Is Mid-March Too Late to Send Colleges Additional Information?
I am waiting to hear from three schools and I should have decisions within the next two weeks or so. I recently got an award and I'm wondering if it's too late to send it in to supplement my applications. Should I send this in, or is it not worth it? Or will it possibly annoy them? Or are decisions made already? Sorry for so many questions.
No need to apologize for your questions. That's what “The Dean" is here for, and the college admission process is so confusing that it raises questions galore.
There's really no downside to notifying your colleges about the new award, even with your verdicts looming. But only send the news if you feel that you've won an important award, and “important" will be defined differently depending on where you're applying. At the most hyper-competitive places (like the Ivies and any school with an acceptance rate in single digits or teens), only a major award (national, best in state, etc.) would move the needle at this late date. But at most other colleges, if you feel that the honor you just received is a significant one, then email your regional admissions rep today. If you can't decide what qualifies as “significant" write back to explain your award and name the colleges. And if you do send the news to your colleges, be sure to explain the award to the admission folks, too, if the honor isn't well known or self-explanatory. It's also useful for them to know about your competition (e.g., “10 winners were selected from 5,000 entries"). However, don't send the award info if you won it as part of a team or group of more than two.
Although it's possible that your admission decision has already been made, it won't hurt you to submit this eleventh-hour update. You won't annoy admission officials, and — should you be wait-listed — it might even help push you toward the front of the line in May if the college is still accepting applicants.
******
If you'd like to submit a question to College Confidential, please send it along here.
Sally Rubenstone
Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents’ Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student’s Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student’s Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC’s Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential’s “Ask the Dean” column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.