What’s Next?

My experience as a director of admissions & admissions officer:

You’ve submitted your enrollment reply form. Now what?

• First, celebrate! Take a beat. Go out to dinner. Have a dance party with your friends. Read a good book (for fun - not for school). Do whatever you do to celebrate and relax.

• After the big celebration, be sure to decline your admission at other colleges. Do you have to do this? No. There are plenty of students who simply don’t reply, but replying with the school where you’re attending is helpful to admissions offices. And if you formed a relationship with your AO, it’s a really nice gesture to send a quick thank you to them.

• Update your email address.

  • There’s a time period (most likely) when you don’t yet have your college email address, but your high school email will be shut off. If you used your HS email address as your address of record, you might miss important information. You might be able to update your email address via the applicant portal. If not, reach out to the admissions office and ask.

  • You should also know that the admissions office isn’t the only office that has a record of your file, nor is it the only office that will be communicating with you. So if you do make an update here, will it automatically be sent over to the other offices? Maybe, maybe not. There’s not much you can do about this but have patience and follow up when needed.

  • Remember that college email address I just mentioned? In my experience, college staff are already sending email to it - even though you don’t yet have access. So when you get access to it, open it immediately and start checking it on a regular basis. So many students miss important information, deadlines, class registration cutoffs, etc. by not checking or setting up their new college email address.

• Choose your housing and meal plan.

  • Unless you’re living at home and/or a meal plan isn’t required, you’re most likely making some decisions soon. You will probably be asked to a) submit a housing deposit (some colleges don’t require this, but some do), and b) submit a housing or roommate questionnaire.

  • Adjust your expectations. Do you have your heart set on a single as a freshman? It’s highly, highly unlikely. Unless you need specific accommodations, you might not even have air conditioning - so think about purchasing a fan if you’re going anywhere but the most northern states (and even then).

  • Pick your meal plan. Now, you might not have any option. There might just be one meal plan for all first-year students, but sometimes, you do have options - such as 2 or 3 meals per day; how many dollars you want on your card for the snack bar or even off-campus eateries, etc. Each college is different.

• Course selection.

  • The timeline and method for choosing freshman courses will vary from school to school. Follow instructions carefully to ensure you get the courses you want/need.

  • If you’re enrolling in an Honors College, you might have priority registration. A lot of honors colleges offer this as a perk.

  • It’s best (in most circumstances) to choose general education courses your first year, or those classes that you need to graduate and offered across the curriculum. You might receive some guidance on this from the college, or maybe you don’t choose your courses until you arrive on campus.

• Summer kickoff event.

  • Many colleges host kickoff events in your hometown, especially if you live in a larger town or city. These events are often optional and hosted by the alumni affairs and/or admissions office, and they’re a great way to meet other students. Look for an email invitation so you can attend if you’re available.

• Academic placement.

  • Many colleges require placement testing in subjects such as math and writing. If the testing determines that you need to take developmental courses, be aware that these courses do not count toward graduation and may prolong your time in college.

  • If you have AP exam scores (or possibly others, like IB exam scores or A-levels), you might be able to either get credit in college or place out of introductory courses. Like many things, every college is different. Try to research their policies -many colleges publish their policies online.

• Work-study (or any campus job).

  • If you’re accepting work-study in your financial aid package, look into campus employment opportunities. At most colleges, any student can get a job, but you have to actually apply and find one. Sometimes, this doesn’t happen until you arrive on campus; other times, students are already applying on job boards before getting to campus.