This has been a groundbreaking year. Students, guidance counselors, and college admissions alike dealt with changes to applications during the fall. In an effort to keep more clarity in our applications, we added a writing supplement. And, also for the first time, we released all of our admissions decisions online. With an exciting push of a button today, we witnessed over 2,000 students view their decisions within 90 minutes — and many more as the evening wore on.
This year’s applicant pool was once again very strong, so the competition for gaining admission was particularly intense. We are excited to welcome our chosen Class of 2018, a truly special achievement, though it was not a quick nor easy decision-making process. As always, we spent over five weeks in full-day Committee, opening every application in front of our admissions staff of 13, and often opening essays, transcripts, and recommendations multiple times for the most complete evaluation possible.
We were struck by poignant responses to our additional writing sample, asking what was the best advice you ever received. We were impressed by what your guidance counselor and teachers had to say about you. We were dazzled by your leadership and floored by what we heard from you in interviews. We were challenged to pick from among 5,300 talented students, yet we remain proud of the ones we have chosen.
The next five weeks will be very busy and very exciting for those admitted applicants — now official members of the Holy Cross community, if you will have us. As you consider your choices, we hope you will join us on campus so we can help you celebrate your impressive achievements. From a variety of visiting options to our Accepted Student Open House to our virtual representation on social media, there are a number of ways to engage with the College.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us (800-442-2421) with any questions or concerns. We are excited to welcome you to the Holy Cross community!
Ann McDermott, ’79
Director of Admissions
August has arrived, and with it, for many of us, has come the feeling that the end is near. The end of summer … the end of sleeping late, beach days and pool time … indeed, its back to school! You might find comfort in the fact that you’re not alone … its back to school for us as well. As my colleague Amanda wrote not long ago, for us here in Admissions, we’ve been planning our schedules and getting ready to have the rubber meet the road in just a few short weeks. We’ll be coming to your schools and college fairs before you know it; for many of us, in less than a month! For some of you reading this in Arizona and Florida, you’re already back; but for many others, you still have a few days or weeks to enjoy! How should you be spending that time, you ask? Why, visiting colleges of course … including, I should add, spending some time here at Holy Cross!
Believe it or not, I don’t care for the picture of me that accompanies my blogs. The photographer said “don’t smile”, so I didn’t. The result is a slightly confused-looking version of my better self. I try not to look at it when I view my blogs, but it’s hard to ignore that unhappy face. It’s not that the picture is more important than (or even as important as) the words beside it, but I just can’t reconcile that mean-looking person with the friendly words she writes.
This list is the culmination of my own experiences as an admissions officer as well as of my colleagues in this office and other admissions offices. As you go through them, you may have a lot of “duh” moments and most of these are very much common sense but it’s usually the most obvious things that are the least visible to us. With that said, I hope this list is useful to you as you focus in on the application process.
