The purpose of this entry is to try to address all of the different groups of applicants that have applied for fall 2011 admission.  Even though the Admissions Committee is almost done reviewing files, our situation is actually much more complex than the singular act of reviewing files because we now have many groups with questions and needs.  So if you have been admitted, waitlisted, have not received a decision yet, or been denied admission this entry has something for you.

First let me start with those that have been admitted.  We have some wonderful opportunities that relatively few admitted applicants are responding to at this time.  For example, we would love to have admitted applicants join us for a Columbia University event in Washington D.C. on Saturday, April 2nd.  There are events taking place in other locations as well and an RSVP is required for all of the events.  The RSVP deadline for the D.C. event is this Friday, March 25th. We also have a message board that is available and many admitted applicants have yet to register.

For information on all of our activities and instructions for logging in to the message board, be sure to visit the Welcome Page referenced in your admission letter.  Also note that the only thing that we send via postal mail to admitted applicants is an admission letter.  All other information will be communicated to applicants via email, this blog, and the Welcome Page.  Our financial aid representatives are working on packages each and every day and admitted applicants will receive an email with instructions on how to view their financial aid package on the Internet.

Second, there are some people that are still waiting for an admission decision.  At the end of last week we hit the 91% mark for released decisions and the Committee continues to work fervently to make final decisions on those files that remain.  As soon as the decisions are ready we will send an email encouraging applicants to log in and view their decision.

Third, those that have been placed on the waitlist can expect the first communication from our office in early April.  I am not saying we will be able to make any offers of admission in early April, however at a minimum we will provide an update on the process and timeline.

Finally, some of those that we were unable to offer admission to have been sending us emails asking for feedback on their application.  At present the Committee is still working on reviewing applications and once the process is complete we must still dedicate our energy to a variety of projects related to providing information for admitted applicants.  I have two pieces of advice for those seeking feedback.

First, we have a page set up for just this purpose.  It provides information on common reasons we are unable to offer admission to applicants.  You can find the feedback page here.  Second, applicants not offered admission to our program are welcome to send our office an email in June requesting feedback.  Over the summer a member of our staff can review the reader comments and provide some feedback.

Last, some have contacted us asking to unsubscribe them from this blog.  We cannot perform this action, instead action must be taken by the individual receiving the email updates.  It is simple to unsubscribe from emails generated by this blog, simply visit the bottom of any email message received from this blog and you will find a link entitled “unsubscribe now.”