Welcome to Wednesday!

It's that time of year... we've heard that some colleges and universities have started releasing their decision letters for Early Action/Early Decision. Just a friendly reminder that if you have been accepted to a school Early Decision, you are required to withdraw your applications from all of the other schools you have applied to. This allows those schools to open up a handful of additional spaces for students who really want to attend... so those students thank you!!!

As I mentioned last night, we have an extra long day of committee today... During the afternoon session, we'll be considering students from Connecticut, New Jersey, and Colorado... Then tonight we'll be spending some time "in New York" ... reviewing applications from upstate and then spending much of the evening on Long Island.

Time for a quick lunch... Alumni Cafeteria over in our student center... My favorite lunch spot!!! (I guess that says something for on-campus food! It's good!!! Plus the people who work there are the nicest people you will ever meet!)

With the completion of our main Committee on Admission meetings comes the big question: When will decision letters be sent out? Well, before we get to that exact date, please understand that although the main committee is over, the staff will convene again this week to finalize certain decisions. Understand, too, that there are still many other things we have to do before decision letters can be released. Approximately 3,200 students applied Early Action, meaning that 3,200 letters must be printed, signed, and proofread. We also must go through our EA roster and make sure that each student's actual letter matches up with the decision that we have made. It sounds like a relatively simple process, but understand that it takes time with 3,200 applicants!

Therefore, the decision letters will leave our office on Saturday, December 23 and will likely arrive in students' mailboxes during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. While we may have been ready to send the letters as early as Friday, December 22, we decided to hold off on mailing the letters until Saturday so that no students would receive their letters before Christmas. So again, look for Early Action decision letters to arrive sometime between December 26 and January 1.

We've also had some EA applicants asking if decisions will be available online at any point, and the answer to that question is no, they will not be. All decisions are released via letter in the mail and that is the only way we make them available (please do not call our office-- it is school policy not to give out decisions over the phone). I know this makes a little bit of an additional wait but we want to make sure that students are receiving their decisions at (relatively) the same time via the mail.

Another popular question has been, "When will I know if I've been invited into the Liberal Arts Honors Program or received a merit scholarship?" The answer is approximately 1-2 weeks after you have received your admission decision letter. We are currently conducting our Honors Program and scholarship review, and it is looking like letters accepting students into the Liberal Arts Honors Program (and also offering a merit scholarship) will be mailed on Friday, December 29. (By the way, there is no separate application required to be considered for the Honors Program-- all applicants are automatically considered based on their application materials. The Liberal Arts Honors Program spaces and merit scholarships are awarded to our highest academic achievers in the applicant pool).

Later this week, I will provide you with some observations (of my own along with some of my colleagues) about our Early Action Committee on Admission meetings and will also attempt to answer any questions you may have. Feel free to send your questions, comments, or thoughts my way!

One more post before break! The financial aid review took a little longer than expected, so financial aid award letters did not go out today. They will be released on Friday, so check your mailboxes early next week!!

We have reached the Early Action (EA) Deadline! Today, November 1, is our EA postmark deadline, meaning that all applications to be considered in the EA review must be postmarked by today. If you do not have your application ready yet, please do not panic -- our Regular Decision deadline is still a little further off (January 15), and there is NO competitive advantage to applying Early Action to PC.

If you have applied EA, you can expect to receive a decision letter back from our office sometime before January 1. Our Early Action process is non-binding, so if you are accepted EA you will have until the national reply date of May 1 to let us know if you want to attend PC. As we move through the EA process, I will be able to give you a more specific date range as to when decision letters will be released. Please stay tuned right here throughout the process for updates!

Classes have ended for the fall semester here at PC... our students are busy taking their final exams and the admission staff is continuing our Committee on Admission meetings making final decisions on EA applicants. I have two things to pass along to you before I head back to our meetings:

1. If you have posted a comment/question on my blog, you can find my answer by clicking on the "Comments" link at the bottom of the entry (where you originally posted it!). I promise to get to all of your questions (eventually) so please continue to check for updates!

2. My fellow blogger Liz (one of our student bloggers) had a very interesting posting earlier this week about "prestige" as a factor (or non-factor) in choosing the right college for you. If you haven't read her posting, please check it out... it's very well done!

I have one word for today in Providence, RI: SNOW! Supposedly 10-12 inches of the wintry white stuff is on the way this afternoon and tonight! For now, back to the admission process...

We have completed our Committee on Admission meetings and as we finalize all of our Early Action decisions, I can tell you that at this point, it looks like our decision letters will be sent out on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 18.

Stay tuned for more updates! And drive safely if you are in the path of this New England winter storm!

Decision letters have made their way to the post office (a little earlier than the projected Tuesday afternoon release)...

We'll recap the EA applicant pool shortly... stay tuned...

Questions about the Early Action review process? Interested in what questions other people are asking? Click on the "Comments" link in the bottom right corner of each of my entries to post your own questions, see others' questions, and find my answers to these questions. Thanks to everybody who has posted questions... feel free to keep them coming!

*Scott

Thank you again to everyone who has posted comments and also e-mailed me off of the site. I appreciate your comments and questions and continue to encourage you to keep them coming (and also be patient - I will get back to you as soon as I can but there are a LOT of questions coming in each day... many of which require a personal response to the sender that is not posted on the blog).

As we move forward, I want to again congratulate all of the students who were accepted Early Action... This was our strongest EA applicant pool ever and we were amazed at the academic depth and personal contributions of so many of our applicants. Here's what we saw as we went through the review process:

VERY strong high school academic performance. Generally speaking, the students we invited EA had taken an extremely rigorous high school courseload, consisting of 4 years of those 5 core academic subjects we've been talking about all along. In addition, most students who were accepted had taken on a very high level of academic challenge throughout high school - predominantly honors/accelerated-level curriculums in the context of what their high schools offered. Many students finished out their junior and senior years by taking on AP level coursework as well.

Now, taking on the strong courses is one thing, but for a student to really be competitive in our EA review, they had to achieve in those classes as well. The average GPA for an invited EA student was an A-minus (on an unweighted scale -- so, in other words, the student took on those honors/AP level courses and achieved at least at the A-minus level throughout high school). The average English-course GPA was also an A-minus also in an Honors/AP level English curriculum. (Remember, as a liberal arts institution, a student's English performance is very important to us because even if you're a science major, you will be taking our core curriculum classes and writing essays and papers... To be successful in our curriculum here at PC, a student needs to be strong in English...)

Believe it or not, more students than we had spaces to invite had taken on a very strong curriculum and achieved at or near that A-minus average throughout high school, and so the "subjective" factors were also incredibly important for us to make these decisions. (Hey, it seems like I've written all of this before on this very blog... I wasn't kidding back when I told you what we looked at in an application!) ... Dedicated involvement, leadership, commitment to activities or part-time jobs... These were qualities that many of the students we invited (and frankly, many of the students we were unable to invite) possessed. Also, remember when I talked about the importance of the essay and PC supplemental statement? Yeah, I wasn't kidding then either... These pieces also played important roles in the decision-making process and really could help a student stand out from a lot of others who looked very similar academically.

We have been receiving a lot of questions from invited EA students about the Liberal Arts Honors Program and merit scholarships. (As I've mentioned before, all merit scholarships that we award are tied directly to the Honors Program - any student invited into the LAH Program will receive a merit scholarship, any student who is not selected for the Honors Program will not receive a scholarship). Liberal Arts Honors Program invitations will be mailed to students soon... I'll be able to give more information as to specifics as we get closer to January 1. Please do not call our office asking if you have received a merit scholarship ... again, these decisions are released through the mail and those students who have been selected for the Honors Program will hear by early January.

It's the Friday before one of my favorite holidays, so I will be headed off for my own little Christmas vacation, meaning you won't be hearing from me for a bit. I wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas and hope you'll be able to take some time off from school/homework/work and relax, recharge, and be ready for a productive 2008.

Thanks again for reading my blog and our students' blogs over the past few months! I will talk to you all soon!

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

*Scott

For students accepted to PC Early Action: Need-based financial aid packages will be sent out the second week of February.

For students who applied to PC Regular Decision: We will be sending you an update in late February to let you know if we are missing anything from your application.

For students who were deferred EA or applied Regular Decision: Decision letters will be released by April 1. More details on the mailing date as we move through the process.

Welcome to the weekend, everybody! Earlier today, we sent out an e-mail to all students who applied to PC Regular Decision to let you know if we are missing anything from your application. If one of your credentials is listed as "not received" (and before you panic), remember that we are opening bins of mail each day in our office... so if your teacher sent in a recommendation last week, it is very possible that it is here but has not been added to our computer system yet.

Also, if the e-mail notes that we have not received your midyear grades, please do not feel the need to call our office. We know that many high schools do not release midyear grade reports until mid-February, and those grades will arrive in plenty of time to be considered with your application.

That is the latest update from in the Office of Admission for this week! Have a great weekend!

*Scott

Be sure to check back to for a special guest blogger... our Dean of Admission, to recap the committee review process... in the very near future...

Hello from Southern California! On the road this week, I have talked with a number of students who have either already applied or are planning to apply Early Action (EA). So, without further ado, here is everything you ever wanted to know (maybe more!) about PC's Early Action process...

*Our Early Action deadline is November 1 (postmarked or submitted online via the Common Application website). Remember, you must submit the Providence College Supplemental Form along with the Common App for your application to be complete. (Also, please remember to check off the Early Action box on the application!!)

*Early Action decision letters will be released by January 1. As we move along in the process, I will pass along more specific dates.

*Early Action at PC is non-binding. So, if you are accepted EA, you will still have until the national reply deadline of May 1 to decide if you want to attend Providence College.

*There is no competitive advantage to applying to PC Early Action. Our admission staff reviews the applications in the same way during our Early Action and Regular Decision processes.

*Students will receive one of three decisions from PC during the Early Action process: (1) Invite, (2) Defer, or (3) Deny. We do deny students at EA, and it is a final decision (a student who is denied admission during the Early Action review cannot reapply during the Regular Decision process). The reason we give these deny decisions is because, again, the review process is consistent from Early to Regular. Therefore, if we have a student in the EA applicant pool who is clearly not competitive academically, we will give the final decision in December, so that the student and his/her family can move on to other college choices (rather than deferring every student who isn't invited at Early Action, and "stringing along" a student who we know will be denied during the Regular Decision process).

*If you want us to see your senior year first semester grades, do not apply Early Action. It's as simple as that... This is the one difference between Early and Regular - while we will see your senior courses if you apply EA, we will not see that first semester performance that we will see if you apply Regular Decision. So, if you are doing well senior year and are really counting on that senior GPA helping your case, you definitely want to wait and apply Regular Decision. And remember, a deny decision at Early Action is a final decision; the student will not be reconsidered during the Regular Decision review process.

*If you aren't ready to apply by November 1, we strongly suggest you wait and apply during the Regular Decision process. For example, if it is Halloween night and you haven't started writing your college essay yet... it is in your best interest to spend the proper amount of time on it and submit your application by our January 15 deadline.

That's a start on our Early Action process - some factual information and a few tips thrown in there as well.

Good luck to the seniors who are currently completing those EA applications - we look forward to reading about all of you soon!

*Scott
Los Angeles, CA

Come chat with admission counselors (me!!) and current PC students today (11/12) and tomorrow (11/13) at www.collegeweeklive.com. A counselor will be online from 9 AM to 8 PM both days, and current students will be available to chat after 4 PM both days. It's a great way to get any quick PC questions answered!! Hope to chat with you later today or tomorrow!!

*Scott

We are spending today in our committee on admission meetings! Here's the quick recap of how we got here... what's happened in our office since the November 1 Early Action deadline:

1. 3,500 EA applications arrived in our office (up about 300 from last year's Early Action number).

2. Applications entered into our computer system and sorted according to geographic territory/high school by our outstanding operations staff.

3. Lots and lots of mail pours in throughout the month of November, consisting of supporting credentials to our EA applications. These high school transcripts, letters of recommendation, SAT/ACT scores, first quarter and trimester grades, and other additional pieces are entered into our computer system and then physically matched up to their respective applications (a big thank you to our student workers and other support staff who literally spent weeks accomplishing this important task!).

4. Each admission counselor completes his or her "first reads." The 3,500 Early Action applications are divided up by geographic territory, so that each counselor is reading the applications from the areas we visited in the fall. Most of our 15 counselors had between 250-350 applications to complete a first review on.

5. After all applications have gone through the first read process, a second admission counselor takes a look at them, and either agrees or disagrees with the first reader's recommendation (to invite, defer, or deny the applicant).

6. When second reads have been completed on all applications, these files can go a number of different directions. Those at the very top and very bottom of the applicant pool are done, having received a final decision at this point. For the majority of applications that aren't at either end of the spectrum, the process continues. Some will go on to a third (and sometimes a fourth) reader. Nearly 600 other applications are considered by the entire admission staff at our committee on admission meetings, where we are today.

7. The applications being considered in committee are students who are competitive academically in our process, but are truly "at the margin" - during the EA process, they could be invites or defers (rarely are committee files denied, because students don't generally make it to committee without solid academic preparation/personal qualities). While we do talk about academics in committee (especially GPA progression/digression during high school and strength of the senior year curriculum), often times distinctions between similiar students are made by looking at personal qualities and non-academic pieces of the application.

So... that brings us up to date with where we are today. We have spent the past week in our committee review, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. As we wrap up the EA review process, we will turn to production (and proofreading!) of decision letters over the next week. More details to come!

Hey everybody - sorry for those technical difficulties over the weekend! But happy to report the blog is back on track!

We have completed our committee on admission meetings and the Early Action application review! Currently, we are completing the "technical" part of the process that I mentioned briefly in my last post: printing and proofreading decision letters, stuffing and sealing envelopes, and soon we will be completing final "roster checks" to make sure that every student who applied will receive a decision letter.

Here at PC, admission decisions are only released through the mail, and it is looking right now like they will be arriving just before Christmas. Decisions are not released via e-mail. Also, please do not call the Office of Admission looking for your admission decision, because college policy prevents us from giving out that information over the phone.

I will keep you updated as we move along with the decision letters, and will post here when the letters leave our office.

There they go! Early Action decision letters are in the mail as of 9:45 this morning!

The PC Office of Admission has just launched our official Facebook group, to provide information and updates to prospective students and families. The group is titled "Providence College Office of Admission- for Prospective Students," and is maintained by admission counselors in our office.

To find our group, log on to Facebook and search "Providence Admission" - then, click on "Groups" and you'll have found us.

Currently on the group page, you can find information on upcoming campus visit opportunities, various PC photos, and the opportunity to have questions answered by our admission staff. Our office will use the Facebook page in conjunction with this blog, e-mail, and our general website to provide updated information on events, application procedures, and PC news throughout the year.

As always, please use the Facebook group as an opportunity to be in touch with us should you have questions about the admission process or Providence College in general. Feel free to post questions on our group's "Wall" or Discussion Board, and an admission staff member will respond in a timely manner.

The Facebook group will provide relevant information to many different groups of prospective students. Juniors and sophomores who are beginning their college searches are encouraged to join the conversation in this group.

For seniors who were accepted to Providence College Early Action, we hope to see you in our Facebook group, but also ask you to keep an eye on your e-mail in the coming weeks. All invited students will be receiving a special invitation to the Providence College Class of 2013 Official Network, which will provide you with relevant information regarding the enrollment process and also the opportunity to connect with various staff members and current students. This invitation-only site has been created specifically for our accepted students, and more information will be arriving in mid-February.

Hello from Southern California... spring travel is upon us in the admission world!

*Southern California juniors, I hope to see you at the NACAC National College Fairs I will be attending...

-Thursday, April 16 - NACAC Inland Empire National College Fair
(Ontario Convention Center, Ontario, CA)
-Sunday, April 19 - NACAC Orange County National College Fair
(Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA)
-Monday, April 20 & Tuesday April 21 - NACAC Greater L.A. National College Fair
(Pasadena Conference Center, Pasadena, CA)

*Invited students... Family Day is this weekend! Please call our office to register if you haven't done so already. We hope to see you this Saturday (and by "we," I mean the rest of the PC community since I'll still be in California!).

*Students on the waiting list... We will be sending an update in the coming week to the e-mail account you have provided us to keep you informed about the waiting list process. Should you have questions, please feel free to call our office at any time to speak with an admission counselor.

*High School Counselors... Do you have students who are on the waiting list? We will be providing waiting list updates throughout the process on the "For School Counselors - Class of 2013 Updates" page.

***

Also, I have received a few e-mails from invited seniors who lost their login information for the Class of 2013 Official Network. If you've been invited and have not yet joined the network, please do so with the login information that was e-mailed to you. If you need your login information again, please e-mail me at admission@providence.edu with your name, hometown, and the high school you attend.

The Office of Admission is excited to announce a new way to connect with PC: the Providence College Prospective Student Network!

This network gives you as a prospective student the opportunity to interact with current students, admission staff members, and other high school juniors and seniors who are considering PC. Also on the network, you can...

-View campus photos/videos
-Find updated campus visit information
-Learn about admission/financial aid processes & deadlines
-Link to student blogs

...and much more!

You can still reach the Office of Admission by phone (401-865-2535) and e-mail (pcadmiss@providence.edu), but the Prospective Student Network helps you connect with other students- both current and prospective. While speaking with an admission counselor is important, the experts on student life on any college campus are the current students, and we hope this network will make it easier for you to connect with them!

Of course, if you have admission questions, we hope you'll talk us too! You can find our counseling staff in the Prospective Student Network as well, and if you need anything from us, please don't hesitate to let us know!

*Scott

As we creep closer and closer to the November 1 Early Action application deadline, many students and families continue to call our office and e-mail our counseling staff with questions about the admission process, financial aid, visit opportunities, and academic and student life here at Providence College. We encourage you to continue to contact us by phone and e-mail: the Office of Admission phone number is (800) 721-6444, and the general Admission e-mail address is pcadmiss@providence.edu. You can also find the admission counselor responsible for your geographic area on the Contact Our Office page of this website.

However, there are also a number of other ways to stay up to date on admission information, student life, and general PC news (outside of this blog, which you've already found!). Please consider taking a look in the following places:

PC Prospective Student Network: This is a Providence College-specific social networking site, where prospective students can connect with each other and current PC students. In addition to reading current student blogs, watching videos, viewing photos, joining groups related to intended major, and posting questions in discussion forums, you can find out about visit opportunities, events happening on campus, and what's happening in the application review process as well.

Facebook: The Providence College Office of Admission page on Facebook is updated daily with information on the admission process, campus visit opportunities, and general campus news. It's a very helpful spot to find the latest information on the PC application process.

E-News: Our monthly e-newsletter contains information about the college search process, application information, and campus happenings pertinent to prospective students and families. If you don't already receive our E-News Updates, you can sign up here.

The applications have arrived! November 1 has come and gone, and here we are at the start of our Early Action application review process in the Office of Admission. What happens now?

First of all, the applications have to be prepared for the counseling staff to review. Information from applications submitted online through Common App is moved into our computer system, and applications that arrived by mail are entered into that same system. Then, our operations staff does an excellent job of matching up supporting credentials that have come in the mail (such as transcripts, teacher recommendations, etc.) with the application itself. After all of the application "pieces" have been matched up, they are sorted by geographic territory and passed on to the admission counselor who will be the first reader. (Find out which counselor is responsible for your high school.)

This process of entering, matching, and sorting applications is well underway, and the counselors will start the review process at the end of this week. On Thursday, all 15 counselors will meet to talk about this year's process; we'll talk about what we're looking for from our applicants, the size of the incoming freshman class, and other things that will help us to all be consistent as we begin reviewing the applications from our territories. As the process moves forward, I will keep you updated here, and I hope you will continue to come back to see how the overall admission review is going.

A couple of months back, I wrote to the high school seniors that November 1 would come up quickly... and it sure did for us as an admission staff! We've all come back from the road, and have already shifted gears into "reading season." More updates soon!