Online Admissions Gaining Popularity

For the past two years, UNC has given students with Internet access the option of checking their admissions status online. Other schools catching the trend are Yale and Cornell universities and Dartmouth College.

Yale is in the process of building a secure Web site whereby students with a password might find out their admissions status.

According to a press release, Richard Shaw Jr., dean of Yale's undergraduate admissions, said the university's decision to allow applicants to use the Internet stems from a frustration with the expedience of the postal service that has been questionable since even before the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax scare.

But Steve Farmer, UNC senior associate director of admissions, said that at UNC online information is generally available the day after admissions letters have been mailed out.

Farmer sees this option as a quick and efficient means by which potential students can ease some of their anxiety. He also stresses that this option does not exclude people without Internet service.

"Everyone must sign some papers in order to be accepted into the school," he said. "You have to sign for acceptance and housing so instead of being something to take the place of a letter, students can use the Internet as an addition."

Farmer said most UNC applicants have Internet access.

"Out of our current applicants, 3,347 have e-mail addresses while only 143 applicants do not," he said.

But Farmer said e-mail accounts are not a true indication of Internet access. He said some students might have old computers or an e-mail account but no easily accessible Internet service.

High school guidance counselors also are advocating the use of the Internet during the application process.

Charles Lamm, career information center coordinator at Chapel Hill High School, said most students at the school have Internet access and often use this privilege during the entire admissions process.

Lamm also said he feels students without Internet access are at no real disadvantage because colleges are still accepting paper applications.

"I think it is good to do applications online as well as checking admission status online because it speeds things up," Lamm said. "But no student will be at a disadvantage as long as school accept paper applications."

And most new UNC students agree that checking admission status online expedites an otherwise tedious waiting period.

Daphne Trevathan, a freshman English major from Rocky Mount, said she used the Internet to keep tabs on her status. "I liked it better using the Internet," she said. "Having admission access to the university online is very convenient and eases the anxiety that occurs while you wait for the letter."

Deidre Young, a transfer student from Georgetown University, said she agrees, although she stresses the importance of a secure Web site. Young said she visited the site daily to check her admissions status.

"As long as I know the information is secure, I like using the Internet," Young said. "I would hate for somebody to mess with that information, but it is good to have it available online."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.