For some transfer students, admission decisions made in a day

A program accepts or rejects students the same day they apply.

Today, Oct. 11, the university will offer some prospective students the opportunity to apply and receive an admissions decision before they go home.

Temple’s annual Instant Decision Day at Main Campus, open to transfer students who accumulated 15 or more credits from an accredited university, takes place in Conwell Hall.

The event allows students interested in transferring to Temple to come to campus with the necessary paperwork, application and transcripts to receive a same-day admissions response.

The admissions officer present will review the applicant’s paperwork, interview them and then make a decision that day.

“From the [students’] perspective the obvious advantage is there is no waiting to hear what their decision will be,” Jim Van Blunk, senior associate director of Undergraduate Admissions, said in an email. “From the Undergraduate Admissions Office perspective, we are given an opportunity to immediately gage the admissibility of a student. It can help us manage the enrollment of our transfer population on many levels.”

Van Blunk said that if the student is not strong enough to be admitted, the university can offer a clear explanation and counseling on how he or she can become admissible in the future.

Applicants can receive one of three types of decisions at Instant Decision Day, Van Blunk said. They can be admitted, denied or told that the university will have to wait for official or current semester transcripts before a decision can be made.

“If a student is not admissible, we give them back all of their paperwork and give them clear directions on what they will need in order to be admitted to the university at a later date,” Van Blunk said.

Van Blunk said that Instant Decision Day events, now in their third year, are typically held twice in the fall semesters and three times in the spring semester.

“I guess it’s a good way to expedite the process,” Gerald Henderson, a philosophy and sociology major said. “I’m a transfer student from the Community College of Philadelphia. I would have taken advantage of Instant Decision day if I had known about [it].”

However, if a student is not chosen during Instant Decision Day, he or she may not reapply through a regular application.

Dominique Johnson can be reached at dominique.johnson@temple.edu.