It Has Been Too Long, Folders, & Housing

When I started this blog, I told myself that I would update it every few days, or at least once a week. Well, looking at the date of the last post, it has been almost a month since my last post which is downright inexcusable. I feel negligent. Anyway, what happened was this:

Folders...lots of folders. Even though we are on rolling admissions and evaluate applications as fast as we can, we still get bombarded at this time of year. If you have applied and have not heard from us yet, chances are your folder is in one of these piles. But do not fret. We have a goal of completing every folder that came in before the February 15 priority deadline before our Accepted Student Reception, which is in late March. If you do not hear from us by then, please get in touch with us asap so that we can evaluate your application.

Here's another one of our counselors, Ivan, hard at work evaluating folders:

I wanted to make some notes here too.

The first is that Ivan and I debated whether or not to make this pic casual or candid or whatever before we decided that by us even discussing it we ruined any candidness. So I just told him to smile and I snapped the pic. I think it turned out okay.

The second is a little more serious. For as long as I have worked at UMass Lowell (I started in April of 2003) we have had guaranteed housing for students who got their deposits in before May 1. All fall and winter we were operating under that assumption as well, and telling anyone who asked that, yes, we have guaranteed housing provided students get deposits in before the deadline. Last week we were informed of a policy change regarding housing. Starting immediately, housing will be first come-first serve. In other words, students will be provided housing in the order that their contracts and deposits were received. We were told there should be no measurable effect on whether or not people get housing, but seeing as how this is different from what we've been telling people for at least four years, I figured I would make a note of it.

The impact to the admitted student who wants housing is this: You need to get your stuff in as soon as you decide UMass Lowell is the place you want to go to school. Any questions should be directed to the Housing Office, which can be contacted at (978) 934-5160.

The next note I wanted to make is regarding my last post about The Wall of Fame. I just wanted to say that in no way am I suggesting that students send us a whole bunch of stuff just for the sake of it. I don't think our processing staff would appreciate that too much. However, I would say that if you feel like you want to send us something that absolutely tells us something about you that we cannot tell by looking at the rest of your application materials - and this missing something is critical to who you are as a person - then go ahead and send it. Don't make stuff up though. In general, that is probably a good rule to live your life by.