May 1st may be known internationally as International Worker’s Day, but in the field of higher education, May 1st is the day all institutions of higher learning have set as the last day accepted students can respond in the positive, “Yes, I will attend College X.” Schools cannot be more nervous than an expectant father, awaiting the birth of his first born child. Conjure up visions of a circa 1950’s dad pacing the hospital waiting room, palms sweating, stomach aching with angst, awaiting the outcome delivered via third party, and you’d get the idea. In this case, the positive outcome would be a deposit in the form of a credit card payment through Pay Pal or a check or money order via snail mail. The negative outcome would be a big resounding, nothing, nada, zilch. Rejection would come in the form of no news. In this case, no news is bad news. Colleges and universities around the country turn control of their destiny, or at least their tuition income for the next four years over to essentially, 17 and 18 year olds. For this day, once a year, the fate of the institution is really in the hands of high school seniors.
The time line culminating in this all important day plays out a little something like this. Starting in August of the year before, the college applications for the next academic year becomes available online or by mail. Students in their senior year of high school from all over the world start filling out either the college specific admission application or the Common Application, which simplifies filing for multiple colleges, more than 400 at last count, at one time. Items that are amiss, such as the student’s first quarter grades, any letters of recommendation, come straggling in around October or early November. The Early Decision applicants usually face a much earlier deadline of November 15 through December 15 to submit their completed application. Regular Decision applicants have anywhere from January 15 until March 1st. Then it’s up to the colleges and universities to review their application, and determine whether each applicant gets an acceptance letter, a rejection letter, or a wait-listed letter. Then, the wait starts.
This time line is more or less a given. Schools know that not all accepted students will choose them, so the schools stack the deck. What does that mean? They accept more students than the number of vacant freshmen seats, knowing their yield will not be 100%. What is yield? In this case, yield is the numbers of accepted students who actually enroll as a freshman. Some prestigious colleges are lucky to have a yield of 80%, most schools have an average yield of 30% to 40%. Applicants are notified by early April. Financial aid offers are made at approximately the same time in the case of students who have demonstrated financial need. Candidates to whom admission is offered must respond by May 1. Almost all schools require accepted students to make a commitment and a deposit by May 1st. That is why May 1st is the deadline to respond to colleges. May 1st truly is D-Day.
