<p>I confirmed my spot on the waiting list but now I can’t access the letter with the “waiting list Q and A,” does anyone know why? Any other tips on being waitlisted would help too.</p>
<p>What does it mean to be on the waiting list? Although a very high percentage of students accept our offer to attend Brown, we sometimes find that there are spaces remaining in the first-year class after we have received replies from the admitted group. As we make our final admission decisions, we identify students whom we would like to have admitted if we had a larger class and give them the option of being on our waiting list. If spaces become available, we are pleased to be able to offer admission to at least some of the students we wish we could have included in the first place!
How do I commit to the waiting list? Beginning on March 30, you will be able to commit to the waiting list through the same online system you used to check your decision, <a href=“http://selfservice.brown.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://selfservice.brown.edu</a> . Please navigate to your Application Status page, where you will see the option to either commit or withdraw from the waiting list.
How many students are on the waiting list? Because we cannot know in advance how many spaces may become available, we take the precaution to invite an abundance of students to be on our waiting list. Of those students, we have come to expect as many as five hundred or so of them to accept the waiting list invitation. Only students who have declared their desire to be on the waiting list will be considered for admission if spaces are available.
How many students will be admitted from the waiting list? The number of students admitted from the waiting list depends entirely on the number of students who decide to accept our initial offers made at the end of March. We never know for sure until all of the responses have been tallied after the May 1st reply date. Experience tells us that making predictions about the number of students we may be able to admit, if any, is perilous. In recent years, the numbers have ranged from as few as a small handful to more than fifty.
Are students “ranked” on the waiting list? No. The “waiting list” is actually the shorthand term for the entire group of students who are eligible to be considered for admission if spaces become available. No attempt is made to place individuals in order of priority. Perhaps it would be more fitting to use the term “waiting group”!
How do Brown admission officers determine which students to admit from the waiting list? If spaces are available after our initial offers of admission are tallied, we revisit the entire group of students on the waiting list, and then select the number of candidates that we expect will be required to ultimately fill the class. In most respects, this effort is a condensed version of the careful, deliberate process that we used to narrow the applicant pool during the long fall and winter months. In some ways, it is even more difficult because these are students whom we would like to have admitted if the first-year class were larger! As indicated above, there is no rank ordering of the wait-listed candidates, so we simply do our best to select a group that we believe furthers our aim to build a class that is marked by accomplishment, variety, and excellent academic and personal promise.
What is the likelihood of my being admitted from the waiting list? This is the most often asked question, and it is surely the most difficult to answer. In fact, it is literally impossible to predict an individual’s chances for admission from the waiting list. Statistics are not particularly helpful even in determining how many students will be admitted from the waiting list, let alone which ones. If you have questions for us as you wait for our decision on your candidacy, feel free to contact us, but we can tell you now that we will not be able to forecast your chances!
Would it help my chances for admission by sending additional information? By having additional letters of recommendation sent to the admission office? By having an interview with an admission officer? It is not at all necessary to send additional materials—after all, we have already decided that you are worthy of admission to Brown. However, you may write to us with new information that was not included with your original application. By the same token, you should not solicit additional letters of recommendation—they would only confirm what we already know about you. Finally, we are not able to have individual conversations with wait-listed students, even if they happen to be on campus. As much as we enjoy meeting students, our staff is much too small to be able to speak with all the candidates

who might like to have an interview. So, as a practical matter, and in fairness to students who would be unable to come to Brown even if interviews were possible, we do not provide that option.
When will I know whether Brown is able to offer me admission? The soonest we can begin making admission offers to students on the waiting list is mid-May. There is no specific, pre-determined notification date, and the offers may be made over a period of several weeks rather than all at once. We aim to have made all offers by mid-June, but certainly no later than the end of June.
Is it appropriate for me to commit to attend another college by its reply date if I am hoping to be admitted to Brown later? First of all, it is very important to respond to all of the colleges to which you have been admitted by the designated reply date, and you would be wise to secure your spot at the school you would attend if we are unable to offer you admission from the waiting list. All colleges expect a certain number of students to be selected from waiting lists at other colleges and that some students will politely withdraw their commitment to attend. This is perfectly appropriate.
If I am admitted from the waiting list at another college before I hear from Brown, would the Brown admission office be able to accelerate the decision concerning my candidacy? We are unable to do so because each of our decisions is linked to the decisions we make about all the other candidates. It is not possible to make the decisions one by one. Many colleges will understand that you are waiting for other offers, and they may be willing to extend their deadline in such cases.
If I am offered admission from the waiting list, will I still be eligible for financial aid? Yes, as long as you applied for financial aid at the time you submitted your original application for admission.
If I am offered admission, would I be allowed to defer my enrollment to the next school year? Because the purpose of employing a waiting list process is to assure that we give as many students the opportunity to attend Brown as we can optimally accommodate in the fall term, we cannot offer the deferral option to students admitted early in the summer.
May I remain on the waiting list after the process had concluded, just in case a place in the entering class becomes available late in the summer? Once we have completed the early summer waiting list process, we close admission for the coming academic year and the waiting list is permanently dissolved.</p>
<p>Is it standard to write a letter to Brown if you are waitlisted? Is it recommended?</p>
<p>Hi guys! I’ll be declining my offer of admission, though I’m super grateful that Brown would even consider me. Hopefully, my spot will go to one of you. I have no doubt that every single one of you would rightfully deserve it. Good luck to you all!</p>
<p>Thank you Just Smile. I think I can say we all appreciate that.</p>
<p>My daughter was waitlisted. She will be going to NYU and GW’s “Accepted Students Day” but still hopes to hear back from Brown.</p>
<p>I have the pdf of the letter they sent out if anyone would like it.</p>
<p>Good luck everyone! :)</p>
<p>Kmiller,</p>
<p>when i was wait listed back in 05, it was definitely standard practice and expected that you would write a letter. I did for the 3 schools I was wait listed at, but only made the statement about promising to go in my letter to Brown.</p>
<p>Is committing to remain active on the waiting list binding?</p>
<p>fencerdgraon,</p>
<p>No. Wanting to stay on the wait list and promising to attend if admitted are two separate statements. There’s actually no binding commitment of any sort that you can make at this point. I went to an elite private school so my statements about intent carried more weight since they were backed by my high school’s college counselor who had been doing this for decades. The only reason I didn’t make such statements for all the schools and the only reason I don’t tell others to do so is because of a moral obligation to be honest in your letter.</p>
<p>Thank you, i_wanna. I will stop worrying that I made a blunder then.</p>
<p>@I<em>wanna</em>be_Brown, thanks for the input–it is much appreciated!</p>
<p>Hey, what email adress did you guys use when writing your letter? Is it pk to send to <a href=“mailto:admissions@brown.edu”>admissions@brown.edu</a>?</p>
<p>^I would like to know the answer to that as well.</p>
<p>Is financial aid limited for waitlisted applicants?</p>
<p>I got a letter today in the mail from Brown which scared me because it was a small envelope, but it was just a “Thank you for committing to Brown’s waitlist” letter with a hard copy of the FAQ sheet. The only useful information it gave me was that we should not expect notification before May 15th</p>
<p>@fourpointgpa
According to the letter we got in the mail, you can get FA so long as you have submitted all the documents required by Brown.</p>
<p>True. I wonder if they are still need-blind for waitlist candidates</p>
<p>hey guys, anyone who hasn’t yet received the letter?
I’m international and haven’t receveid one! I wonder if there’s something wrong… Maybe it really takes a while for the letter to arrive</p>
<p>Has any heard of school principals calling admissions offices to advocate for a specific student? Does it help?</p>