<p>I am very disheartened by how GW is executing their notifications of acceptance and financial aid award.</p>
<p>Although the portal was updated with the acceptance notification it is now 10 days later and still no letter in the mail - and from I see on CC the letter does not even include financial aid information. I cannot get a straight answer from about when we will get fin aid info - an e-mail response from GW said something cryptic: "it would be received by the matriculation deadline". Huh??? When I asked for a clarification he said that would be May 1. Huh?? (again).</p>
<p>Their website is completely lacking in clear information - only links to how to proceed once you've decided to attend. But obviously many people cannot accept without the full financial aid info (and possibly an appeal as well).</p>
<p>I hope that in a few days my concerns will become moot, but as an employee in a large professional company I am dismayed by how GW is handling this process. It is keeping many people in a holding pattern - a bad way to treat people.</p>
<p>I hope you understand that GW just sent thousands of letters through snail mail, so there is bound to be 1% of them that either get jammed up in the mail, lost or it just takes a while.</p>
<p>Also, I thought they were pretty clear when they said that GW would send out acceptances first through the mail, then they would send out the financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Lastly, they can’t estimate how long the USPS will take to ship acceptances, let alone financial aid packages they didn’t even send out yet. They did make you a promise that you would get the financial aid package before the matriculation deadline.</p>
<p>I understand all of that, but other schools do a better job, IMO. Johns Hopkins sent all acceptance letters via USPS Priority mail on the same day that notifications were made available online. That is exactly the right way to do it. They even have a blog that details the process. They are very open about it. Maybe that is an unreasonable expectation for every school but I don’t see anything close to that at GW.</p>
<p>The online portal simply says “Your official letter with admissions and enrollment information will follow in the mail”. And the financial aid section says nothing about a notification date. Their facebook page is devoid of information as well.</p>
<p>And are you serious about that “matriculation deadline” (i.e. May 1)? No reasonable person could agree that receiving your financial aid award notification on the SAME DAY that you would need to send in your deposit is acceptable.</p>
<p>Let me be clear - I mostly just want want to be informed about when I can expect to receive the paperwork. But I also want them to send it in a timely matter - that just exacerbates the problem for me.</p>
<p>It appears that in past years FA info was available the first week of April. A poster from last year posted:</p>
<p>To view your FA package, first go to my.gwu.edu, and click on gw web info system on the left hand side of the screen. You should now see a login screen. Your login ID that begins the letter “G” was provided in your acceptance letter. The passwrd is your birth date. The format of the passwrd is (MMDDYY). The y’s are the last 2 digits of the year you were born.</p>
<p>Apparently they send an email when it is ready. I was able to login using the above information but no info available yet. Hopefully we can get the info here while waiting for mail.</p>
<p>I was told by Financial Aid that it would be the week of April 1. Many schools say that, but you end up getting the info. earlier; I guess GWU is sticking to its original statement though. I certainly hope it’s not May 1, because that will rule us out.</p>
<p>I do wonder why they wait, when most competitors have already sent out packages? </p>
<p>My D would love to go to GWU and already has nice merit $, but that alone would not make it possible for her to attend. I’d like her to visit GWU again if we get a doable package (since GWU is a non-traditional type of campus), but I’ve made no plans yet. Guess I’ll have to wait a few more days. We will drive (8 hours away), but I just wish I knew.</p>
<p>She has very nice aid packages from two other schools (and mediocre packages from the rest), so we are grateful for those two, but we’re still anxiously awaiting for GWU…</p>
<p>As I posted in another link, I called GW and they said the aid packages will be out within the next 10 days by mail (and posted online as soon as available). It sounds as if they’re literally making the decisions now…</p>
<p>GW is releasing financial aid information on April 4th. I believe they made a post stating this information on one of their facebook groups (The Class of 2016 one that you were directed to on the portal). The letter in the mail is nice to receive, but does not contain much more information than what was on the portal, so I don’t see why one would be so angry about the delay-- I really see no need to send it the same day decisions were released.</p>
<p>At least you guys have your decisions. I still don’t know whether I was accepted or not. My portal said my decision was not available online and I had to wait until the postal mail arrives.</p>
<p>How did you find out the PIN? The wait has been extremely frustrating. All her other admits have included an estimated award either with admission letter or within 2 to 3 days in the mail. She wants to return for a 2nd visit however I would like to know that attending will be financially feasible prior to spending on airfare, hotel and other travel expenses.</p>
<p>There are instructions for the GWEB PIN for first-time log-in. It’s her birthdate. Then you are prompted to select a new PIN. After you get in it’s not obvious where the award information is displayed - it takes a few more clicks.</p>
<p>Outside of the Presidential scholarship (which came with the acceptance letter) - only $1,700 in grants bring total COA to approximately 42k per year.</p>
<p>This just floors me. This gem was included in the response I got from GW regarding appeals:</p>
<p>“For new students, appeals are typically not reviewed until after the matriculation deadline.”</p>
<p>Really? What use is the appeals process if they aren’t going to review it until after May 1? And this is the second time their office has referred to the matriculation deadline in an e-mail. Why are they afraid to say “May 1” anyway?</p>
<p>I’ve been avoiding it but I think I will have to call them.</p>
<p>Did you select the year for which you are seeking the award? The first line shows “not available at this time”, however when I clicked on it it opened a drop down menu where I selected 2012/2013.</p>
<p>under the award year 2012-2013 it says “No award information is available for you at this time, please contact your financial aid office if you have questions.”</p>
to go to GWU and already has nice merit $, but that alone would not make it possible for her to attend. I’d like her to visit GWU again if we get a doable package (since GWU is a non-traditional type of campus), but I’ve made no plans yet. Guess I’ll have to wait a few more days. We will drive (8 hours away), but I just wish I knew.</p>