Got waitlist. Any advice?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
1

I am an international student.

Today I received the email from AO. I was notified that I was put in waitlist. Is there anyone has the same situation like me? Can anyone gives me some suggestions?

Thanks! : )

2

Hey minolta001,

I can understand your anxiousness but I am certain there are many students in a similar situation like yours. A waitlist is just another way of saying “although we cant give you a spot right away but we may at a later stage”. So there is definitely a way you can increase your chances of being accepted as a wait list.

First of all, if you have a school counselor you should go and discuss with him/her your situation as soon as possible. They are extremely resourceful and supportive, and you should really take their advice. (If this is true then ignore the section below)

In case you dont have a counselor, here are some suggestions for you to think about:

  • It essential that you follow the directions in the email whether or not Rose-Hulman is your first choice. To the extent I know about decision emails, they usually give some sort of directions like “what do next” - it is essential that if they ask you to fill a questionnaire or write an essay, you need to do the required.
  • But in a rare case if they don’t have directions at all or have vague direction, I suggest you contact the AO (especially if you met the international representative you should contact him) and try to show how much you would like to attend their school. They may ask you to update your courses, achievements, ECs and may even ask you to write a letter to indicate your interest in RHIT.

One thing to note though, no matter what happens don’t let “senioritis” catch you this semester. It could be extremely harmful for your waitlist status if you start slacking in your studies.

I hope this was of some help to you and I hope that you get accepted into RHIT (tell me if you do!).

Best of luck
Another international applicant to RHIT for the class of 2019

3

It is rare that they WILL tell you to do something other than tell them if you want to take the spot on the waitlist or not. You can certainly write a letter or email confirming your strong interest. If you KNOW you would attend if admitted (no matter what happens with your other applications and your financial aid), be sure to say so. If you have accomplishments since you applied that they don’t know about, let them know in this email or letter. If more good things happen in the next several weeks, keep them apprised and reiterate your interest.

Last year they offered 402 students slots on the waitlist. 182 took it, and 55 were eventually admitted. That doesn’t necessarily say what will happen this year, but it is a decent sign that you have a shot if they are a school that likes to undershoot a little on their yield and take off the waitlist to fill spots. (The other option is to overshoot on yield, and then too many students take slots and they have a hard time with housing – hence the forced triple at many colleges freshman year!). So some colleges do like to use the waitlist to some extent. Others almost never take anyone off the waitlist, or a really small number.

So… accept your spot on the waitlist. Let them know you are still interested. Send along any new accomplishments.

4

Actually, last year they just took 2 off of the wait list (the year before, it was 55):

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/media/1516396/AY2014-2015.pdf

It can vary a lot from year to year. You can accept the spot on the waitlist, let them know you are interested, and let them know of any new accomplishments, but then it just depends.

Good luck!

5

Agree, I was looking at the common data set from 2013-14. Didn’t see the more recent one.

6

Thanks! : )

7

Thanks for your information! Well, I also checked the rate of acceptance of those waitlisted students, and the results I got were quite strange. Some year the rate can up to 50%, but another year it may down to only 10%, even lower. lol, how can I say?

Anyway, I decided to keep a spot on the waitlist, and I am going to write a appeal letter to AO.

Thanks for your help again!

8

Hi, I am an international student and was also waitlisted. I ultimately got admitted. I was very proactive during the process. I drafted a couple of letters of intent and even scheduled an interview over Skype. Good luck!