From observation of several online forums, as well as people we know IRL, it seems that academic honors of the applicant pool are only students who have standardize the scores. The early admission postcards however have included kids who did not submit a test score.
My son received a postcard and did not submit scores.
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Does anyone know if Monroe Scholars are announced all at once? The postcards were issued on a rolling basis. Is it safe to assume if you haven’t been notified about Monroe, that you didn’t get it?
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My D is a Monroe Scholar (applied ED so no postcard). She did submit SAT scores, and while strong, the scores are not at the stratospheric range of those reported here among scholars (well, her ERW score was quite high, but lopsided lower M). We were actually a bit shocked when she was notified about Monroe Scholars. At the moment she’s excited, but honestly feeling a little “imposter syndrome-ish.” She was thrilled just to have been admitted to the school at all. She’s a top student In her high school but it is an average public high school in a rather low-SES small town OOS that hasn’t sent a student to W&M in years.
I guess my point is, I imagine W&M is holistic in its selection of Monroe Scholars and also influenced by various types of diversity in choosing the group of scholars (similar to admissions dynamics at large). No mistake, I am very proud of my D’s accomplishments, but I fully acknowledge there are many, many other students at W&M NOT selected for the program who are just as deserving of it (or more). Please don’t feel that you are any “less than” if you didn’t get the notification (or an early post card). I imagine it was an agonizing decision for admission counselors to make, as there are so many wonderful, enthusiastic learners applying to W&M.
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My D19 who is a sophomore at WM did not receive a cypher postcard and my S21 did receive one. Both capable and no one on campus has any idea who received one or who didn’t. Also, no one knows who the Monroe scholars are (and my S21 is not upset that several of his friends received Monroe scholarships and he didn’t). Your metaphor is completely inaccurate.
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Thanks for your response! As I said, this process based on categorizing kids made me feel concerned to wonder if similar stratification occurred during the 4 years there, not that I was certain it did. I think it’d be odd NOT to wonder, for what it’s worth, though I guess our K-12 system is so thoroughly based on dividing up/ranking/classifying students that we almost take it for granted. I am glad to hear your perspective that this aspect of the process of W&M admissions isn’t reflected in life on campus for students. It helps!
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Has anyone received a letter in the mail from W&M? I see one coming in informed delivery today, standard size envelope. The front says Class of 2025. D21 was admitted as a James Monroe Scholar last week via the portal and I’m wondering if this is the same letter in hard copy or if it could be Financial Aid info.
To those asking about merit aid and the Monroe Scholar:
There are two types of merit aid at W&M. The 1693 scholar, as most already know, which is the most competitive and is a full ride for in-state students. It pays VA tuition , room & board and fees. If you’re OOS it isn’t a full ride because it still pays full VA tuition and you pay the difference between out of state tuition & in-state. Still a great benefit.
The OTHER merit award is the William & Mary Scholar, which is for high-achieving students who have faced great adversity to get to college or who bring diversity to the college. W&M Scholars get full tuition and fees (but not room & board) and a research grant.
The Monroe Scholar is an academic honor, but there is no money awarded.
The student is notified of being selected as a Monroe Scholar and William & Mary Scholar in the same letter.
Thanks.
W&M Alumna
Except for the $3,000 research stipend.
Right. Thank you.
And now that I re-read my post I should have clarified that you participate in WMSure as a W&M Scholar, which gives you research opporutunities to work with faculty. Monroe Scholars get an actual $3,000 research grant.
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When will the decisions likely come out
Thank you! This string has been informative. I just stumbled upon it as I was trying to figure out exactly what the postcard meant that my child received a couple of weeks ago. The card had a very complimentary hand-written note from Tim Wolfe. Now I understand the cypher postcard ( which alumni and alumnae I asked had never encountered.) So here I am signing up to this platform only to ask if anyone knows or has reason to believe that ALL the Monroe Scholars have been notified?
I really like W&M, as does my child, but I think it will take being chosen a Monroe Scholar for my child to choose it over UVA (early action admission), or my or my spouse’s alma maters (if admitted), both of which won’t announce until 6April.
Is there still hope of being chosen a Monroe?
Also, to try to guess the answer to an earlier post, many schools seem to notify of acceptances in the portal, only to follow up with the hard copy acceptance letter, nothing more.
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I couldn’t find a definitive answer, but in looking through the “Admit It” blog run by W&M admissions, I saw a post from March 11, 2015 that said in part:
“Monroe decisions were mailed this week. Of course if any of the very last applications we review are Monroe Scholars those will simply be mailed a bit later.”
So, at least a few years ago some Monroe Scholars could be notified later than others, but I didn’t see any more recent info. Things can change.
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Thank you for researching that and sharing the information. Because my child got the postcard a couple of weeks ago and Monroe decisions went out last week, I suspect my child was not chosen.
The card did have the effect of diverting my child’s excitement of the early UVA admission to the mystery of good news in the Spring from W&M, so it was an excellent “recruitment” tool.
We live in the competitive northern Virginia area, so getting into these schools is close to getting into an ivy, because of the fierce competition for an excellent education at a fraction of the cost.
My kid wants a more urban environment, rather than historic Williamsburg. Having attended a costly urban university -albeit prestigious-I am a fan of the more affordable and pastoral environment. But, I had my college experience. I can’t fault my kid for wanting a more exciting environment beyond campus, which is exactly what I wanted.
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they really gotta update their stuff…2015…wow
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So the mail from the College was a physical copy of the email. It was a nicely presented acceptance, but no financial aid decision.
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It was a very nice presentation. My daughter really liked the packaging.
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is the package just the letter or is there anything else with it?
It’s kind of a little welcome brochure with the letter folded into a pocket inside. It’s a classy mailing imho.
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I apologize that my earlier response seemed a little snarky. The college admission process has worn me out and I truly did not mean to discount your comment! I want to assure you that my experience as both a student (albeit a long time ago) and as a parent of a student, I have never encountered any stratification of students. There may be some ranking within majors, and certainly, some students don’t get into the business school when they apply, but I don’t think that students are even aware of these things. It is refreshing to get out of the k-12 system for sure! Like I said, my current student didn’t get a postcard and isn’t any “less”…no one even knows who got in off the wait list vs. getting in “on time” unless they tell a friend. I hope this helps!
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