How to Get Off the Waitlist

Applying to College
101

<p>yay for rochestarians! i do love my city.. and i know a few people at mcquaid! i’m sure your son will be happy wherever he goes - geneseo was sooo beautiful today as i drove down second street, alllll of the branches from the big trees were bent over the road and it was completely white everywhere. gorgeous. and of course, the u of r and bc, both with quality academics. good luck to him, and to your family in the decision process!</p>

<p>saxophonium.. that is amazing about the letter! that is the kind of thing they really love - personal contact that shows that you actually reflected on their ideas after they left. well done!</p>

<p>i’m definitely considering bc, dsl… it really depends on what kinds of financial aid i get at each school. we’ll see. i think washu and bc are both the types of schools where kids care about their grades, giving back to the community, but also having fun. boston is such a great city! so full of life and of history. although i am not a fan of how everyone has communal bathrooms freshman year at bc, it was the first college i ever visited, and it has a special place in my heart for that. :D</p>

<p>nobody can beat washu, though. my favorite part is the under-the-road-tunnel thinger where all the groups paint the walls about the events!</p>

<p>nhsharvard, the waitlist is mainly used when most of the accepted students have replied either yes or no to the college in question. after the college determines whether or not they need more kids to fill the incoming freshman class, they’ll go to the waitlist and pick out kids they think will “round out” the class - if they need more poli sci majors, they’ll look there on the waitlist. same if they need more guys, or more people from the midwest, or more internationals. they also tend to pick people off the waitlist that don’t need a lot of aid because at that point they’ve used up a lot of their aid. am i right on this? feel free to correct me, anyone. i think that’s the majority of the waitlist stuff.</p>

102

<p>trackie, i love the tunnel-grafitti thing too! I think its called the underpass :)</p>

<p>also, for the waitlist, you said colleges needed a certain amount of majors. what if you put undecided?</p>

103

<p>right, duh. underpass. i think i just forgot there was actually a word for it.</p>

<p>i’m not sure what they’ll do if you’re undecided, but i think everything i said was just in general - it’s not like they won’t take you off the waitlist if you’re undecided</p>

104

<p>trackie10x- I love that you are letting them know how much you want it. I’m sorry now all you can do is wait until they go to the waitlist in May. My son was waitlisted at Duke, his first choice and has decided to stick it out. Whatever you do, don’t think with the emotional reaction of “do I want to go to a place that didn’t immediately pick me”. Admissions is only a tiny aspect of it; if you get in at any time the school wants you there. They all just have so many qualified candidates. Hang in there!</p>

105

<p>thank you, ncdewey! my mom went to duke! she loved being at a school that had such great academics and great school spirit. your son should definitely stick it out - if he loves it as much as i love washu, he will definitely realize the truth of the advice you gave me. let him know that there are so many ways you can put yourself at the top of the waitlist!</p>

106

<p>Ugh, I was waitlisted by Barnard and I can’t figure out why! My essays were great, as were my scores and other qualifications. It’s my dream school and I want to be admitted SO badly, but I can’t help but feel that everyone else on the waitlist does too and will be doing twice as much as me to prove it to the admissions office.</p>

107

<p>i love the west wing</p>

108

<p>Is it really hard to get off the waitlist for ivy leagues?</p>

109

<p>it’s really hard to get off the waitlist anywhere, so i’m not sure if getting off the waitlist for an ivy league is that much harder. it really depends on how many people actually enroll and how many people they need to fill certain types of spots to round out their class</p>

110

<p>I just spoke with my admissions officer at Barnard, and she was VERY nice- should I e-mail her and thank her for speaking with me, or is that overkill?</p>

111

<p>do it. she’ll be thankful for the gesture and you’re also presenting yourself in her mind afterward, which will make her more likely to reflect on you as a possibility</p>

<p>and nothing is overkill when you’re showing them how much you want them</p>

112

<p>okay so i just got waitlisted at brown and penn</p>

<p>i guess the good thing is that i haven’t gotten rejected anywhere</p>

<p>life goes on…</p>

113

<p>I want to be admitted off the list SO badly, and I’m trying to be realistic about my chances but I can’t imagine falling in love with another school like I have with Barnard.</p>

114

<p>I applied to 12 schools (Washington & Jefferson, Dickinson, Swarthmore, Colgate, Williams, Middlebury, American, Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Amherst) and have heard back from almost all of them.</p>

<p>Washinton & Jefferson, Dickinson, Colgate and American took me. Swarthmore, Williams and Georgetown flat-out denied me and Middlebury and Amherst have waitlisted me. I haven’t heard back yet from the Ivies (mostly because my school’s tech support staff aren’t worth the money we pay them; the server which hosts my email account has been down for 18 hours and they still haven’t fixed it. I’ll have to check it from a school computer tomorrow), but, needless to say, I’m not optomistic.</p>

<p>I could be happy going to Colgate (which is where I will be going if things stay the way they are), but I really wanted to get into Middlebury and Georgetown. Now I feel like I have to go through the whole application process all over again to make myself stand out and improve my chances, but that’s not the worst part.</p>

<p>The worst part is that I feel like if I do get into Amherst or Middlebury and decide to go, I’ll feel second-string to those around me. After all, the college took almost all of them on the first try. I was backup, there to fill any holes in the campus community if the college didn’t get the yield they wanted. I know that I want Middlebury, but it would be nice to know that Middlebury wants me.</p>

<p>Of course, the admissions office would say that my being waitlisted is no indication of the perceived value of my attendance to the community (and they’re probably right), but it still feels like a major let down.</p>

<p>I’ll start digging to find out who my admissions person is at both colleges, get in contact and hopefully make it into the lucky 20 or so out of hundreds. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.</p>

<p>And people say that the second semester of your senior year is supposed to be fun…</p>

115

<p>bartlet4america, I am in the SAME position as you.</p>

<p>When I think of attending college, I imagine myself at Barnard. It was a pretty strong blow when I found that I was wait-listed. I have such a strong desire to end up at Barnard, but I’m not sure how to pursue it. I am being realistic through the process, and plan on accepting a position at one of the schools that I have been accepted to - but it just isn’t the same feeling as it is with Barnard.</p>

<p>What did the admissions officer say to you (if you don’t mind me asking)?</p>

<p>I can’t imagine what these next two (or even three) months will be like! :&lt;/p>

116

<p>ittknee, not much, though she was really nice. She said that they really have no idea if they can even go to the list (ugh!) until May 1st, that sending a VERY (she emphasized this) brief letter just reiterating that you’d attend would do the trick. No new interviews or anything. :(</p>

117

<p>Ahhh, I sent a letter that was about 3/4 a page to Ms. Fondiller … now I wonder if that’s too long, haha.</p>

<p>My mom also sent off an e-mail to my admissions counselor (Ms. Palacio) asking if there was anything that I could do to help further my case in the event that they DO go to the waitlist – I SO hope that they do!!</p>

<p>Best of luck to you! It seems that we are in very similar situations. You’ll have to let me know how things turn out for you come May-ish. :)</p>

118

<p>Absolutely. Ms. Lee was extremely nice (in fact, Barnard’s admissions office has never been anything but helpful and courteous even when I panicked); while I’ll be sending Ms. Fondiller a letter, I wonder if it would help if I sent Ms. Lee a copy too. </p>

<p>Good luck! Hopefully we’ll both be Barnardites come May. :)</p>

119

<p>@trackie,
In my area, about 12 people were accepted. 4-5 were ED. 7 were regular. I’m the only one who’s going in the RD pile. Best of luck. I’m holding my breath and crossing my fingers for someone as well.</p>

120

<p>Emory too. I guess Miami’s getting my deposit… grudgingly.</p>