Is it really important to check the portals? My D seems reluctant to do it and says that she will hear back via e-mail or mail. Plus she has received many assurances from her GC that all has been done. She has received an acceptance with no issues so maybe she is right? I have also received the FAFSA and CSS confirmations. What does CC say?
She should check the portal on a regular basis.
Why?
You never know what might come up there… ex. information about merit aid, admissions decision. I’m not saying to check it obsessively, but once in a while seems prudent.
Would a school post info only on the portal?
My daughter got a number of notifications only through the portals for some schools, including invites for supplemental scholarships. They also posted when decisions would be released. My daughter checked at least once/week.
Interesting, seems crazy they would not notify you any other way. The websites show when the decisions are supposed to be released but I suppose sometimes they are expedited/delayed. My D is not applying to super selective schools but ones that have admit rates from 40-80% mostly. Does that matter?
Some colleges that use level of applicant’s interest in admission (see section C7 of the common data set) will look whether the applicant has checked the portal. They may also look if the applicant read emails (show images when reading email known to be from the college).
My son checked his portal and he had an admittance letter posted!! The physical letter didn’t arrive in the mail until 2 weeks later. I’m happy we checked and we continue to do so on a regular basis.
Speaking from experience, and we are going through this now, immediately after my D19 submitted a college app, she received an email sending her a link, and instructing her to activate her portal. They also instructed applicants to check back into the portal for any further instruction. Finally, and importantly, this is how admissions decisions will be initially relayed.
I will use two colleges for example. Both within the past month. College A sent D19 a text with a cool “You’re In!” Text with super cool graphics. (Yes, they also had a portal, and she immediately checked and sure enough, it was in there.) She received some cool stuff in the mail about a week later.
College B only put the decision in their portal. No email until a few days later, followed by some mail about a week after that.
So. You are right, OP. You likely don’t “have” to check the portals. But if you do, you might find some pretty helpful information.
My D has been accepted to one school in particular for weeks now without any other notification- no email, no snail mail. That’s not to say it won’t eventually come, but it’s not close together at all in this case.
From my experience, it’s best to check all venues whether it be the portals, email, mail, social media, etc. Better safe than sorry.
Here is an example of how colleges use the portal to check applicant’s level of interest:
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130331_Lehigh_and_the_Fall_Freshman_Class.html is an article about Lehigh University admissions.
Yup, some colleges gauge interest that way. (Even schools that claim they don’t track interest care about yield). Open their emails, too.
The counselor may have sent what he/she was supposed to, but the counselor can’t verify the college has received all of her documents. Students have reported here on CC that items were sent, but the college showed “not received” in the portal. She needs to log in and verify the colleges show everything received.
She needs to confirm all colleges show the correct test scores. Also, there’s probably a checklist of items to still be completed and upcoming deadlines (like immunizations, housing, etc). Some colleges place links to applications for honors programs or scholarships in the portal.
Agree, you never know what will show up in the portals. All else fails, you could ask her for the passwords and check them yourself. 
Ha! I checked my kid’s portal once and got the confetti and “you’re accepted” message! I don’t remember if it was a one-time message or not, but I didn’t check the portals after that
It’s a good point that just because something is sent, doesn’t mean that it is received. My DD got a message pretty late that one of her schools hadn’t received her ACT score. It had been sent so early in the process that admissions never connected it to the rest of her application. That message was only on her portal.
Check the portals until you see that they have everything. Then you can wait til the date you’re supposed to hear their decision.
My D’s GC failed to send her midterm grades to her ED school and the school posted two messages to D on her portal about it. The school emailed my daughter only when they were about to close her application file as incomplete. Fortunately, she got in, so no harm, no foul but CHECK THE PORTAL!