<p>Now that the process is all over, I wanted to give some constructive feedback to the University of Richmond admissions office, knowing they read the site. Our D was wait listed and we understand it was a competitive year and life goes on. We visited the school when she was in tenth grade and was extremely impressed with the school and the professionalism of the admission office. Our experience with UR has been positive, with the exception of several events later in the process.</p>
<p>Likely Letters: Although a nice touch for the recipient, the practice creates confusion among the applicants, particularly in the age of technology. Individuals who did not receive likely letters often phoned the admissions office and were told that not all accepted candidates received them. This creates a "have" versus "not have" environment that I do not believe benefits UR. We know of another local student who did not receive a likely letter who ultimately was accepted, but was turned off by the distinction and, as such, UR went from first on her list to last.</p>
<p>Bannerweb: Applicants are given access to a portal and check it frequently. At most other colleges there are "little signs" that may appear close to the decision date that are indicators that an applicant was accepted. For example, at BC, a new tab appeared the day before an acceptance letter with the heading being financial aid and enrollment. In UR's case, my D checked her bannerweb and noticed that under the Student Services tab there was now additional language that included phrases like "plan your first year" and "make your enrollment deposit." Right or wrong, she viewed this as a sign of being accepted, as it was consistent with the practice at other colleges. In the age of technology and availability of data, UR should know that applicants are checking the only access they have into the process. I believe this change was unintentionally cruel and created many confused applicants.</p>
<p>Get to Know the High Schools: After a conversation with the UR admission rep for one of the west coast areas, it became clear that he was not aware of the rigor of the private high school that our D attends. He was surprised to learn that there are few AP classes offered and perhaps didn't know that the highest gpa by any student is around 3.9. </p>
<p>Thank you for your consideration of these observations for future admission cycles.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to see that your D was waitlisted. I can relate as my S visited and interviewed with Wake Forest and fell totally in love with school. After waiting for months, and being sure he was very qualified, he was waitlisted over lots of others with lower scores. It was so disappointing and unexpected. His stats were similar to your D’s and he was accepted to UR. However, for a variety of reasons, he has decided to attend U of Miami. Now that he has made that decision, he has fallen in love with UM. I had initially worried that he wouldn’t be excited about college if he didn’t get into his dream school but that didn’t happen at all. I’m sure that once your D chooses her new favorite school, she’ll be just as excited.</p>
<p>cpr777: It all works out. My D concluded that UR was too small and, guess what… is trying to make up her mind between Univ of Miami and Villanova. She has not been to UM, so will take her there so she can decide between the two. I think she’s hesitant about the Miami environment, so we’ll see. Interesting process. Best of luck to your son.</p>
<p>mango, I think you bring up a couple of very valid points. This “likely letter” is a new thing for me, and I’m curious about the rationale behind it. As you mention, it seems to add to the anxiety, and is definitely a drain on admissions’ resources. </p>
<p>As I mentioned in another thread, the constant checking of things like banner or CC for even the slightest updates/changes seems to make the process infinitely more stressful than it used to be. Then again, the students/parents are part of the problem, as they are the ones seeking the information, rather than waiting patiently for a letter.</p>
<p>Lastly, knowing some of our admissions reps, I’m a little surprised by your last comment. Our reps that I’ve dealt with have been pretty knowledgeable, but I’m also originally from a contiguous state, so they may be more familiar with this region. That said, with as few applicants as we get from the left coast, it’s hard to expect a rep to know every little detail of every school (assuming your school doesn’t send multiple applicants on an annual basis) unless the defined area of representation is very narrow. If it’s the rep I’m guessing it is, he has roughly 250,000 sq. miles of territory to cover. Unless UR is getting a good number of apps from that school every year, it seems to me to be asking quite a bit for him to know that the highest GPA coming out of a school is a 3.9.</p>
<p>Actually, Coral Gables/Coconut Grove are gorgeous, ritzy suburbs. Not at all the way I had pictured Miami. We stayed at a hotel in that area (UM gets great discounts) and I would live there in a heartbeat. We spent a lot of time walking around the Grove and always felt extremely safe. Now driving the interstates there, that’s a different story.</p>
<p>@Mangotree your school sends a profile with your transcript that outlines how many aps are available, how many the average student has taken, what the average gpa is and ect…</p>
<p>collegeforyou11: good point; maybe the rep learned something with the summary. spiders05: good points as well. It is an interesting process and, I would imagine, a challenge for admissions offices as the access to information has increased.</p>