Explaining “SIR” – Statement of Intent to Register

Now that many of you have heard back from most of your schools, you will start hearing people talk about completing their SIR, asking if you’ve completed yours, and asking where your “SIR-ing” too? 

And you may be asking yourself, what does SIR even mean?? 

PS- more of a visual learner? Check out our video on this topic! 

SIR stands for Statement of Intent to Register. Long story short, you must submit a SIR to ONE school by May 1^st.  This means that you plan to attend and enroll at that specific University. 

When you SIR to a school, you typically put down a non-refundable deposit to hold your place at the institution. This tells the university that you plan to attend, you will be paying tuition, if you’re staying on campus then you’ll be paying for housing and a meal plan, and all of those types of things. The college will hold this spot for you knowing that you have expressed your commitment to them through the SIR. 

Some of you may be reading this and asking “but what if I’m on a waitlist for another school, do I still need to SIR”?

The answer is YES! You must SIR to one school even if you are on the waitlist for other schools. If you don’t SIR to a school, they will assume that you are not attending and may give away your spot to someone else off of their waitlist or a student that lodged a successful appeal. 

If you get off the waitlist at another school and accept their offer (this is typically after May 1^st), you call the original university that you submitted your statement of Intent to register and let them know that you do not plan to attend that university. You will lose that initial deposit and will have to put a new deposit down at the school you plan to attend. It is important to do this so that you won’t incur more fees (like tuition, housing) and also so they can offer your spot to another student who could attend that university. 

All the best in this very exciting time! 

Team Insight