Welcome Back to School From GU Admissions

In the new year, time behaves strangely.

The holidays have passed. Decorations come down. Suitcases get unpacked. Class syllabi appear in inboxes. Alarm clocks return. The light is still thin, the air still sharp, but something has shifted. The year has turned, and with it comes that familiar mix of resolve, uncertainty, and quiet momentum.

So before anything else, from all of us in Gonzaga Undergraduate Admission: happy new year, and welcome back.

Whether you’ve returned to school in the past couple of weeks or earlier, are settling into a routine, or are easing your way back into focus after a long break, we’re glad you’re here. January is not flashy, but it is honest. It asks for less celebration and more attention. It invites you to take stock—not just of goals or deadlines, but of how you’re actually doing.

If you applied to Gonzaga Early Action, your admission decision arrived in the past month. We know that the feeling of waiting can linger even after the calendar changes and news arrives—a low hum in the background, present during class, practice, work, and everything else you’re trying to hold at once while an undecided future draws slowly nearer. Hang in there. You’re where you need to be in this moment.

And if you haven’t applied yet, there is still time! Gonzaga’s Regular Decision deadline is February 1, and there is still room this coming weekend to reflect, revise, and move forward with care.

Wherever you are in that process, we want to say something clearly and without qualification: your worth does not depend on an admissions decision. You matter to Gonzaga now—as a person, not a result. No letter or status update can fully capture who you are or what you are capable of becoming.

The start of a new year often comes with pressure: to improve, to decide, to “figure things out.” But growth is rarely linear, and clarity doesn’t always arrive on schedule. Some of you are stepping through January energized and hopeful. Others are feeling tired, uncertain, or quietly overwhelmed. Some are carrying both at the same time.

All those energies belong here.

This season is less about reinvention and more about continuation. About picking up threads. About learning how to move forward without needing everything to be resolved first. Across cultures and traditions, winter has long been a time for reflection and storytelling—not because narratives are easy, but because stories help us make sense of where we’ve been and imagine where we might go next.

That matters to us in Admissions more than you might expect.

Every application we read is a story in motion. Some are confident and expansive; others are tentative, searching, still unfolding. Many hold pride and vulnerability side by side. What we are listening for is not perfection. We’re listening for voice. For reflection. For care. For a sense of how you understand yourself and the world you’re navigating.

If you’re working on your application now, our advice remains simple: write honestly. Not grandly. Not strategically. Honestly. Write about what has shaped you, what you notice, what you carry with you into this new year. Write about the questions that matter—even if you’re still living inside them. Life rarely offers clean conclusions, and the most meaningful stories rarely do either.

Focusing on classes, activities, work, or simply finding your footing again—all that matters too. Rest and soft attention are not distractions from growth. They are part of it.

At Gonzaga, our Jesuit values ground us in something deeper than outcomes alone. We believe in cura personalis—care for the whole person. We believe education should form not only strong students, but thoughtful, compassionate human beings. Learning happens in classrooms, yes—but also in conversation, in service, in reflection, and in the quiet work of becoming.

As this new year gets underway, we hope you give yourself permission to move forward with patience. To notice what supports you. To extend care—to others and to yourself. To remember that dignity is not something you earn by doing everything right. It is something you already have.

Wherever this year leads, your story is still unfolding. You are more than a deadline, more than a decision, more than any single moment.

From all of us in Undergraduate Admission: welcome back. Thank you for letting us be part of your journey. We wish you steadiness, clarity, and care in the days ahead, and we’re here whenever you need us.