<p>I've been waitlisted for my first-choice college. In sending an email to my admissions counselor, would it be okay for me to ask if there are any specific areas of my application that may have led me to be waitlisted? That way I could directly work to address that issue(s).</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s bad…I just don’t think you’ll get much feedback above and beyond the general “yours was a strong application, but we’ve had unprecedented numbers, blah blah…”</p>
<p>Okay, thank you, @JoBenny! So how would I go about asking something like this, though, without seeming pushy or naive about the admissions process?</p>
<p>I think being straightforward is fine…“remain excited at the prospect of being a member of XX’s Class of 2018…if there are any areas of my application that you feel could be strengthened, or benefit from explanation, please don’t hesitate to contact me…yada yada…” I don’t think it hurts to throw it out there…I just don’t think you should expect specific feedback like “your essay was weak” or one of your references was lukewarm. Ya know? But reach out!</p>
<p>If you have substantial updates that occurred after you submitted your application, you should submit them. </p>
<p>However, at this point it is too late to ask about the weaknesses of your application and expect to strengthen them. Your application is complete, adcoms have evaluated it in the context of other applicants, and they have made their decision. Move on.</p>
<p>No school will tell you why they chose to waitlist or reject an applicant. If you are on the waitlist the only things that you can do are: 1) send an email to let them know that if you get in you will attend (you might want to include that if you can do anything to help your case such as coming for an interview, you would be willing to do that) and 2) ask your guidance counselor to contact the school and let them know it is your top choice and if accepted you will attend (assuming that is true) and 3) email with any significant updates. At this point I’d suggest you do what you can for your waitlist school but then move away from that school and focus your attention on the schools that accepted you.</p>
<p>I really wouldn’t ask. It is borderline obnoxious. Why waste space being tiresome. Keep it positive. </p>
<p>If they waitlisted you they are happy to accept you as you are, they just didn’t have enough room for everyone. It is splitting hairs at some point. I agree with happy1 approach.</p>
<p>yes I agree with ^^: if you have new achievements, send them to the adcoms. If you don’t, move on. Most students never get off the waiting list and those that do typically receive little to no financial aid. </p>
<p>
Yeah, maybe that’s how it worked once upon a time… </p>
<p>However there is no rule that requires putting only enough kids on the waitlist to provide a reasonable buffer for a shortcoming in enrollment. So some smart college adcoms realized they could have it both ways. They could use the waitlist to have a stock of kids to cover any shortfalls. And they could use the waitlist to pass out “acceptances” that didn’t require actually enrolling the kid!! Parents and other kids would treat these phantom acceptances like real ones in signalling desirability.</p>
<p>Exhibit A should be Duke, a school striving to better its reputation. Duke waitlisted 3,382 students in 2011, a number that is about twice the size of the number of places they have for frosh. In other words to empty the waitlist every single person accepted would have to decline, and so would the entire set accepted from the waitlist to replace them. Of course Duke has no illusions this will happen; in 2010 they took a grand total of 60.</p>
<p>It was, however, a good move on Duke’s part to have 3,382 kids out there spreading the word at their HS that they are waitlisted at Duke. If 2 or 3 kids at each HS say to themselves “Sally got waitlisted and my stats are similar, maybe even a bit better; I think I can get in!” then Duke gets a bump in the number of students that applied, making it even more selective and boosting its desirability. </p>
<p>It is a real blow not to get in to your first choice. happy1 gave good advice and its worth following, but I have a different angle. If you haven’t gotten off the waitlist by HS graduation then write them a letter asking to be taken off the waitlist. By then they know if they undershot their yield and have made new offers, the only spots left will be a dribble due to “summer melt”. So why throw away that chance? Research shows people are actually happier with an irrevocable decision! Once something is settled you accept it and move on. If you linger on the waitlist all summer it will be hard to fully commit to your new college – signing up for orientation and getting to know a few people when you attend, making plans for who brings what with your future roomates, etc. All because doing so is planning for a future you’re still hoping won’t come.</p>
<p>OP, mikemac hit it on the head, but I’ll be even a little more blunt. Wait lists are in general, pure and simple, a scam. You can look up the previous wait list statistics for most institutions on Collegeboard. They aren’t pretty. RPI for instance offered acceptances to 12 off their wait list of 3600! It’s far more about institutional reputation building than anything favorable to the student. </p>
<p>Depends on the school and their needs in a particular year.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt accepted 223 off of their wait list last year.</p>