The pre-Tufts tradition of racing down to the mailbox and tearing open an envelope from the Admissions Office may be soon be a thing of the past. Many of this year's prospective Jumbos will discover their fate sitting down; over the chirp of a modem and the click of a hard drive. In an effort to make the notification process more efficient, Tufts - as well as Harvard, Dartmouth and Yale - will notify applicants online along with a regular letter.
Admissions officer Leon Braswell and Dean of Admissions David Cuttino, estimate that close to 95 percent of prospective Tufts students now have e-mail access.
"Tufts recognizes that this is a medium in which students are comfortable, as many have completed their applications and even conducted their college searches electronically," Cuttino said. Next year, applicants will have the option to reap the benefits of online notification through Tufts' admissions application management system.
"Just as students can check on the status of the credentials supporting their application online, next year they will have the option of getting their decision," Cuttino said.
In the past, Tufts' admissions office has relied on e-mail to communicate admissions decisions to international applicants in areas where mail service was unreliable, but "real" letters were also mailed. More recently, e-mail has been used to contact applicants living on the West Coast (especially California) to avoid mail delays and to bypass post office strikes.
The Class of 2005 received both the "snail-mail" and the e-mail version of the admissions notification. For some accepted students, this meant that the joyous news could be forwarded to friends and family members. For others, especially those who saw the online decision before their snail-mail acceptance letter, some of the thrill of admittance was somewhat diminished. Overall, the admissions office has received a positive response.
"Last year, we sent admissions decisions through e-mail to all of the students applying Early Decision", Cuttino said. "The positive response led us to send online decisions to the rest of the applicants. From now on, we will be sending notification electronically in addition to sending letters by mail."
"We will continue to send hard copy letters along with the electronic letter", Braswell said.
"If an e-mail system is more efficient for the University and for applying students, it should be utilized as much as possible", said freshman Ezra Fishman. "The only drawback to the system would be technical problems, but as long as they can be prevented, e-mail is just as good as a letter."
An online acceptance notification system boasts many advantages. First, this method, if it were to eventually replace the traditional sending of letters, would be more ecologically friendly. Eliminating paper waste would demonstrate Tufts' effort to clean the environment and save trees.
And some people view sending admissions decisions via e-mail as beneficial to the student applicants. Those who apply early decision will often be saved the effort of completing the applications for back-up schools, and their parents will avoid paying the application fees that have been steadily mounting in amount each year.
"I requested a decision by e-mail because I wanted to know as soon as possible," freshman Jon Gold said. "I remember getting a call from one of my friends, who also applied to Tufts early decision, to go online and check my mail. I did so, and I remember it being a tense and exciting moment, and finding out simultaneously with my friend whether both of us were spending four years together or apart." As it turns out, both Gold and his friend were accepted and went out to celebrate that very night.
"When I heard that I could have the option of getting an e-mail rather than a letter, I was surprised - a letter is much more personal, plus I don't really trust the Internet," freshman Mari Cohen said. "But by the time I was supposed to get my decision, I just wanted to find out, and I got the e-mail a few days before the letter. At that point, I didn't care, but now I'm glad I have the letter. Your college acceptance is kind of a personal thing, and I still have mine".
For those who are not accepted, a faster decision will grant more time for the tedious preparation of applications to other institutions, and perhaps give a bit more grieving time to those for whom Tufts was the first choice.
A major issue raised by this proposal is whether or not the admissions decisions will be private - whether family members or even other student hopefuls will have access to e-mailed decisions.
Another issue is that an e-mail-only notification system seems too impersonal, especially after students have put hours of effort into their applications. "I think e-mail notification only would be very unpopular and that any university that were to eliminate the written letter would be highly criticized by incoming students," senior Alex Winograd said. Winograd, a tour guide coordinator, finds the traditional admissions letter to have a charm that is missing in e-mail.
"I personally would prefer to receive snail-mail. I wouldn't object to receiving an e-mail but I do think that there is something to be said for the personal touch that comes with receiving an actual notification in the mail."
"I know that e-mails would save time in getting your reply, but they seem more impersonal," freshman Andrea Daley agreed. "I'd rather get a letter."
"I'm not sure how prospective students would react to this but I don't think it would be entirely favorably," freshman class secretary Alexis Smith said. "It is a more impersonal approach and I think Tufts should think of itself as an institution that does not want to become an impersonal factory of students".
"It seems that having e-mailed admissions decisions helps to shorten that excruciatingly long process of waiting to hear from the schools that one has applied to," freshman class president Liz Sutton said. "While I think the perspective students may be glad to hear from Tufts earlier and in an e-mail, I think that they might also feel gypped if they didn't receive a real letter. I received both; I'm hoping that they'll continue to do it that way."
