<p>We know many of you are wondering what you might be able to do after receiving a waitlist decision. Here are some (hopefully helpful) tips and bits of information I have for waitlisted students wondering “where do I go from here?”</p>
<p>This should cover most commonly asked questions about our waiting list, and I encourage you to ask any further waitlist-specific questions on this thread rather than starting a new thread. </p>
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<li> The only thing you need to do to be considered part of our waiting list is to accept your place on the waitlist through your UChicago Account. And, it’s perfectly fine if you don’t want to remain on our wait list! If you have been accepted to a college you would prefer to attend, it is OK to decline your place on the waiting list, too, and this can also be done through your UChicago account. </li>
<li> We do hope to be able to admit students off of the waitlist, but do not know how many students we will be able to admit. In past years, our ability to take students from our waiting list has ranged widely, from zero to many dozens of students.
o Remember, our ability to take students off of the waitlist this year is independent of our ability to do so in past years—when we know we will have more beds in our dorms than admitted students deciding to attend to fill them, we offer those places to students on our waiting list. </li>
<li> Our waitlist is not ranked, meaning that no priority or placement is given to certain students on our waitlist vs. other students. You have a place in a pool of students who have been waitlisted rather than a ranked position in a line. </li>
<li> We do not yet know if or when we will be able to extend offers of admission to students off of the waiting list. Therefore, it is imperative that waitlisted students accept and secure a place at a school to which you have been accepted by May 1, the national reply date for all colleges. We strongly encourage you to look carefully and thoughtfully at your options, and to find a place at a school that will be a good intellectual, social, and financial fit for you should UChicago not become an option. </li>
<li> You may wish to indicate your continued interest in UChicago by emailing your regional admissions counselor. It only advised to send a brief email indicating that UChicago is still a top choice for you, and it’s ok to wait to do this—we strongly encourage you to wait, consider the other options you have as further decisions roll in, and then decide whether or not UChicago remains your top choice with knowledge of your other amazing possibilities. Submitting other additional material such as recommendation letters, additional essays, etc is not necessary, nor do we recommend doing so. </li>
<li> We strongly discourage waitlisted students from visiting campus. Your likelihood of admission from the waiting list is not affected by a campus visit, and we won’t be able to offer you any additional information here that we couldn’t otherwise offer you by phone or by email. We want to encourage you and your parents to use your time, resources, and energy to visit schools to which you have been accepted, so that you can determine which of your (likely awesome!) options will be the best fit for you.<br></li>
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