There have been SAT/ACT cancelations, AP test modifications, and college tour cancelations. But the novel coronavirus pandemic hasn’t yet led to many super significant, enduring changes yet in the world of highly selective college admissions — except maybe at Georgetown University. Stop the presses. This is utter madness. Georgetown University has released decisions online for the first time in its history — ending a long tradition of snail mailing their acceptances, waitlists, and rejections. And, yes, we believe it will be a practice that sticks.

Georgetown Has Long Bucked the Trend by Snail Mailing Decisions

Just about all highly selective colleges have been notifying applicants of their admissions decisions online — typically via portals or via email — for many years. In fact, this has been the case since nearly the beginning of the twenty-first century. Yes, even back in the early days of the 2000s, many highly selective colleges shared admissions decisions via portals or emails. That doesn’t mean there weren’t glitches with some of these portals. But they’ve existed for, in some cases, twenty years. Except at Georgetown University. No, not at Georgetown.

It Took a Worldwide Pandemic for Georgetown to Finally Relent to Releasing Decisions Electronically

But Georgetown University, under the leadership of its Dean of Admissions Charles Deacon, a lion of college admissions, has long bucked that trend. It took a worldwide pandemic for Mr. Deacon to finally relent to sharing admissions decisions via cyberspace. Welcome, Mr. Deacon and Georgetown University, to this young century! Welcome, welcome! No one wants to open envelopes these days. No one wants to even check their mailbox. It took the most extreme of circumstances — a world in which people are fearful of touch — for Georgetown University to finally get with the program and release decisions electronically. Nonetheless, we salute Mr. Deacon and Georgetown University for joining us in this young century. May you continue to release decisions electronically for many years to come!