Hi everybody... Let's talk about completing the admission/decision process - from the student side of things.

When you are invited to a wedding, the invitation asks you to RSVP by a certain date - whether you are going to attend or not...

In a similar vein, when you are invited to attend a college from the Office of Admission, the invite letter also asks you to respond, by the national response deadline of May 1, whether you are going to attend or not...

I'm just going to go out on a limb here and predict that, in general, people are much more likely to RSVP to the wedding invitation than to the acceptance letter from a college - especially if they are not going to attend. But responding to the colleges that have offered you admission is also very important, even if you have decided not to attend...

When a student is invited to PC, they will receive their acceptance letter and also an Enrollment Reservation Form, which the student should sign and return to either accept a place in our freshman class or to turn down that spot. This year, though, 40% (yes, 40%!) of students who were offered admission to PC did not respond at all. That's a big number, and it's pretty disheartening to see...

Why do we ask you to respond and let us know that you will not be attending PC? Well, first, it's simply common courtesy - a college has offered you one of its limited freshman class spaces over thousands of other applicants, and it makes sense (to me, at least) that you would let the college that invited you know that you won't be attending. But more than that, your response indicating you will be going to another institution also helps other students who are on our waiting list for admission, and who DO want to attend. When we know that students who have been invited are not going to attend, we are then able to offer available spaces to those students on the waiting list.

By the way, we also saw a number of students who were offered a place in our highly selective Liberal Arts Honors Program not respond at all - again, we don't expect every student we invite to in turn decide to enroll, but we do expect these students to complete the process by returning the Enrollment Form and letting us know they won't be attending. (20% of students offered a full tuition scholarship did not respond at all this year - full tuition! That's sad.)

Colleges, high schools, admission counselors, guidance counselors, and students all have responsibilities during the college admission process. Responding to the institutions that you will not be attending is the student's final responsibility in the process - so to all of you juniors, please remember next year to respond to the invitations you receive from colleges next year... even if it's to say, "I won't be attending."