Let’s say an applicant was waitlisted at University A as a high school applicant, but wasn’t selected off of the waitlist. After 2 years of excellent academic performance at University B, the applicant attempts to transfer to University A after their Sophomore year.
Does University A go back and see that the applicant was originally waitlisted?
Should the student mention (perhaps in an essay) that they were originally waitlisted?
Transfer admissions focuses on performance in college–not high school.
Depends on the theme of the essay; better to use essays to state why the student wants to transfer and not to focus on the prior application.
Thanks for that. I am mostly curious if a university is aware (and takes into consideration) that a transfer applicant was previously on the waitlist during their original application while in high school.
Since it was over 2 years ago, your placement on the waitlist is not relevant in my opinion.
In a positive or negative way? a bump up (we almost liked you enough the first time, so we should give you an extra look? you still love us best?) or a ding (you didn’t quite cut the mustard last time- why not? are you just trying to ‘upgrade’?)
Was a question as to the student’s ability to handle the work, and the thinking is that having 2 years of good work ‘proves’ that they can handle it? In that case, I think a rejection is much more likely than a waitlist (and of course, a lot of waitlist offers are just a polite version of a rejection).
Also, the degree of selectivity is relevant: the more selective the school- and the narrower the gap between Uni A & Uni B- the more likely the move is to be seen as prestige hunting, vs an academic or personal fit need to move*. In that peculiar way of things, the tippy-tops love their prestigious reputations- but like to pretend that that is not a factor in why students want to go there!
Yes, University A will still have your full HS application and their decision on hand. Your college stats and ECs will be most relevant in the transfer decision as others have said. Whether or not the initial waitlist will be considered is unknown.
You could mention the initial waitlist in your essay. If you choose to do that spend one sentence on it. The essay needs to focus on why you want to attend the transfer uni and what it offers from an academic perspective that your current uni doesn’t. If you are certain you want to transfer make certain you have a balanced transfer list. Good luck.
The waitlist often has turned into a recruiting tool for future applicants, younger students seeing that a senior-year friend was “waitlisted” instead of rejected and figuring they might as well try their luck too.
Often the number “waitlisted” approached or exceeded the number admitted! The past two years covid has made admission numbers look funny, but years prior to that were informative. You can sometimes find numbers in the Common Data Set reports. In 2019 for Northwestern 3,067 offered the waitlist, 55 eventually taken from it. UPenn offered 2,051, eventually accepted 101. WUSTL, well known for passing out waitlist slots, won’t even say how many are waitlisted!!
The point is that at many schools being on the waitlist at many schools did not mean you were almost an admit. So I don’t see how mentioning it now will tip things your way. YMMV
I believe some transfer applications ask if you have ever applied previously.
If you were waitlisted, that at least means you met a threshold. It also shows some likelihood of you attending, if accepted.
Did you accept the spot on the waitlist?
Whether and how a university considers a previous frosh admission decision for an applicant when evaluating the same applicant’s transfer application in a later year probably depends on the university. It is likely that some do and others do not.