BYU Admissions pushed back the date it will send admission decisions from the end of February to March 3, causing stress and frustration for some high school seniors awaiting their acceptance news.
“It has definitely been an agonizing couple of months,” said Eleanor Duncan, a high school senior at Hopewell High School in North Carolina. “Even though they are only pushing it back a couple of days, it really is a big deal.”
In a statement to The Daily Universe, University Communications spokesman Todd Hollingshead said BYU Admissions understands this is an anxious and exciting time for prospective students.
“The reason for the admissions decisions taking a few extra days is simply a matter of needing a little extra time to give every application a thorough review,” Hollingshead said in the statement. “We generally make decisions the last Friday of the month, but this year the end of February was in the middle of the week, so we opted for the first Friday of March.”
BYU Admissions emailed all waiting applicants on Feb. 10 to inform them of the pushed-back decision date.
“We know how excited and anxious you are to have a decision rendered,” the email said. “Even though previous communication suggested we would be sending decision notifications by the end of February, we will be sending them on the evening of March 3.”
The email also thanked the applicants for their patience and their interest in attending BYU.
Disheartening delays
Duncan said she is disheartened because she heard the delay is due to an unusually large number of applicants this year.
“It is already pretty difficult to get into BYU, so the fact that there are more applicants than they expected adds quite a bit of pressure on everyone that has applied,” Duncan said. “It makes me wonder if my chances of being accepted have dramatically decreased, or if BYU is going to increase the number of incoming students.”
Kayla Fagan said her first reaction to the news of the admissions decision delay was frustration. (Kayla Fagan)
Kayla Fagan, a senior at Coeur d’Alene High School in Idaho, said her first reaction to the news of the admissions decision delay was frustration.
“People ask me, ‘Where are you going to college?’ And I’ll respond, ‘I don’t really know yet, because BYU hasn’t told me,’ so it’s frustrating that way,” Fagan said.
Seth Dotson, a high school senior at Desert Hills High School in St. George, said many of his friends have already decided on their colleges, while he’s still waiting to hear whether he's been accepted to BYU.
“I’d been waiting for one of the longest wait times,' Dotson said. 'BYU is the college you’ve got to wait the longest to hear a response from, and then they push it back even further.'
Seth Dotson is waiting to hear if he is accepted into BYU. He said it's upsetting BYU pushed back their acceptance even further. (Seth Dotson)
Dotson said he’s applied to several other schools and has already heard back from all of them. Most schools take about a week to a month to get back to you, Dotson said.
Delays complicate decisions
“It causes issues when deciding between two schools,” Duncan said. 'Some of my friends are dealing with that right now — they have been accepted to a school that they really love, but are waiting to hear back from BYU. The waiting adds a lot of pressure to the big decision that they have to make.”
Desert Hills High School senior Hadley Cowan said BYU’s delay in its already late admission decisions can make housing decisions hard.
Hadley Cowan said BYU's late acceptance decisions can complicate housing decisions. (Hadley Cowan)
Student housing options for the Fall 2017 have already opened on other college campuses, but Cowan said she has to wait to hear back from BYU, her top choice, before she can sign up for housing elsewhere.
“I have some friends who applied to housing in November because they already had it figured out, and they were accepted,” Cowan said.
Being Understanding
Dallin Bleak, also a senior at Desert Hills High School, said he understands the delay.
“It’s not too far back,” Bleak said. “I kinda understand because BYU’s application is much different than everyone else’s.'
Fagan said the slight delay, although frustrating, hasn't affected her very much.
“I really want to find out if I got in or not, but I realize it’s only a couple days later, so it’s not too big of a deal,” Fagan said.
Dallin Bleak (left) and friends attend a BYU football game. Bleak said he’s understanding of the acceptance notification delay.