Anonymous
Post 02/02/2024 15:22     Subject: William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Anonymous wrote:My friends’ kid applied to William and Mary this year for class of 2028 ED2 and she already found out she got in. I’m not sure exactly when but at least a few days ago. Do they not release their ED2 decision all on the same day?


She probably either got a cypher card (W&M's version of a 'likely letter') or a scholarship finalist notification. These are both signals that you got in, but they do release all their formal acceptance decisions on the same day.
Anonymous
Post 02/02/2024 15:19     Subject: William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

My friends’ kid applied to William and Mary this year for class of 2028 ED2 and she already found out she got in. I’m not sure exactly when but at least a few days ago. Do they not release their ED2 decision all on the same day?
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 20:39     Subject: William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations to those that received the card. For those that didn’t good things may still come. Neither of my two kids got post cards but both accepted to VA’s true flagship in the RD round.


Wut?
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 20:22     Subject: Re:William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To 18:02, our card was hand signed, just a brief thing not a full hand-written card. The main card itself is printed out, and then a staff member signed. Nice touch.


18:02 here. Good to know. Having someone in the admission office hand signed each is definitely a nice touch, especially given all app updates are mainly digital these days.


They are signed by the regional reps.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 20:10     Subject: Re:William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Anonymous wrote:To 18:02, our card was hand signed, just a brief thing not a full hand-written card. The main card itself is printed out, and then a staff member signed. Nice touch.


18:02 here. Good to know. Having someone in the admission office hand signed each is definitely a nice touch, especially given all app updates are mainly digital these days.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 18:28     Subject: Re:William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

To 18:02, our card was hand signed, just a brief thing not a full hand-written card. The main card itself is printed out, and then a staff member signed. Nice touch.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 18:11     Subject: Re:William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Anonymous wrote:My student received a card today too, which is nice.

To help, I will share that he was/is very interested and worked hard on the essays, but he did not actually submit until a day or two before the deadline. So I doubt timing matters per other posts or that he was reviewed early in their process.

Likely just an algorithm to assess grades, rigor of courses, likelihood of attending given location of high school and home - maybe a set of eyes after that since the card is signed by a human - so the algo spits out certain people based on criteria, then the staff fast tracks those for review.

Grateful, but still do not count it as an official acceptance until the letter comes through though.


+1 Kid got a postcard today. The application was submitted at like 11:50 pm on due date. I don't think submission timing matters--particularly since they presumably read them HS-by-HS (so at worst, she would have been the last one to have been read within the timing of her particular HS).
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 18:02     Subject: William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Just curious, are all the cards hand signed. Just seems like a lot of work to hand sign a few hundred post cards. It is a nice gesture though.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 17:59     Subject: Re:William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

My student received a card today too, which is nice.

To help, I will share that he was/is very interested and worked hard on the essays, but he did not actually submit until a day or two before the deadline. So I doubt timing matters per other posts or that he was reviewed early in their process.

Likely just an algorithm to assess grades, rigor of courses, likelihood of attending given location of high school and home - maybe a set of eyes after that since the card is signed by a human - so the algo spits out certain people based on criteria, then the staff fast tracks those for review.

Grateful, but still do not count it as an official acceptance until the letter comes through though.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 17:51     Subject: William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Anonymous wrote:Woo Hoo! So excited to have a postcard and hear of so many happy students there! Good luck to all!


Congrats!!
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 17:38     Subject: William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Congratulations to those that received the card. For those that didn’t good things may still come. Neither of my two kids got post cards but both accepted to VA’s true flagship in the RD round.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 17:33     Subject: Re:William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid hasn’t yet received a card but got an email he is a Semifinalist for the 1693 Scholarship. Can we assume it’s a definite yes?


How could their admissions office and communications office be so disjuncted? It is a terrible look.


You don't understand how things work. Both are part of the admissions office. They are not going to send out any official acceptance letters until they send out all the letters. That is accepted practice across colleges.
But it's obvious that if you are a semifinalist for the most prestigious merit award then you will also be accepted when acceptance letters are sent. Letting someone know they are a semi-finalist is like an extra special likely letter, not a mistake.



When did you get the email?
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 17:32     Subject: William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Woo Hoo! So excited to have a postcard and hear of so many happy students there! Good luck to all!
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 16:29     Subject: Re:William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Good luck to everyone! My DC is very happy at W&M!
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2024 15:53     Subject: William and Mary cypher cards in the mail today

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Seems unfair to the ED kids, they should get this perk too.


you dont have your ED decision?


Of course, but a card a couple weeks ahead of time would have been really nice, not sure why they didn't do this for their most dedicated applicants.


three things:

First, this isn't for all RD kids. It's for the top RD kids. 90% of admits won't get a cypher card.
Second, plenty of ED kids had different kind of cypher card - a commitment from a coach or a dean or a faculty member. There were plenty of ED kids who had "a card" a couple weeks ahead of time and I'm sure that was nice. That wasn't your kid, but it doesn't make it unfair to your kid.
Third, the turnaround time is very tight for ED and they don't have time to do a card a couple weeks early. Schools are literally making ED decisions in the days before they are released.


Wait- my kid applied ED1 and has not received a decision yet. But you're telling me W&M are letting some RD applicants that they have been admitted? WTF? How is that even remotely fair?


??? ED1 came out around 12/8