<p>“congrats cammac! but you failed to mention, where are you from?”</p>
<p>im from maryland haha</p>
<p>judy–he will get in eventually. Just provide what they ask for–Fall grades, etc.</p>
<p>For Wisconsin residents other good schools to apply to for instate tuition are U of Minnesota-twin cities, UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire if you don’t get into UW-Madison. Good luck to all.</p>
<p>Just a couple of days after the SOAR message changed, my daughter’s status was changed to: Delayed Decision on Admission</p>
<p>Does anyone know if kids that are postponed every hear back before March?</p>
<p>JacksonG, my daughter’s final decision after being postponed was dated March 13. This was two years ago.</p>
<p>Was she accepted?</p>
<p>“Was she accepted?”</p>
<p>Much to her annoyance, no. It was quite surprising to me, she was a National Merit finalist, varsity athlete, rigorous schedule, instate, 3.5 GPA, both parents UW system graduate degrees, no negative issues, etc. This was a safety for her. It just goes to show, you never know.</p>
<p>I agree with sclark14…you never know. At a certain point I guess they get so many applicants with solid credentials and can only take so many. It is just so hard to see your child work so hard at doing all the right things to become well rounded…good grades, EC s and blah blah blah and not be able to get into a school with stats that seem to be a good match or even better than the school’s average. My son is actually taking it better than I had expected and is moving on with applications. Again, I need to take lessons from him. He tells me not to worry. Not a good sign here. Have to be careful our kids don’t pick up our anxiety. I think it is so hard as a parent to distant oneself emotionally and to stay in our wise mind. I am always working on this. I guess it is important to remember that our kids have done great thus far and to trust that wherever they land they will more than thrive. Always the anxious optimist!!! Best of luck everyone and will stay posted. :)</p>
<p>Sorry Judyjim about your son’s postponement. Hopefully he’ll get accepted eventually.</p>
<p>You asked for alternative schools and I see that you’re Minnesotans and your son is premed.</p>
<p>I suggest going to a prospective student session at the U of MN, College of Biological Sciences. (Make sure the session is specific towards CBS.)</p>
<p>I attended one of these sessions with my daughter. The session was led by recent CBS grads and we heard a dean and professor speak. All were very impressive.</p>
<p>One real positive is that they try hard to make the CBS experience like being in a smaller school. For example, admitted students attend a session at Itasca State Park, prior to starting at the TC campus in the fall. Here, the approximately 300 students are broken into to sessions of 75. The groups of 75 are broken into cabins of 12-15. We were told students make friends and study partners that may last through their undergrad years:
[Nature</a> of Life : College of Biological Sciences](<a href=“http://www.cbs.umn.edu/studentservices/nol/]Nature”>NOL @ Itasca | College of Biological Sciences)</p>
<p>College Confidential has a thread or two specific to U of MN, CBS that might be helpful.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted to CBS, but is still waiting to hear from Madison. Hopefully she’ll be accepted to Madison, and have to weight out the pros and cons and make a decision.</p>
<p>Good luck, Judyjim and son.</p>
<p>I talked to two former UW-Madison admission counselors recently.</p>
<p>Regarding the application essays:</p>
<p>Question: How important are the essays and do the admissions counselors really read them?</p>
<p>Answer: They are very important and we do read them. When so many applicants have ACT Composite scores in the 28-31 range and GPA 3.5 or above, we certainly look to the essays to help distinguish the applicants.</p>
<p>Regarding postponement:</p>
<p>Question: What can you tell me about phone calls or visits in person to the admissions office by postponed applicants who are trying to make a case for admission?</p>
<p>Answer: Phone calls or visits to admissions by the applicant can help us understand more about him or her, and his/her sincerity to attend UW-Madison. However phone calls and visits to admission by the applicant’s parent are somewhat of a turn-off. We understand you are calling or visiting because your child is ‘busy’ but does he/she really want to be admitted to UW-Madison or is it something you want?</p>
<p>Regarding CC?</p>
<p>Question: When you worked in admissions at UW-Madison did you read College Confidential?</p>
<p>Answer: Yes, to keep up to date with the information or misinformation that is out there.</p>
<p>Regarding the High School Counselor Newsletter:</p>
<p>Question: Where is the Fall 2010 edition of the H.S. Counselor Newsletter on the website?</p>
<p>Answer: There was some recent turnover, and the department was somewhat understaffed even before the turnover. That is one of the things that has been delayed.</p>
<p>Regarding order that applications are reviewed:</p>
<p>Question: Are applications reviewed first in - first out?</p>
<p>Answer: Applications are not necessarily reviewed first in-first out especially if you are comparing two applications submitted on the same date to two different admission counselors. Some counselors are full-time freshman application counselors and review 3,000-4,000 applications. Other admission counselors review applications part time (1,200 applications) and have other administrative duties within the department. Two applications submitted on the same day to the same counselor are also not necessarily reviewed in order - the counselor can ‘sort’ them for review however she/he chooses (I presume by test score and GPA).</p>
<p>Regarding the delay this year in admission decisions:</p>
<p>Question: Last year, I remember admission decisions coming out in October, this year the first 400 decisions were made after November 12th. Why did this happen?</p>
<p>Answer: The new director of admissions who was hired in May was closely overseeing the process and looking at revising admissions criteria.</p>
<p>Thanks for getting answers to many lingering questions. Wonder what changes she has in mind??</p>
<p>Yes, that’s the million dollar question. . .</p>
<p>I haven’t heard back yet, my application status has been the original “We are reviewing your application to make sure we have all the necessary materials” for about five weeks now. Is this:</p>
<p>"Regarding postponement:</p>
<p>Question: What can you tell me about phone calls or visits in person to the admissions office by postponed applicants who are trying to make a case for admission?</p>
<p>Answer: Phone calls or visits to admissions by the applicant can help us understand more about him or her, and his/her sincerity to attend UW-Madison. However phone calls and visits to admission by the applicant’s parent are somewhat of a turn-off. We understand you are calling or visiting because your child is ‘busy’ but does he/she really want to be admitted to UW-Madison or is it something you want?"</p>
<p>only applicable to postponed applicants or might it be a good idea for me to call and express my interest in Madison, ask some questions, ect.? I did visit Thanksgiving '09 and took a tour and everything. any thoughts?</p>
<p>madisonjunkie: The message you have is not a postponement message. My daughter had the same message that you have for almost 3 months until she got the ‘Congratulations!’ message on Thanksgiving (9/2/10 - 11/25/10).</p>
<p>You can call (as I mentioned, do it yourself, don’t have your mom call) and ask questions, express interest, etc politely and maturely. </p>
<p>BTW I don’t think 5 weeks is long in this waiting game. Sometime in November, in one of the admission counselor’s blogs, it was mentioned that on average it’s 7-8 weeks once everything is received before a decision is made.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Today is the 2 month anniversary of the last of my materials being received…</p>
<p>Thanks Madison 85 for the info. Apparently my son did call his admission counselor earlier this afternoon and left her a message to call him. He told me he is also wondering if he could meet with her. This would mean a trip to Madison from MN. but he said that is how badly he wants to go to school there. Meanwhile he is applying to several other colleges since he is postponed and Madison is no guarantee for him.</p>
<p>Still nothing here and it’s my 2 month anniversary of everything being in. From what I hear from my school’s counselor we’re waaaaaaaaay past when most people would’ve heard from Madison in the past years. We’re starting to wonder whether the new head of admissions (who also happens to be our counselor) is just gonna change it up and reject everyone.
And before I get the whole “January 15” bull, our school has a VERY good relationship with Madison. Typically about a third of the class (about 30/90) applies and roughly 20 of those get in. About 8-10 attend every year.</p>
<p>Madison 85 - thanks so much for all of the info! You are very helpful.
Kabizzle - couldn’t agree more. My D is a week shy of her 3 month anniversary of her application being complete. She also has the new head of admissions as her counselor. I am pretty sure there is not one person on this thread who has received a decision from her. Has anyone in your school gotten a response? Our guidance counselor’s reaction is “something has changed in that admissions office.”</p>
<p>Badgerlove, not one single decision at my school. The neighboring schools have all heard. Our counselor even called the admissions office but he says no one has responded yet, and that was over a week ago. God help us all 
Especially since it’s looking like a probable deferral from Michigan due to the ridiculous increase in apps this year.</p>
<p>Question: how long is there between when the SOAR message changes and when your notified? (I’m looking for it through the history of this forum and I can’t find it)</p>