The University of Washington is moving to a process whereby admissions decisions are not made until all applications have been received and assessed. This new process will be in effect beginning with applicants to the autumn 2011 freshman class.
Known as a "pooling admissions process," it is in contrast to the current approach, known as a "rolling admissions process," in which decisions are generally made and communicated as applications are received and assessed.

Under the new system, applications for 2011 will be received between Oct. 1 and Dec. 15. Freshman applicants for autumn quarter will be notified of their admission status between March 15 and March 31. Officials believe the deadline for applications for 2012 will be Dec. 1.

There are several reasons for the change. The number of applications has increased markedly over the past five years, with about half of each autumn quarter's freshman class applications arriving on or shortly before a Jan. 15 deadline. This has caused severe strains on the resources of the Office of Admissions to review these applications -- holistically -- in a timely manner.

"But more importantly, we've found that rolling out admission decisions from December through March was causing significant anxiety among applicants and their parents, leading to thousands of phone calls and e-mails about application status and notification about decisions," says Philip Ballinger, assistant vice president for enrollment. "By moving to an earlier application deadline as well as a single admissions decision window for all freshman class applicants, we hope to bring more clarity to the admissions process, relieve undue anxiety among students and their families and improve the efficiency and speed with which we are able to process and holistically review ever-growing application pools.