Adam Epstein '05

My recent silence has been related to finishing up my fall travel and jumping head first into application review. I was too preoccupied to even submit a post for the most recent edition of the Carnival of College Admission! Check it out anyway, there’s a lot of great stuff there. I’ll be hosting the Carnival in January.

Meanwhile, our Early Action Round 1 application deadline has come and gone, and it is now just over 20 days until you’ll receive your decision notification. If you’ve applied at the Early Action Round 1 deadline, this post has some information for you. If you’re planning to submit an application at Early Action Round 2 or Regular Decision, keep this information in mind for later.

First thing’s first: if you haven’t already received an acknowledgment of the submission of your Early Action Round 1 application, you should receive that very soon. Give us a call if you haven’t heard from us by Wednesday. A user ID and PIN is included with your application acknowledgment; with that information you are able to check your application status online.

When you check your application status, you’ll see a list of the required materials that we need in support of your application in order to review it. Do not panic if you see that something is missing from your application file. It is very common, especially at the early application rounds, for one or more required pieces of information to initially be missing from your application file. Your application review will proceed as normal provided that we receive your support materials in a timely manner.

By the way, we get a lot of applications. A lot of applications means a lot of support materials. A lot of support materials means a lot of mail. And a lot of mail means that your piece of information may already be in our office but not yet input to our system. Give it a few days, and if something is still not showing up, read below.

If you kept reading anyway, you are probably thinking to yourself, “Don’t panic?? What does he mean don’t panic?? How do I complete my file?” Well, that depends on what we are missing.

If we are missing something from you, e.g. personal statement or resume, you should send it to us directly. If we are missing something from your school, e.g. transcript, recommendations, they’ll most likely be sending that to us automatically. If we do not receive it from them, we’ll be in touch with either you or your school to obtain it. In the case of a teacher recommendation, we don’t know which teacher from whom you’ve requested a recommendation, so you should take a moment to remind that teacher that the deadline has passed. Finally, if we are missing your test scores, you can ask your school to send us the scores they have on file.

To expedite the review process, the best way at this point for us to receive your support materials is by fax at 508-831-5875. Documents may also be sent via e-mail to admissions@wpi.edu. Please ensure that an original transcript is sent following the e-mail or fax.

Please keep in mind that our staff will make our best effort to obtain all of your application materials in order to make a decision by December 15. We may try to contact you by e-mail or phone; messages will come from either admissions@wpi.edu or an individual staff member, so keep that person’s name in mind when reviewing your e-mail. As you’re talking to your teachers and counselors, remember what I mentioned above: we may already have the information in our office, but it may not be in the system yet; do not falsely accuse them of not sending something!

How could I forget!? I meant to include in my last post that Tuesday is Founders Day at WPI! Founders Day celebrates the anniversary of the first day of classes at WPI: November 11, 1868. If you’ve taken a tour of campus, you may remember the names of WPI founders John Boynton and Ichabod Washburn. Those two are the most notable founders of the institution, but in fact WPI was founded by nine men.

Each year on Founders Day the Student Alumni Society, a student organization on campus dedicated to preserving and promoting the history and traditions of WPI, organizes events to honor the founders. One founder in particular is chosen to be the focus of the day; this year we’ll celebrate Stephen Salisbury II.

If you’re joining us on campus on Tuesday for the open house, you’re welcome to join in the Founders Day activities. There will be live goats at the fountain during the midday hours, and the second Freshman-Sophomore rivalry event of the year, Celebrity Squares, will be held in the Campus Center in the evening.

Learn more about the history of WPI:

• Tech Bible
• University Archives
• Two Towers: The Story of Worcester Tech 1865-1965—text or audio podcast

This coming week will be very busy for me, our entire office, and WPI! I hope you’re planning to be a part of it in some way. My schedule includes some of just about everything.

• Monday: We’re hosting over 100 prospective students on campus Monday evening, and they’ll all arrive in our office at about the same time. I’ll be taking the lead in moderating a session for their parents comprised of a panel of recent alumni and current students. And final preparations for Tuesday…
• Tuesday: Our final open house for prospective students this fall is on Tuesday. We’re expecting over 800 visitors to campus. If you’ve not registered but plan to join us, you may simply show up on Tuesday and we’ll be happy to have you. You can get more information about the open house at our web site. After the open house Tuesday, I’ll drive to Philadelphia.
• Wednesday: Wednesday I have five high school visits scheduled in the Philadelphia area and then a slate of interviews that evening across the river in New Jersey. It’s also the first day of CollegeWeekLive—learn more about CWL.
• Thursday: My high school visits continue on Thursday as does CollegeWeekLive.
• Friday: Friday is the final day of my fall travel season (I’m not sure whether I’m excited, disappointed, or both). After my final high school visits, I’ll drive back to Worcester. Because…
• Saturday: Our Saturday visits are continuing through December 13, and I’m on deck to work the full day this Saturday. This Saturday is November 15 which, as you may know, is our first application deadline of the year. Early Action Round 1 applicants should be sure to submit your application on or before Saturday, November 15.

Phew, what a week! At this time next week, I’ll likely be reviewing applications!

Over the past several weeks I have taken several flights on one of my preferred and favorite airlines, Southwest. I’m not a regular reader of airline magazines (you know, those glossy publications contained in the seat pocket in front of you along with the safety information card), but I think I’ll start paying closer attention!

On a flight last month between two California destinations I happened to glance across the aisle to someone reading Southwest’s Spirit Magazine and notice a familiar name: former WPI student Dean Kamen. A section called The Knowledge, on page 46 of the October 2008 Special Technology Edition of Spirit, discusses some of Kamen’s accomplishments including the founding of FIRST and reveals that his one rule is to “improve people’s lives.”

Yesterday I had a short flight from Providence, RI to Baltimore, MD. Since it was a short flight, I didn’t bring any material to occupy the time, ao I figured I’d look at the magazine (especially given that I’d been pleased to see a WPI connection last time). To my surprise I came across a mention of WPI in the Body News section of the November 2008 edition.

The article entitled Know Pain, Know Gain: Your cost-benefit guide to get cards, dodge infection, and slim down (page 78) features research conducted on campus which proved that drinking cranberry juice lowers risk for urinary tract infections by altering bacteria and creating a temporary defense mechanism. Read more about the research and keep it in mind as Thanksgiving approaches.

I think I’ll be keeping a closer eye on these airline magazines from now on; I guess you never know what you’ll find!

Interested in WPI but can’t make it to a college fair in your area? WPI not able to attend your local fair? Want to learn more from current students and staff?

Check out CollegeWeekLive, a virtual college fair in which WPI will be participating on November 12 and 13! CollegeWeekLive will allow you to visit our virtual college fair booth to chat live with admissions representatives (we’ll have students and staff) and get information just like you would at a real college fair. Even if you’ve visited our table at a college fair or have been on campus, you’re welcome to join us online to learn more.

Head on over to CollegeWeekLive.com to sign up, and then log on in mid-November!

I just returned from my second west coast trip of the travel season, so I’ll have a bit more time to write in the next few weeks now that I’m back. I have a few more days on the road over the next two weeks, and meanwhile our first early action application deadline of November 15 is fast approaching. It is always fun for me to be on the road—lots of great people to meet, places to see, and things to do; however, it’s not always perfect, and things don’t always go to plan. Here’s some of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the past few weeks. And I’ll throw in a bonus great as well.

The good:

• Southern California, Northern California, the Pacific Northwest—need I say more?
• A reserved parking spot at a school! Ask virtually any college or high school (or many other organizations) what one of the biggest problems they face is, and you’re likely to get ‘parking’ as an answer. Much to my delight when I visited The Bush School in Seattle last week, there was a parking spot reserved for me front and center (see photo right). Thanks to Melissa for making that happen!
• Security checkpoints at Oakland International Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Easiest two I’ve encountered!

The bad:

• Traffic. Yeah, I know, I shouldn’t be complaining. But I am. Traffic can be a killer. This was my first year traveling in the Los Angeles area, and I went into it knowing that traffic would be tough. What I couldn’t anticipate was a fire that caused the 405 freeway to be closed for the early morning hours of October 23. Everything in the area was backlogged, and I unfortunately missed my first high school appointment and was late to another.
• Hotels. The hotels themselves are not bad (usually!), but in one case I was particularly caught off-guard. For better or worse, I usually count on being able to check-in early. Unfortunately the day that I actually needed the early check-in, the hotel wasn’t able to accommodate me. I ended up arriving while a student was waiting for me (you know who you are), and I’m sure I looked unprepared. For that I apologize, although I was able to straighten it out.

The ugly:

• Renovation and closure of an interview location. I decided to experiment with one of my nights of interviews in the Seattle area and hold them at an independent coffee shop. The location I selected was recommended to me by a counselor in the area. Little did I know, however, that the shop was undergoing renovation and closed! I arrived slightly early, but not in enough time to make significant alternative plans. Luckily I was in Seattle—the heart of Starbucks country—and there were several Starbucks nearby. I was (luckily!) able to reach all three of the students with whom I was scheduled to meet, and with only slight delay and confusion the interviews continued. The three of you know who you are, and if you are reading this, I thank you again for your patience! Lesson learned: confirm the location is open, arrive early, or stick to my personal favorite of Starbucks!

And, for good measure, one in the great category:

• Breathing room on airplanes. After a while of traveling, you get an idea of which airports and flights are better than others. The same goes for particular seats and rows on airplanes. On all four of my flights for this trip, I had window seats (my preferred choice) with an unoccupied seat directly next to me. Better yet, on my overnight flight back across the country, I had an entire row to myself which allowed me to actually catch some sleep!

It was great to meet you all on the road, and I’ll see some others in Baltimore and Philadelphia in the next few weeks. Do you have travel stories, good or bad?