<p>@busdriver: All I can say is WOW. never saw anything about that and although my son was not waitlisted, I thought I’d read everything about CMU and never had a hint about this waitlist info session. Thanks for sharing to all those on this thread.</p>
<p>@ at waitlisters: TAKE his advise, kids. It is exactly what our college counselor has been saying all along about handling the waitlist situation…</p>
<p>@busdriver11 thank you for that info that is what I was speculating with respect to them messing up last year but my question is…I already sent in a waitlist interest letter but I was also planning on getting my AP Physics C (since I did priority for MCS under physics) to write me a waitlsit recommendation do you think that would be wise?</p>
<p>busdriver where did you get that information? just because they are giving out a waitlist information session does not indicate that they are intending to call off the waitlist in particular. the other advice is very good however.</p>
<p>also, i think that this year will be particularly tough in terms of waitlists. acceptance rates dropped even lower this year, especially for engineering schools, with more students applying to top colleges. i’m pretty sure that more people are going to matriculate this year than ever before, leaving less or potentially no waitlist slots open.</p>
<p>alias, I got this information directly from the admissions officer who was giving all three of the kids and their parents information at the waitlist session. I can only assume it was true or he wouldn’t say it. I’m not making anything up, though I suppose I could make an error in relaying it. We were very, very encouraged after listening to this, that they potentially could call a reasonable number, and that there was a way to help yourself. It sounded very certain to me that they did not want to get in the situation that they were in last year, with no calls off the waitlist (except I think, for 6 kids in fine arts). He particularly made a point of saying they accepted less in CIT, and that they wanted to call off the waitlist. He had no reason to BS us. I’m not trying to give false hope, but just relaying what I heard. It seemed like they wanted to go back to earlier waitlist numbers, which were quite reasonable a few years ago.</p>
<p>Another thing that if I understood correctly, is just because there might be 500 “people” on the waitlist, doesn’t mean there are actually 500 individuals. That is 500 people on assorted waitlists, meaning that it could be 100 people on 5 waitlists, or whatever combination it adds up to. Unlikely for anyone to get off the regular waitlist.</p>
<p>gibson, he told us, don’t send in any more recommendation letters. Don’t send us more copies of latest grades. If I was you, I would send another letter (unless your last letter was yesterday), stressing again, enthusastically how much you want to go to CMU and that it’s your top choice. If you can add anything, fine, but he did not encourage letters of recommendation. This is all about proving your interest, not your worth (my words). You know, they have no idea how many people they are going to call until the students accept, so I guess it’s hard to get overly excited. But it’s great to hear that they really want and have made an effort for it to get better than last year, and that you can DO something about it.</p>
<p>@busdriver11 that’s some extremely interesting information you have to share. Do you know anything about the SCS’ waitlist this year (I’m on the SCS priority waitlist)?</p>
<p>We also heard that if you don’t need financial aid, you may be more likely to be called. They are not need-blind when it comes to waitlists.</p>
<p>They definitely took fewer kids into SCS this year because the past couple of years, they had too many. I don’t know any more than that though.</p>
<p>Senbon, he didn’t specifically mention anything about the SCS waitlist, so I have no idea. I also don’t know if they have ever called off the SCS waitlist over the years. I recommended to my son that he get on every single waitlist he could, take every possibility and then transfer or double major in what he wanted. Honestly, I would have never thought it a good idea, if CMU was someone’s first choice, to only be on the SCS waitlist.</p>
<p>I’m curious as to what megan’s son decided on.</p>
<p>Did he say anything about MCS then? And I was thinking about revoking my fin. aid package (which wasnt much to begin with) but theres no way I could afford it full price.</p>
<p>@busdriver11 SCS is the only school where I have priority waitlist status. I’ve asked my application to be considered at other schools, but it is much more likely to be admitted from a priority waitlist than at these other schools. </p>
<p>@gibsonlespaul I’m in a similar situation. I received slightly less than 6k in grants and I’m really afraid of being denied due to my financial aid. I also know however that it would be difficult for my family to afford CMU without the aid, so it’s tough to turn down.</p>
<p>gibson, I can’t recall what he said about MCS, but he did mention it. I remember thinking, dang, wish my son wouldn’t have gotten turned down by MCS so he could go on that waitlist too. I guess, why revoke your financial aid package if you couldn’t go without it? I don’t know if revoking it helps, but if you can’t do it without aid, doesn’t seem like much point in giving it up.</p>
<p>Senbon, honestly…I got that feeling that the regular waitlist means almost nothing. The only way someone will get called off of that is if they run out of every single person on the priority waitlist. Or after May 7th, when everything goes to the regular waitlist, if there are not enough acceptances, or if people change their minds late and go elsewhere. But what are the chances of that? If you don’t get called from the waitlist, I doubt it will be because of finances, but because you gave yourself very little opportunity only being on the SCS priority waitlist. I sure hope I’m wrong on that and that you get accepted. I guess you never can predict what will happen.</p>
<p>@busdriver11 I guess I wasn’t clear in my last post. The reason I’m on the SCS priority waitlist is that I didn’t apply to any other schools at CMU. I know that the SCS waitlist will be insanely competitive given that the SCS application is insanely competitive. Thanks anyway tho.</p>
<p>Senbon, I do understand what you’re saying now. But do you realize that you can put yourself on the priority waitlist for any of the schools at CMU, whether or not you applied to them originally? It is my understanding that the only ones you can’t get on the priority (or regular) waitlist for are ones that you were denied admission to. It is very impressive that you were waitlisted for SCS, what a difficult school to get into.</p>
<p>If you really want to go to CMU and it is your first choice, I would consider this. If you get into any school at CMU, you can very possibly transfer into SCS, if you do decently on a few specific classes. Should you be unable to do that, you can always, always double major in CS, no acceptance to SCS required.</p>
<p>If you are interested in going to CMU whether or not you get accepted directly into SCS, I would call admissions tomorrow and tell them that you didn’t realize you could put yourself on the priority waitlist for the other schools. And if they’ll let you, change to the priority waitlist for IS, CIT, H&SS, Tepper, and MCS. Cover all bases! I would email them the same request, also. It is possibly too late, but why not give it a shot? And immediately fire off an email to the waitlist interest email, telling them how CMU is your top choice and tell them how much it means to you.</p>
<p>Of course, I would only do this if it’s true, and if you were willing to start out in another school other than SCS. I’m just giving this advice to you in case CMU was that #1 school for you. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Actually, the CMU admissions office has informed me numerous times that you can’t be on the priority or regular waitlist at a school you didn’t originally apply to. FYI busdriver11, CMU is my number one choice by far. I’ve already sent a number of documents to the admissions office to advocate my candidacy at SCS (including an interest letter and an update on my accomplishments). I would appreciate it if you didn’t question my desire to be admitted.</p>
<p>^^I certainly apologize for having offended you. I am merely trying to offer information that could be of use.</p>
<p>I have no idea whether CMU is your top choice over all others. There are many people for whom CMU is their top choice, but only if they got into SCS. I have been all over this board in the past telling people to apply to as many schools as they can, and transfer into SCS, or double major. If one is accomplished enough to get waitlisted for SCS, they would probably get accepted into one or more of the other schools. I realize that doesn’t help anyone here now, but maybe next year when people are looking at last year’s threads on the subject, it will help them.</p>
<p>Less than a week remaining until decisions. Anyone nervous?</p>
<p>Don’t get your hopes up – they may not take anyone.</p>
<p>busdriver - my S was actually on the regular waitlist for SCS because he was admitted into H&SS. He just took his name off the waitlist and accepted at another school. CMU had too many variables and unknowns, and the cs major was just too intense for him to explore other areas that interested him and still have a life.</p>
<p>Sounds like he really thought it through, megan, so I’m sure it’s the right decision for him. Where did he decide to go?</p>
<p>My son just accepted at Bucknell, he decided even if he got called off the waitlist at CMU, Bucknell would be a better choice for him. Though CMU was my choice for him, I think he knows himself better than we do.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone. I hope we see a whole lot of posts here from people who got the call that makes them happy!</p>
<p>He’s going to Haverford College instead. I tried everything I could to make CMU work for him because he really liked it there, but it just wasn’t what he wanted for the next 4 years. He loves cs and definitely wants to major in it, but he also loves many other subjects as well across a broad range. It was just easier and less stressful to do that at a LAC.</p>
<p>He would like to attend CMU’s ETC for graduate school though.</p>
<p>does anyone know how many spaces are left for waitlisted students??? it’s been after the reply date!</p>