, meanwhile is peacefully sleeping on this second snow day in a row.</p>
<p>Some do, some don't. WUSTL posts admissions decisions online, usually a few days before letters are received. UChicago posted EA decisions online (first time this year), but have said that RD will only be posted by mail. Actually, in past years we've found out that the decisions are online by the kids discussing it in the CC forums! We've also found that rolling schools post online as they decide. It's usually the same "check your status" page where you check your credentials. They add a link to "Check your decision". Having had kids get the information both ways I can't say which they prefer.</p>
<p>None of the schools my D applied to post the decision online; only the status of the requirements. A few also post the status of FA requirements. Some of the schools you can't check either the admissions or FA requirements at all; they tell you to call (I'd hate to be the person at the other end of the line, though!)</p>
<p>There are a number of schools that now post their decision on line. I remember the year my D applied to tufts their decision was on line it it was insane trying to log on to find out the decision (talking abot the servers being all clogged up).</p>
<p>For my older son two years ago, the UCs and Olin were the only schools that offered online notification, and those were on a specific date not on any "rolling" basis (in other words, all applicants found out the same day, not as they were decided upon). This year my younger son has no schools that offer online notification (and only some let you track your application pieces online), but I know that MIT now offers the option to learn your decision online on a specific date.</p>
<p>several Ivies also post results online.</p>
<p>Pretty much all the Florida Schools post online. My daughter stayed up until after midnight to check them as the decision dates came and went. Usually the decision is a cut out paragraph or sentence of what comes in the letter later on, but can be less personal than the letter.</p>
<p>I recieved my first decision (Yale EA deferral) online, and I like the online way a lot. After all, the second that they post it, you can log in and find out! In my case, after logging in it took me to a screen that was, in fact, the whole deferral letter that I later recieved in the mail. Yale also had a couple of other screens that you could look at--one was the numbers of kids who applied early from each state and country, and the other was the acceptance/deferral/rejection rate and info about what to do next (tailored to your decision--mine was "What to do now that you have been deferred"). I know kids who were waiting around for their early admissions decisions to come in the mail, and I did not envy them. </p>
<p>Also, as an aside, I know a lot of kids who applied EA to UChicago, and they got their decision only in the mail, so I am a little confused about what runnersmom said about that.</p>
<p>Some schools send an email to the address you listed on the application. You have to make sure your kid cleans out their box to leave room so the decision doesn't spill over into cyberspace :)</p>
<p>Last year, Vassar, Oberlin, and Wesleyan only snail mailed their decisions - nothing online. Wesleyan was the very last decision received in this house - a day or two after the Ivies all posted online the same evening. It was certainly in April.</p>
<p>For kids applying to several Ivies, that evening can be brutal or exhiliarating, or a combination of both. There were a lot of very devastated kids in school the next day. Rejection after rejection within a few hours can be tough to swallow.</p>
<p>Chicago e-mailed their EA decisions this year, but there was a delay in delivering some of the decisions and some seemed to never make it at all. Lost in cyberspace i guess.</p>
<p>I found out on CC that UMD decisions were posted online today....D was at boyfriend's house...I IM'ed him to tell them to check! She's accepted! (he IM'ed me back that she was "freaking out") I've heard that Williams only snail-mails their letters, but I think most others post online, at about the same time that the letters are dropped in the mail.</p>
<p>As said before, some send only snail mail and some post online. One of my schools actually deactivated the online application status once a decision was made and then you had to wait for the letter - very frustrating.</p>