<p>Currently, I am writing a letter appealing my waitlist decision. I think it's important to show interest and emphasize what you've done since you've applied, but does anyone else have any other suggestions? I'd love to hear stories about succesful waitlist appeals too. </p>
<p>Also, would anyone mind reading my letter after I am done? I would really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Don’t emphasize things that are already in your application. If you’ve already shown you are a wiz in math, don’t tell them you are now in the Math Honor Society. If you were Vice President of the Chess Club, don’t tell them you are now President. If you had high grades, don’t tell them you have more high grades.</p>
<p>Figure out why they didn’t accept you the first time (other than the crush of numbers) and why, now, they should accept you the second time around.</p>
<p>And, no, the vast majority of folks don’t make it off the waiting list (some waiting lists are basically courtesy rejections), so learn to love the one you’re with.</p>
<p>OP, don’t you need financial aid to attend? Wait listed students often don’t get much if any aid.
You were accepted to these schools
</p>
<p>Those seem like pretty decent choices to me. Why spend more emotional time and energy angsting over the one that got away?</p>
<p>I’m just writing a letter which will take an hour. I think it’s worth the time.</p>
<p>Chao- it’s not the hour it will take you to write the letter. It’s that you’ve now spent an hour that you should have spent falling in love with one of the schools that has admitted you, not pining away for a school which is very, very unlikely to admit you. Read the wait list threads here-- some at schools which take a dozen kids off the wait list every year (and they now have hundreds of kids on those lists!)</p>
<p>Facts are you are not likely to clear the waitlist. You want to go to college next year. Fall in love with one of the places that has shown you the love and get past this. You have some fantastic choices. Which waitlist are you pining for?</p>
<p>If you really want to go to That College, then by all means send in the letter. It’s not really an appeal though. I’d call it a letter expressing your continued interest and it’s very important. Don’t let the naysayers talk you out of it.</p>
<p>I don’t see anything wrong with what the OP is doing. Sure, the odds are not favorable for getting in but at least they can rest easy they did everything they could to improve their chances. If there are significant updates to send (i.e. academic achievements/awards or EC’s) then by all means send admissions a follow-up e-mail expressing your desire to attend if accepted and detailing those accomplishments. My son was lucky enough to be called off the waitlist at his school (one of close to 1,000 on the list) so you never know.</p>
<p>Btw my daughter and a friend of hers both got off the wait list and are now attending. it is good advice however to start falling in love with another school because chances are indeed slim. There is some good advice posted on an earlier WL thread here somewhere.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I don’t really plan on getting off the waitlist but I don’t think there’s much of a cost. I don’t want to miss out on an opportunity just because I couldn’t bother to write a letter. I appreciate the concern, but if people don’t want to answer my question, then I would prefer they don’t post. I’m tired of asking for advice on CC and then having people ignore my question completely. Again, I’m not getting my hopes up, but I don’t think it’s a big deal to write a letter.</p>
<p>Here’s a thread in the Princeton forum, but the links apply to any college wait list sitch.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1312642-waitlisted-princeton-am-i-allowed-deem-official-wait-list-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1312642-waitlisted-princeton-am-i-allowed-deem-official-wait-list-thread.html</a></p>
<p>FWIW, here was my son’s letter:</p>
<p>Dear XXXXX,</p>
<pre><code>Let me begin by thanking you and the admissions committee for considering me for this year’s ____ freshman class. I visited the campus yesterday and was afforded the opportunity to talk with students, faculty, and staff. ________ was particularly helpful and really went out of her way to answer my questions and offer some great advice. I truly found the atmosphere of the campus both enlightened and welcoming. _____ is definitely my first choice and my commitment to attend was further reinforced by my experiences on the campus. I’d like to reaffirm my belief that _______ is an excellent community in which I believe I will fit right in.
Since my application in mid-December, my enthusiasm for didactic and extracurricular endeavors continues. I was recently bestowed the honor of receiving my district’s nomination for the ________ Scholarship, an award based on a combination of considerations (including GPA and ACT test scores). Further, I have discovered a new interest in the theatre community. I joined my school’s drama club this year, and a new love and appreciation of theatre has emerged. I was offered one of the leading roles in my school’s production of _____, and although time intensive, I have found it extremely rewarding. It has even influenced my academic interests; with ______ diverse options for classes, I am considering expanding my planned concentration in ____ and _____ studies to include ______, or perhaps even to pursue _______.
Again, thank you and everyone for your and their time and enormous help, and I look forward to hearing from you.
</code></pre>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>OP, was the response to your appeal letter requesting more financial aid encouraging?</p>
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<p>I’m not sure. They haven’t made a final decision yet.</p>
<p>If you really want to go to that school, you’re right to pursue the wait list. It’s not for others to make that decision for you. For graduate school, I pursued the wait list at Stanford and eventually got off it but ultimately decided not to attend. I didn’t feel pursuing the wait list took much out of me at all. I actually think I would have regretted it even more had I not stayed on. However, I’m the type of person who would be consumed by “what if?” questions.</p>
<p>Chaos, best of luck to you. I don’t know why you continue to start threads asking for advice and then getting irritated when parents offer advice. I know at a least a dozen HS seniors who are now on wait lists- a couple have asked me to proof their letters. I tell each of them what I tell you- start falling in love with one of the schools already on your admit list.</p>
<p>No, it doesn’t take much effort to write a letter. You should absolutely write that letter. I can’t imagine how hearing about other kids experiences getting off the wait list will help you with that letter in any meaningful way. Many years ago a young lady I had interviewed for Brown got in off the waitlist (she forwarded me a copy of the letter.) Since applying and being put on the waitlist, she found out that the novel she had submitted to a major publisher was accepted.</p>
<p>However, I can’t imagine that her situation is at all relevant to yours. Yes- if your novel is being published you should put that in your letter.</p>
<p>Sometimes people are trying to be helpful in the best way they know how. But for sure- go ahead and write the letter. And then sit back and get excited about one of the other places that you are likely to end up attending. Or not-- I am not ignoring your post asking for other people’s experiences. But my answer- “In my experience, most kids do not get in off the wait list regardless of what’s in their letter and they spend the spring pining away and getting distracted instead of focusing on making a good decision about where to go for college” is going to annoy you. So please go in peace.</p>
<p>Back in the dark ages, I got in off the waiting list. My letter wasn’t anything special. I hadn’t done anything that didn’t already show in my application. (Good student, want to go, yaddayaddayadda). I can’t imagine that there was ANYTHING in my letter that made one iota of difference. A postcard would have done. Someone who knew someone in the admissions office put in a good word for me. I found out that they didn’t think I would come if they took me. I was FAR from the best qualified applicant from my high school, but I had the advantage of my last name (long story).</p>
<p>But those were in medieval times.</p>
<p>I didn’t even know colleges have waiting lists these days! Now it seems like all the schools have them, even a regional local college on par with my subpar state flagship.</p>
<p>I agree with mini’s suggestion that you are not likely to get off the wait list if you simply tell the college about marginal new accomplishments in areas where you have already established your track record, and the additions are fairly predictable. On the other hand, in a letter that includes other aspects of your personality, accomplishments, and interest in the school, it would not hurt to have a sentence or two of the predictable-additional-accomplishments type.</p>
<p>In addition to your letter, though, I would suggest that you see whether a teacher, EC adviser, or other adult who knows you well is willing to go to bat for you. Is there some aspect of your qualifications that was only represented in a limited way, because you had only two teacher recommendations sent in (in the typical case)? With the additional information you have gained since applying, can you tell anything that might particularly catch the attention of the people in admissions? </p>
<p>If you search the CC forum on your school of interest carefully, you may find posts by an admissions rep. Read through them analytically. Some will be just restatements of the admissions requirements or procedures, but other may give you a clue about what the admissions people are particularly looking for. It is perfectly honest to highlight those aspects of your qualifications/personality, assuming that they are genuine.</p>
<p>So, if you get off the waitlist and they don’t have any money for you, what will you do then? You ignored that post completely–waitlisted kids rarely get financial aid.</p>
<p>Is Columbia really your absolute number one choice that you will go to at the drop of a hat if you get in? Will you drop all of the other wonderful choices in a heartbeat and send in your deposit even as a full pay student (you said your parents have plenty of $$) if you get the nod? What is your reason for wanting to try to get in off the wait list?</p>