So far this year more than 14,000 students have chosen to apply to Carolina. We’re honored by the interest of these students and humbled by their achievements and potential. If you’re one of them, we’re grateful to you.
A lot happens between the time you hit the Submit button and the time we read your application. First we review what you sent us to make sure that everything came across intact. Then we match your application with the credentials – transcripts, counselor statements, recommendations, test scores – that others have sent us on your behalf. As we connect your credentials with your application, we check them off your to-do list.
All of this takes some time, not least because our applications, and the credentials that accompany them, tend to come to us more or less at once. This year 9,000 students applied within a week of our November deadline; their credentials came rushing right behind. The combined effect is sort of like a thousand owl-borne letters flying through the chimney of number four, Privet Drive.
We’ve made good progress in the two weeks since the deadline. As of 5 pm on Friday, we’d reviewed 11,000 applications for completeness – three fourths of the total and double the number we’d reviewed by last year on the same date. We’d also forwarded 5,200 applications to our admissions committee to be read – also twice as many compared to last year.
We still have plenty of work in front of us. For example, we think it will take us at least until December 8 to sort, scan, and match all the mail we’ve received through today. If you check your to-do list and see that something’s missing, and if you know that the credential has already been sent, please don’t resend it just yet; if it’s not connected to your application by December 8, you’ll have several other chances to see that it finds its way home.
We’re lucky to have great students at Carolina – and the interest of other great students who’re thinking about joining us. I promise you we don’t take your interest for granted. And I promise we will give you every reasonable chance to make sure that your application is complete.
In the meantime, thank you for your patience, and thank you for choosing Carolina.
--Stephen Farmer
