Hello,
I recently got waitlisted at Caltech and now I am trying to investigate the next actions.
I just qualified for ISEF for the 4th time in a row…and I wanted to ask anybody if I can PM and discuss my “Letter of Continued Interest”/“Love letter” that can help getting off the waitlist…
I’ve heard that other possible tactics include calling or some kind of “counselor action”.
I am just completely lost in the waitlist maze and asking for anyone knowledgeable to help me :))
Relax, you still have time. You have a chance to update the U about any recent achievements and perhaps add another letter of recommendation. It will be weeks yet until Caltech knows how many students commit.
Good luck
I would just make a solid LOCI. You can reuse it if you get waitlisted from other schools too. A friend and I both got waitlisted last year at Caltech but he sent in a really good letter of continued interest and one day they called him and told him he was in.
Unfortunately, the same did not happen for me, but I think getting off the Caltech waitlist is much more attainable than other waitlists. Congratulations! Obviously not as good as an acceptance but getting waitlisted from Caltech is no easy feat. I wish you the best.
So, How is everyone doing? Submitted your extra groundbreaking new stuff? And new Letters of Recommendation? And new Composition? 
I sent in a Waitlist update letter and an update on the California State Science Fair!!
My son sent the draft of the paper that’s almost ready for publication, new composition and arranged for one more letter from one of his professors…
Has anyone gotten off the Waitlist or at the very least a recent update to it?
Nope and no idea what is going to happen with that either…
I am fairly certain that they will take 0 people off of the waitlist this year tho, especially judging by the fact that Cornell is taking ZERO people for fall 2018 A&S…for the first time in 10+ years!!!
@grundeis Not sure if Caltech and Cornell waitlist rates correlate like that. Still would be nice to know if even one person has gotten off.
@IAmTheGreatest “Still would be nice to know if even one person has gotten off.” That’s easy. Call the admission office and ask “Do you have plans to have movement on the wait list?” " did you offer any admissions off the wait list so far?" Most likely, they will tell you…
yes… I know for sure one just got off the waitlist… just got a text message from her. good luck
@sbballer I guess it’s good that at the very least one person is off. I have no expectations of getting off, but getting some closure would be nice. Focusing on getting a transfer plan hashed out.
@sbballer Are you serious? I’ve seen no activity on the fb group.
@sbballer My son called admission office. They told him that they did not take anyone off the wait list yet, and that they do not know whether they will.
@ElenaParent MIT is overenrolled. There’s a tiny chance that they might take a few people even if the number is in the single digits.
It’d be unusual for neither of them to take anyone since there’s usually an overlap.
MIT announced they are not accepting any applicants from the wait list this year.
@ElenaParent That probably means they’re overenrolled. They’ll probably only take people off if by whenever they put their cutoff date someone backs out at the last minute. This will probably be a zero waitlist year. It’s time for you all to let go of it. Figure out a way to get into your top school via transfer or attend it for grad school.
Princeton closed their wait list today.
Caltech is expecting about 235 students to enroll.
They had a pre-frosh weekend on April 14 for about 281 students.
If you are on the “waitlist”, you need to look at other options because you need a place to land.
If they happen to call you in June/July (because students’ had last minute cancellations), then you can talk about being admitted off the waitlist.
Students on the waitlist should have another option, just in case.