Advice for Waitlisted Students

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>All,</p>

<p>We know that waitlisted students will have many questions about what to do from here. I have written up the following on our blog as advice and will post the waitlist-specific information below as well. Blog post: <a href="https://blogs.uchicago.edu/collegeadmissions/2012/03/decisions_now_available_in_you.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://blogs.uchicago.edu/collegeadmissions/2012/03/decisions_now_available_in_you.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>PLEASE read it carefully before asking specific questions about the waitlist. Feel free to ask if your question is not covered here-- but I tried to make sure that most questions students would have would be covered. </p>

<p>You should accept a place at a school to which you were admitted by May 1. It is possible we won't know whether or not we can make offers of admission to applicants on the waiting list until after May 1, and we don't want you to run the risk of not having a seat anywhere next fall. We encourage you to explore other colleges to which you have been admitted and to find a school that represents a good academic and social fit for you so that you have a solid (and likely equally great!) college option should we be unable to offer you a place in our class.</p>

<p>Our waiting list is unranked, so we cannot tell you "where you are" on the list. As to how many people we take off the waiting list... well, that varies from year to year. We hope to be able to accept students off of the waiting list this year, but at this point, we do not know how many students we may be able to accept. We know this may be frustrating, and we appreciate your patience and understanding.</p>

<p>You do not need to send us an updated resume, extra recommendation letters, or other materials. If you feel especially certain that UChicago remains your first choice for college, we encourage you to send a brief email (in this case, e-mail is preferred; you do not need to send a letter through the post) to your Admissions Counselor to that effect. We encourage you to wait until the beginning of April to send this note--you may find that you are able to make the most thoughtful statement about why UChicago remains your first choice once you have received decisions from all of the schools you applied to, and have carefully considered your other options. It is not necessary to send any additional material. We do not offer interviews to waitlisted students.</p>

<p>We do not encourage waitlisted students to visit campus. Whether or not a waitlisted student has visited campus is not a factor in deciding which students we will accept off of the waitlist. There is nothing we could tell you in person that we could not also tell you over e-mail, over the phone, or in this blog post. We strongly encourage you and your family to spend your time and resources visiting schools to which you were admitted. And, frankly, visiting campus as a waitlisted student can be awkward for you and your parents.</p>

<p>Finally, you didn't do anything wrong. What we did wrong was build a College that can only house an incoming class of about 1,400. Don't worry: we've been there. Many of the counselors in our office received decisions that were disappointing at the time, but in the end, led them to schools where they felt at home, and found a wonderful college experience. We know that, in some cases, our decision may not be what you had hoped to hear from us--but know that in the end, you'll look back and wind up appreciating the time you've spent in the college you chose, and not worrying about the times that could have been at schools where you were not offered a place.</p>

2

<p>So aside from accepting spots at another school and the wait list as well as sending a letter to our regional counselor there’s not much else to do? I sent my e-mail yesterday instead of waiting because I already narrowed myself down to UC or my local university so I do not have to wait for any other schools, but I still feel I could not fully express my interest in UChicago through the email!</p>

<p>Additionally, within about what timeframe are waitlisted applicants contacted? I know this must be after May 1 but I would like to know when at the latest we could be contacted. After May 1 you will have a total number of the admitted students who made deposits and then you can determine if there are additional slots so are waitlisted students usually contacted later in May? Possibly even May 2? I have heard that some schools do not contact them until a few weeks before classes start!</p>

3

<p>Will-- yes, beyond accepting your place on the waitlist, accepting a place at another school, and e-mailing your regional counselor, no other action is necessary or advised. We are usually able to let students know if we will be able to accept them off of the waitlist between May and June. Very rarely would we extend an offer off of the waitlist later in the summer-- but it is possible.</p>

4

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I’m an IB student who has been waitlisted. I applied to UChicago with a predicted score of 37. My actual exam results came back at 35, obviously a disappointment. However, the IB diploma has an option (as do English A-Levels), known as resits. Basically, you have the option of retaking the exams and the highest of the two scores will be kept. I will be resitting in May with results coming out in August, which means that they’d probably be too late for waitlist decisions. However, I am strongly committed to UChicago and want to do whatever I can to enhance my application.</p>

<p>So my question is: As far as UChicago is concerned, are resits worthy of consideration? Would you hold judgement on my situation in the waitlist until these new results came in? Or is it, essentially, too late?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

5

<p>Hi, I was wondering how does UChicago deal with financial aid for waitlisted students, since if UChicago can’t meet full need for waitlisted students, I’d prefer to find out now rather than after being one of the few to get in. Thanks.</p>

6

<p>“Finally, you didn’t do anything wrong. What we did wrong was build a College that can only house an incoming class of about 1,400.”</p>

<p>This does sound arrogant and as a parent I feel this sounds very insulting to those who were wait listed.</p>

<p>What does University of Chicago try to accomplish?
As early as my son was in eighth grade, he received Chicago’s junk mails to let him visit or apply University because of his high ACT/SAT test scores. He was so naive to believe that Chicago was really interested in him. He visited Chicago 3 times and sat in four or five classes. I believe he loves Chicago. His stat and EC are strong (stronger than many accepted students who posted on CC). I know you would say something about fit and blah blah. How can you tell a student will not fit there if you do not even give him/her a chance to demonstrate it? </p>

<p>One more time if you only have 1400 spots, please do not send your junk mails to 40,000 students to fool them.</p>

7

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</p>

<p>I do not understand why that statement sounds so insulting to you. I am very sorry your son did not get accepted, but being unruly like what you just did is no way to act. Like your son, I had a dream school in mind when I was applying for college. I too, was rejected at the end. I moved on and have found tremendous success in college. I wish your son the very best of luck in his future endeavors. College is what you make of it.</p>

8

<p>Nobody ask you if it is insulting or not. This is my personal opinion.</p>

9

<p>Ahappyman,</p>

<p>Just like you commented on what UChicago had to say, so too can Divine Comedy comment on your post. Divine Comedy has a point. I don’t think UChicago’s comment about making the class size too small to accept more people was innocuous.</p>

10

<p>There’s no good way to tell someone they’re being rejected or have a slim chance of getting in. UChicago is trying to be as gracious about it as possible. If you applied for a job and didn’t get it–would you rather the employer said, “get lost” or “we can’t take you, but it’s our fault, not yours”? OK, so politeness may not take away all the sting but at least they are trying to be human about it.</p>

<p>Congratulations to those who got in and sorry the rest of you were disappointed.</p>

11

<p>Aschenbach, we still will meet 100% of need for students who are accepted off of the waitlist.</p>

12

<p>^That’s really good to hear. I hope UC lets us know sooner than later.</p>

13

<p>@truth123, it is not the same thing.
I do not think an employer will keep asking you to apply a job and then tell you no opening.</p>

<p>In Feb., an alumnus of UC emailed (no phone number ) my son and scheduled an Interview (he requested). On the day of interview, my son drove more than a hour from home to the interview location and waited more than one hour and the interviewer did not show up. My son was upset and emailed the interviewer, he said he totally forgot it. What was that supposed imply? In the eyes of the interviewer or may be UC, an applicant’s feeling is not important.</p>

14

<p>^An alumnus represents nothing more than himself. </p>

<p>I’m sorry that your son didn’t get in, but throwing accusations here on CC does nothing other than making you look bad. Stop being angry and get over it. Your son can be happy (Atruehappyman) whichever college he ends up going to, especially since he had good test scores and ecs.</p>

15

<p>With so few spots available, lots of tip top candidates are rejected, especially when UC has to deal with other issues, such as legacies, first in family, affirmative action, geographic diversity, international students, etc.</p>

<p>If your kid is smart enough to be a serious candidate for UC, then he will no doubt get into a good school.</p>

16

<p>@UChicago: Thank you very much for this post. While I was the furthest from willing to accept my wait-listed status on the day of decisions, I have now come to a greater state of calm and peace. I realize that the University of Chicago had a significant number of overly qualified applicants and every single one of them–whether accepted, waitlisted, or rejected–was deserving of a spot for the class of 2016. It could not have been easy to make the wisest decision, and yet you and every other admissions counselor did take on this daunting task. I am only honored that I was able to visit UChicago, dream, and go through the whole admissions process. Though this journey did come with its regrets, it is still one that I shall never forget. Again, thanks for your post, UChicago! At least your college attempted to get in touch with and write letters of advice to all its wait-listed applicants. It is more than what other colleges have done. Also, you will probably hear back from me for graduate school! UChicago is a fine institution!</p>

<p>Wishing everyone the best! :slight_smile: ~Merry</p>

17

<p>@UChicago,
Could you graciously tell us how many students were waitlisted, so they could have some ideas to help them make decision? I know this could be confidential.</p>

18

<p>"As a parent of a waitlisted student who got in to UofC at end of April and a friend’s D also got off the waitlist who is graduating from UofC this year, I’d like to give some of my observations to those in the same predictment.</p>

<p>First of all, waitlist is like a rejection, just a hair better. If you check the stats, chances for those who got off the waitlist are very slim to none. You are hanging on a thread, a very thin thread. While be admitted to a school like UofC is a crapshoot, it is more so in the waitlist bucket.</p>

<p>Secondly, you must update your profile diligently, if not, you are not going to be considered. Screatching wheel gets the oil, that is very true in this case.</p>

<p>Thirdly, you have to have the passion for the waitlisted school which you are most interested, in other words, it has to be your #1 school. If you have 5 waitlisted school, You should now pursue only one, at most two. As far as I’ve observed, the two who got off the waitlist, spend a lot of their energy to contact the school relentlessly, the more communication, the better. In these cases, they all got off the waitlist of U of C.</p>

<p>Fourth, Don’t let anyone else fool you, Students enrolled from the Waitlist do not get much financial aid. Forget about the scholarships, you are at the bottom of the barrel, why the school will offer any merit scholarships to you? It will help if you are EFC=0, but I doubt very much they are offering such a student for admission from the waitlist bucket.</p>

<p>Fifth, you have to be prepared to accept the admission offer, if it ever comes. They only give you less than 48 to 72 hours to think about if. Why spend the energy to pursue this if you are not prepared to accept? "</p>

<p>I rather hope these are not true, aren’t they?</p>

19

<p>U of Chicago, thank you for the information. I was just wondering, I’ve read other universities place some students on the waitlist when they did not have enough time to completely review their information and that some on the waitlist are not for sure matches to the university. Does Chicago only place students on the waitlist who could definitely be considered to fill the spot?</p>

<p>This would help to understand the chances of actually being taken off the list.
Thank you.</p>

20

<p>wildwood, this information has not been released, so I am not able to provide it. </p>

<p>I also want to reiterate that we do still guarantee to meet 100% of need for waitlisted students. We would offer a waitlisted student the same aid package they would have received if admitted in the EA or RD round. </p>

<p>chocolias, every student on our waitlist had their application fully reviewed; we do not release admissions decisions until we have fully reviewed everyone’s application. So, no need to worry that you/anyone else may have been waitlisted because we were not able to fully review your file-- this would never be the case.</p>

<p>On your second question, yes-- students on our waiting list are fully qualified and, in our minds, capable of the work required at UChicago. We would not waitlist a student who we did not feel was ready for or capable of successful work in the College.</p>