Adam Epstein '05

Earlier this week I was reading The Choice, a blog from The New York Times about college admissions and financial aid (if you don’t already read it, I’d recommend doing so). The post that caught my eye was An Admissions Dean Offers Advice on Writing a College Essay written by the Martha Merrill, dean of admission and financial aid at Connecticut College.

Quite often I am asked questions by students and families about the personal statement or essay that is required as part of an application to WPI. This submission is one area where you have full license to send us whatever you’d like. We don’t have a carefully scripted question for which we want a carefully scripted answer; your personal statement is just that: personal.

I suggest that you read Ms. Merrill’s advice, but I’ll quote two of her ten suggestions in particular:

Don’t repeat what is already in your application. If you go to a performing arts school and all of your extracurricular activities and awards relate to dance, don’t write about how much you love dancing. Tell me something I couldn’t know just from reading the other parts of your application.

Be genuine. Don’t try to impress me, because I’ve heard it all. Just tell me what is important to you.

Okay, maybe I haven’t heard it all, but I’ve heard quite a bit. And if you are genuine and don’t repeat what’s already in your application, then you are getting somewhere. I read every essay—in good applications and bad—and the ones I remember most are the ones that are unique and display a passion about the topic.

Here are two additional tips of my own that hopefully have already crossed your mind: 1) spell check, and 2) proofread. Don’t do one without the other. You can click that “ABC” button as many times as you want, but its not going too find correctly spelled words in improper places (among other things). Let me rephrase: it’s not going to find correctly spelled words in improper places.

At WPI we know that our students’ strengths typically fall in math and science rather than English, grammar, and writing. But the essay is still a very important piece of your application—and one to take seriously. Write and proof it yourself, but also ask a friend, family member, teacher, or counselor to proofread it for you. As Ms. Miller says, “The truth is that while no essay will make an unqualified student acceptable, a good essay can help a qualified applicant stand out from the competition. A good essay just might be what turns a ‘maybe’ into a ‘yes.’”

So, it’s time to get to work! Spend some time this summer piecing together your essays, and when it comes time for you to submit your applications you’ll be ahead of the game. Good luck!

I’ve finally had the chance to catch some well deserved rest and relaxation. You may be thinking to yourself, “He works at a school, he must have the summer off. Right?” Wrong. University staff members are twelve month employees, so we don’t get the summer off (unfortunately). However, in the Admissions Office, I have about a month each year that I’d consider to be much quieter than the rest of the year. Right now.

Once Commencement was over, I began to use some of my vacation time. I don’t use much throughout the rest of the year, so I had a lot remaining which means I’m in the office only 6 full days this month. Sounds pretty good, huh? Well the problem is that the work and the Web don’t stop, so I am still writing this post on a day off and I’m still monitoring Twitter and Facebook. I disconnect for a day here and there and on the weekends, but with an extended amount of time away I can’t help but stay connected.

So, what will keep us busy for the rest of the summer before we begin traveling again? The Frontiers and Launch summer programs begin in mid-July; we have a few summer planning days for the Admissions staff; we’re open every day for visitors including some special visit options; and I have some other projects that I’m spending some of my time completing.

What I mean to say is that yes, I’m still here. Just taking some time away to relax before we come back full swing later this month. How is your summer going?

My good friend William Herbert ‘05 prepared a guest blog related to Commencement which will be held next Saturday, May 16. I thought it would be a nice change of pace from the usually Admissions related posts. To follow all things Commencement related, check out @WPICommencement on Twitter.

Now that the last day of classes has passed a whole host of rituals are being observed in preparation for the 141^st Commencement on Saturday, May 16.

The most visible of these is the preparation of campus for the thousands of students, families, friends, faculty, and staff that will be on campus for Commencement. Behind the scenes, the Registrar, Faculty, and Trustees go through the formal processes that enables the primary purpose of Commencement: the awarding of degrees.

The Registrar is the first step. This portion of the process is the most complex as it involves hundreds of students. Everyone will have one or more majors, some may have minors, and some will merit distinction or high distinction. The transcript of every student will need to be compared against the degree requirements set by the university for all students (2/3 unit social science, 8 units in residency, 1/3 unit physical education among others for undergraduates) as well as the major specific requirements set by the academic departments and the faculty. Grades for D-Term and the spring semester are not due to the registrar until the close of business on Friday, May 8 which means the Registrar’s Office has less than one week to prepare this list! Once all grades are turned in, a list is prepared in time for the faculty meeting the following Thursday.

The Faculty will hold its last meeting of the academic year on the Thursday before Commencement, May 14. At this meeting, the Committee on Academic Operations will make a motion to approve the undergraduate graduation list (as provided by the Registrar).  The Committee on Graduate Studies and Research makes a similar motion to approve the graduate graduation list. The list then passes on to its last stop, the Trustees.

WPI’s Board of Trustees will hold its annual meeting on Friday, May 15. Among other business that will be conducted, the graduation list, as provided by the Registrar and recommended by the Faculty, will be voted on by the Trustees.

Only after passing through this process can a student be presented with a degree at Commencement. The degree received is signed by Donald Peterson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Dennis Berkey, President of WPI.

May 1 has come and gone which means we now have a pretty good picture of who will join the WPI community in the Class of 2013! Congratulations and welcome! Unfortunately, it is still a bit too early to tell with certainty whether we’ll be able to offer admission to students on the wait list, but at this point the class looks to be full.

I’ll be posting information here, on Facebook, and on the Class of 2013 Web site over the summer for the incoming class, and keep an eye on your e-mail as well for important information. Soon you’ll be able to register for classes and create your WPI e-mail address (you get to choose it, and you have up to 16 characters—start thinking)! If you have not already done so, you should complete the housing form for first-year students.

I tweeted last week that as May 1 approached, it was not the day towards which I work. Sure, it’s a milestone and (hopefully) cause for celebration and a bit of relaxation after months of hard work and building relationships, but really it’s only a stepping stone. I hope to continue the relationships I’ve built with the enrolling students and their families over the next several years and see them walk across the stage at Commencement in four years and 10 or so days. That’s the real goal.

Congratulations to the newest members of the WPI community in the Class of 2013, and congratulations to the Class of 2009 whose last day of undergraduate classes is today! Commencement is in only 11 days!

It’s been an exciting few weeks at WPI. We’ve been welcoming hundreds of families to campus including over 650 people for our first Closer Look open house for admitted students this past Wednesday. If you’re an admitted senior, there’s still a chance for you to visit before you need to make your final decision; we’re open every day except April 19 an 26 for the rest of the month, and the second Closer Look is this coming Wednesday, April 22. Here’s a quick look at some of the images from this past Wednesday’s event.

Meanwhile, with next week being school vacation week for many students and Patriots Day in Massachusetts on Monday, we’re expecting to have our busiest week of the year! Don’t be scared away by potential crowds, though, we’re lining up extra tour guides and ordering food for your lunch when you finish your tours and information sessions. Read more about campus visit options.

I’m away from campus now in Colorado, and as long as I don’t get too buried in the several feet of snow predicted, I’ll look forward to seeing you on campus soon! My colleagues tell me that today is a gorgeous day on campus with temperatures in the 70s and trees and flowers in full bloom!

If you’re a senior and have now been admitted to multiple institutions (hopefully WPI is among them), you have just over three weeks to make one of the most important decisions thus far in your life. No pressure.

No, really. Of course, you should put a lot of thought into this decision. This is your education, your next four years, your home. You’re probably getting phone calls, e-mails, mailings, and invitations from the schools who have admitted you inviting you to pay one last visit to campus, stay overnight, meet students, attend regional events, and join virtual communities. We’re wooing (no pun intended as “Woo” sometimes is an abbreviation used for Worcester) you to become connected to our communities, experience our campuses, and ultimately enroll at our institutions.

That’s all well and good, but as an admissions counselor I continually remind myself that I’m not simply a salesperson for WPI. Sure, my passion for this place is very strong and evident, but no matter what level of passion I have, I’m not going to convince you to come here if you don’t belong here. There’s the element of counseling in my job that I feel comes through this month more than any other. In the past few weeks, I’ve spoken with numerous students who may or may not belong at WPI. I gave them the facts, and the facts will tell the story. I’m not going to make up a story just to fit the student; I’m going to tell the real stories about our campus, our students, our education, and our outcomes.

What does all of this mean? It means that we want you to find the right fit in the college you choose to attend. Colleges want their students to be successful. It’s not a beneficial situation for you or us if we simply put all of our effort into enrolling as many students as possible. We want students who will live, learn, thrive, and succeed on our campuses.

So, when you’re visiting schools in the coming days and weeks, ask yourself “Will I get a good education here? Will I enjoy my time out of class? Can I picture myself living here for the next four years of my life?” You may have more than one “right fit” school. If so, that’s great; you can pick and choose which campus you like the best. But please don’t fall into the trap of making your mind up without all of the facts; your preconceived notions may be incorrect. Remember, I want you to be successful. Just as all of my colleagues across the country do.

Good luck, congratulations, and please let me know how I can help.

Not all students with pending applications will receive a decision letter this week. A few situations may cause a decision to still be pending for you:

• If you applied under one of our early action rounds and received notification that your application would be re-evaluated with our regular decision pool, you will not be receiving your decision with the most recent batch that was mailed. We wanted to allow the most time possible for you to have updated information sent to our office, so we have been making the final decisions on your applications this week. Your decision letters will be sent later this week, and you will receive them early next week.
• Your application may have still been incomplete. We have worked hard to get in touch with you and your school to complete as many applications as possible. If yours was still incomplete when we generated the most recent bath of decisions, you will not have a decision this week. Hopefully your application is now complete and a decision will be on its way to you soon.

If you do not receive a decision or official notification on the status of your application by the end of next week, please call our office. If you attend school outside of the United States, your decision letter may take longer to arrive.

I mentioned earlier that this application year was our most competitive ever. In making the difficult admissions decisions, we did offer a number of students a position on our waitlist. If you’re awaiting or have just received a “waitlist” decision from us, this post is for you.

The admissions process does reach a point where the hard numbers of applicants and spaces available in the Class of 2013 do not align. We’re only able to admit a certain number of students, but we did not want to turn everyone away and know that many of you do and will still have an interest in attending WPI. I’ve outlined some information and answers to common questions regarding the waitlist process below.

• If you are still interested in attending WPI and wish to remain on the waitlist, you must return the waitlist postcard contained with your letter. Receipt of that card will indicate to us that you are still interested; if you are no longer interested in attending WPI and do not wish to remain on the waitlist, you do not need to return the postcard.
• We are unable at this point to meet with you personally. If you wish to convey to us your continued interest in WPI (in addition to returning the postcard), you may send us a letter of interest, your updated grades, additional letters of recommendation, or any other materials you wish to be considered if we are able to review your application file for an offer of admission from the waitlist.
• If we are able to offer you admission from the waitlist, you will not know until after May 1 which is the common reply date and enrollment deadline for colleges. You should not necessarily count on receiving an offer of admission from us; you may want to have plans in place for enrollment at another institution. If we are able to offer you admission, you’ll hear between May 1 and June 1. The waitlist is not rank ordered; if we are able to make offers of admission, the admissions committee will consider all students who have indicated a continued interest in WPI by returning to us the waitlist postcard.
• It is impossible for us to know at this point whether we will offer admission to students on the waitlist, how many offers of admission we may make, or what your chances of receiving an offer of admission are. Whether we are able to offer admission to students from the waitlist will be determined by the number of students who choose to enroll at WPI by May 1. Some years we have made offers of admission to students on the waitlist, and other years we have not many any.

As always, if you have questions about the waitlist process you may leave a comment here or get in touch with our staff.

As I mentioned yesterday, most of our decision letters have begun to hit the mail. If you’ve been accepted, congratulations, and this post is for you.

By now you may have been admitted to several schools, or this may be your first offer of admission. You should first take a moment to sit back, relax, and give yourself a pat on the back. You worked hard to get to his point! Over the next few days, weeks, and months you should also thank the people who helped you get here: parents, siblings, teachers, counselors, employers, friends.

You may have thought the hard part was over now. But if you have several offers of admission sitting before you, you now have just over a month to decide where you’ll be spending your next four years. Of course we hope that place is WPI, but we know that won’t be the case for all of you. 

What are the next steps to learn more about WPI to help you make that decision? You’ll want to visit the Class of 2013 Web site for lots of information about campus, classes, and visiting (remember, the password is contained with your offer of admission).

• Visit Campus. I know, I know, you’re busy. And you may have visited already. But coming (back) to campus is your best way to get a feel for WPI. And we’ve tried to make it as easy as possible for you to do so. Between now and May we’ll be open every day except Sundays. We also have two open houses specifically for you to get a comprehensive picture of WPI in one day.
• Meet Your Classmates. Future members of the Class of 2013 have already been very active in getting to know each other in the WPI Class of 2013 Facebook group. Check it out and get connected!
• Financial Aid. We realize that when you’re making the final decision of where to attend, the financial situation is an important factor. If you’ve applied for financial aid, your package will be on its way to you very shortly. If you do not receive it by early-April, please get in touch with the Financial Aid Office to ensure that you have filed all of the appropriate paperwork.
• Explore Academics. The WPI Web site contains an enormous amount of information. Each academic department has its own site where majors, coursework, faculty, and projects are discussed. Start by looking at the list of departments, and click through to what is of interest to you. Take particular note of recent project work; the projects listed were completed by undergraduates as a built-in part of their curriculum. If you want to know more about majors and courses, check out the undergraduate course catalog.

Hopefully you applied to institutions where you felt that you could envision yourself living and learning for the next four years. The learning is obviously a key component when choosing where to study—ask yourself what kind of majors do they have? What are my research opportunities? Will I get hands on experience? What are members of the faculty like?—but the living is not at all to be underestimated. You’ll be spending your next four years living, breathing, playing, eating, sleeping, studying, and having fun somewhere; you need to feel comfortable with that location.

If you decide WPI is the place for you, be sure to submit the paper or online enrollment form and $500 deposit on or before May 1. If you decide to attend somewhere else, please also let us know on the enrollment form (that way we’ll stop bugging you!)

Of course if you have any questions, need more information, want to plan a visit and need help, or just want to discuss your options, please get in touch with our staff.

We’re very excited and proud to welcome you to WPI as the Class of 2013. Congratulations!

Decision time has come. Starting today and continuing into early next week, the majority of our decision notifications for regular decision applicants will hit the mail. If your application was complete and depending where you live, you should be receiving your decision notification by midweek next week. I’ll be posting some information specific to particular decisions over the next few days, but here is some general information about our decisions:

• We send our decisions via mail; there’s no place online to check your status. We still feel that it is best for you to find out via snail mail and have something tangible to open and keep. (Side note: I still have my acceptance letter from WPI.) If you attend high school outside of the United States, we’ll e-mail your decision and you’ll receive the paper copy via airmail or DHL.
• If you do not receive a decision, it probably means that your application is still incomplete. We have been trying to reach you, so if you’re still interested in applying to WPI, please get in touch with us as soon as possible. If you’re not, let us know and we’ll withdraw your application.
• We had a record number of applications this year causing the decision making process to be more difficult than ever. We thoroughly reviewed each and every one of your applications, and we feel that we have used our best judgment and made the decisions possible for each of you. We wish we had space for everyone, but realistically there is a limit to the number of students we are able to accept.
• And, that means not everyone will receive good news; even if you are not offered admission, we did enjoy learning more about you and getting to know you. We appreciate your interest in WPI and wish you success in your future plans.

So, keep an eye on the mailbox over the next few days! Keep an eye here as well for some more specific information about what to do once you receive your letter.