William & Mary Class of 2028 Official Thread

Colleges & Universities College of William and Mary
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This is the official discussion thread for College of William & Mary Class of 2028 RD applicants. Ask your questions and connect with fellow applicants.

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For those interested in W&M

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received a ‘likely letter’ today. anyone else ?

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Congrats! My son is a freshman there now.

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Congrats. I totally forgot they do these letters

Snail mail, email or portal?

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great
how does he like it thus far ?

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snail

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Very happy! Involved in a bunch of things, grades are fine. Really enjoying his time there.

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great to hear !

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Yes, S24 received one today.

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I got a letter today.

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What is a likely letter and is this going to ED/EA or RD? Curious thanks!

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William and Mary sends out post cards to about 25% of the students that are going to be accepted RD to tell them to expect good things in a couple months.

It just goes out to RD - both rounds of ED were already accepted, and W&M doesn’t have EA. The school uses it as a way to get people who aren’t committed to W&M excited about going there

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I note William & Mary is VERY transparent about this process, which is great:

Among other things, it is definitely very good news for those who get them, but that does not mean it is bad news for those who do not:

What if you don’t receive a postcard? Does this mean that you will not be admitted to the Class of 2026? Not at all. Only a small percentage (roughly 25%) of our admitted students receive a postcard. This means that roughly 75% of our admitted students do not receive a postcard. So what determines who gets a postcard and who doesn’t? To be completely honest, it is primarily the luck of the draw. We do not read applications in any specific order. Because of this, some applications get read early, while others get read later on. Those who get read early and have extraordinary credentials are those who get postcards. Those who are read at the end of the process (through no fault of their own), and who present extraordinary credentials, do not.

So if you do not receive a postcard, please do not panic. As discussed above, we are still hard at work reading and completing applications, meaning that we have a whole lot of admission decisions still to make.

Later this month, we will enter our committee review process and we will stop sending postcards. That is when we will begin the final preparations to send official admission notifications by April 1. If you do not receive a postcard, DO NOT PANIC as this does not foreshadow any particular admission outcome.

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So if I am reading correctly, they continue sending these cards up until the committee review process as opposed to a one and done mailing? In any case, for our family the postcard was a very welcome bit of early good news. It has definitely lightened S24’s mood and relieved a lot of his anxiety now that he knows he is in to a school he really likes. With the majority of his decisions not coming until the end of March it was a welcome surprise.

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That is how I read it, although I suspect the first wave might be biggest.

Yes, it is fantastic they do this as they are able! Obviously they are aware of the risk it could become an emotional negative for those who do not receive one, and are doing what they can to prevent that. But I applaud them for taking that risk, since this becomes a sort of a bonus “early action II” if you are lucky enough to be on the early side of their review process.

And I think a lot of people would feel exactly like your S24–for the right kid it is such an appealing college that it would set a high floor on possible outcomes.

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Thanks for that link
very informative and helpful

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My S23 is a current Freshman (and loves it!!!), my only advice is don’t sweat the postcard. It really is very random and you are more likely not to get one than to get one. For those that do get in, make sure you go to the accepted students day, W&M did a great job of showcasing the school

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Mine is a freshman, too, and he didn’t get a postcard. As mentioned, the majority don’t. It’s a nice surprise if you do, but doesn’t say anything about your admission chances if you don’t.

And I agree about the Day for Admitted Students. We had the best time, and my son met his future roommate at the lunch!

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