<p>Hey guys, i was waitlisted from princeton but i still consider it my top school. I was wondering if I should write to them expressing my continued interest? And if so, to whom should I address it and what should I write in it? Also, should I update them of some awards (national merit, a state championship in debate, and a couple of others...)? Any and all advice is much appreciated!</p>
<p>Also, anying else i can do to improve my chances?</p>
<p>bump? please?</p>
<p>There’s some good waitlist advice on this thread…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/898910-harvard-waitlist-waiting-room-2014-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/898910-harvard-waitlist-waiting-room-2014-thread.html</a></p>
<p>You should let them know that you’re still interested.</p>
<p>Here is general advice I have read. This is not specific advice for Princeton. I have no inside knowledge of Princeton’s policies.</p>
<p>E-mail or call the admissions office of that first choice wait-listing school and tell them you are still very interested. Be brief, and very upbeat. Don’t be bitter. Tell them you know how hard it is to get into their fine school. Say you consider it an honor to make the wait-list. Tell them you will be sending them a detailed letter explaining why you think you should be taken off the list. </p>
<p>Write the letter or long e-mail. Do not spend much time reciting the many qualities that make you a first-rate applicant. They already know you would be an asset to the campus. That is why they didn’t reject you. Focus your letter instead on the peculiar facets of that college that make it such a good fit for you. Be very specific. Name courses. Identify professors. Cite the award-winning college madrigal group, or the university bronco-riding club, or the annual fraternity/sorority spring flower arranging contest. The idea is to make that college and you look like star-crossed lovers, destined to be together.
Tell them of any awards, grades, academic honors or other relevant events that have occurred since you wrote your application. </p>
<p>The admissions director of an Ivy League school not named above said e-mails were preferred because until May 1 he and his staff were out trying to persuade admitted students to sign up. He also thought it was wrong for me to suggest that an applicant should work on just one of the schools that wait-listed her. “You just don’t know which schools are going to go to the waiting list and how many they’ll take,” he said.
Some admissions officers also emphasized more than I did the importance of recent senior year achievements – awards, honors, championships. Nancy Hargrave Meislahn, dean of admission and financial aid at Wesleyan University, advised sending not only your latest grades but a new letter of recommendation from a senior-year teacher. She said it was also “especially good to let the admission committee know how your ideas about college and your education have developed and changed as you have gone through the college process.” She said when admissions officers go back to their wait-lists, they often are looking for particular qualities to round out the class.</p>
<p>Finally, consider that last sentence. A school may be interested in one more band member, or a good soccer player. There is no way of knowing the student that admissions wants to round out a class.
Good luck.</p>