The Office of Undergraduate Admissions' new website includes a map showing the home states of the students who were admitted and the names and numbers of current students who attended the same high schools.

For first time, applicants get admissions news online

This year for the first time, Yale College applicants didn't have to set up camp at the mailbox to wait for the fateful news. Thanks to an innovative, interactive system developed for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions website, the record number of applicants (15,443) who applied to Yale College this year could find out whether or not they had been accepted almost instantly by logging on to their personal page at the Yale site. That is, in fact, how the overwhelming majority of applicants did find out the first week in April, within minutes (and in some cases, seconds) after the decisions were posted. Richard H. Shaw Jr., dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid, was pleased at how well the first online notification worked. "It really was quite flawless," he says. In previous years, on the Monday following the deadline for admissions decisions, "the phones would be ringing off the hook" with calls from frantic applicants who hadn't received their notification by regular mail, he says. This year, the phones were barely ringing at all. An unprecedented level of interactivity accounts for a good deal of the site's popularity with the 2,008 students who were admitted to Yale's Class of 2006 (at 13%, also a new low in the admissions rate). However speedy and efficient the new online admissions system is, the primary advantage of its many interactive features is the sense of hospitality it conveys, according to the project's manager, Nathan Gault. "We are so proud of the site because it really makes the admitted student feel like they are part of the Yale community right away," says Gault, who gives credit to Alexander Clark, a Yale sophomore, for the website's development. Gault recalls that this year's innovations all began with a conversation he had with Clark in which they concluded that it would be fun to develop a website with admissions information. He credits the website's user-friendliness to the fact that the students who developed the website were still fresh from the applications process themselves. Instead of a "congratulations, you're in" message, admitted applicants are given the good news by Handsome Dan to a rousing cheer of "Bulldog, Bulldog." The students are then linked to a page where they have checked their own preferences from a menu of extracurricular and academic interests. Under the chosen interest or subject is the name and e-mail address of a current Yale student who can answer questions about topics ranging from astrophysics to film studies. "We have kids telling us it's the coolest thing," says Shaw, who notes that the admissions website also boasts a suitable-for-framing certificate of admittance with his signature and the heraldic emblems of all 12 residential colleges. At the click of a mouse, the user can also access a map of the country with dots indicating where applicants are from; and another map showing the home bases of those who were admitted. This site links to the names and contact information for current Yale students who attended the same high school as the just-admitted applicant. The site also includes videos, slide shows and virtual tours, covering just about every aspect of life at Yale. Yet another innovation is the link to the Bulldog Days orientation on the Yale campus April 21­23. The event, which is always held after acceptances have gone out and before the deadline for final decisions, offers prospective Yalies a chance to learn first-hand about undergraduate life. The website includes information about all the activities planned for the stay on campus, and students can sign up online. Within the first five days after acceptance notices were posted, 300 students had used this feature. In fact, notes Gault, one second after the announcements were posted online, 100 students had logged on; after a minute, 500 had checked in. By the end of the first hour, the site had 3,091 visitors; by the second hour, 5,129; and by the third, 6,140. Twelve hours after the decisions were posted online, 1,191 of the 1,459 applicants admitted this spring had received the good news online. By that time, 9,756 applicants had accessed the site at least once, and many had made repeated visits, for a total of 15,574 hits for one day. In only five days, 11,407 applicants had logged on once, with a total of 20,446 hits altogether. In fact, Gault notes, between the applicants and other interested individuals (including, he surmises, friends and relatives of those admitted), the Office of Undergraduate Admissions website -- which had only 5,000 hits during a one-week period this time last year -- had over 77,000 visitors this year. -- By Dorie Baker T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S For first time, applicants get admissions news online Communiversity Day will be held April 20 Study: Children's lives not improved by welfare reform Statesman warns victory in Afghanistan is . . . Surgeon/trustee tells youngsters: Don't make excuses F&ES adding four new assistant professors to faculty 'Journalists and Terrorism' is focus of Poynter talk Conference to explore Agent Orange's effect . . . IN FOCUS: Bright Bodies Program Yale Rep staging tale about 'the sacrifice of innocence' Gowin's aerial images capture human abuse of Earth Related exhibits offer views of the changing American landscape Scholar to discuss Freud's view of the biblical Moses Theme of sacrifice in biblical literature is explored in exhibit Leader in genome sequencing to speak at medical school Benefit art auction will feature works by Yale faculty artists Concert features musical portrait of 'Three Places in New Haven' Yale scientists begin new round of tests on cocaine vaccine Memorial service for James Tobin Frontiers of Science Online parking renewals offered again Campus Notes Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News|Bulletin Board Yale Scoreboard|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs Home|News Releases| E-Mail Us|Yale Home Page