<p>My son still remains on the wait list for an Ivy. The school's admissions office had called his guidance counselor three weeks ago and asked: "Would the student accept admission here if he were taken off the wait list and offered admission?" The guidance counselor then called us and my son and, after much discussion, weighing the pros and cons of this school vs. the one he was set to go to, we agreed that the Ivy would be the better choice. The guidance counselor then spoke to the admissions office again and told them my son would "be delighted" to go there. </p>
<p>Since then, no word from the school. The guidance counselor advised us not to call them, and just to be patient. It seems from the CC forum, that several kids got rejection letters last week, and only one has gotten taken off the wait list, and accepted. Other kids from the forum have called the admissions office, which replied that more letters were on their way.</p>
<p>Can anyone shed some light on this process?</p>
<p>The book, The Gatekeepers, had an interesting look at what goes on with the waitlist. In the book, some applicants had a following among the admissions officers, but not enough to be granted admission in the RD. But an admissions officer might still hold the torch for this applicant--and champion her or him when spots on the waitlist open up. Knowing that the applicant would for sure come to the school if offered admission is a piece of evidence that the admission officer would use to try to get an acceptance for this student.</p>
<p>So maybe someone is pushing for admission for your son and pleading his case before the committee? I hope so--and good luck.</p>
<p>Seems like my D's wait list school asked the same question when she was notified that she was on waitlist. However, it was not her first choice school so she did not even reply.</p>
<p>Many kids from my daughter's school got off the waitlist - Hamilton, Northwest, Duke, Cornell, Georgetown... The college counselor called Cornell for my daughter on a weekly basis, then they called as soon as they knew Cornell was going to its waitlist. Cornell wanted to know if my daughter wanted the spot right away. On the other hand, my friend's counselor, from another school, said it was not their policy to call. My friend ended up calling on her daughter's behalf to 3 schools she was waisted on, the daughter got off the waitlist to all three schools(NU, Duke and Cornell). I would contact the school again - very politely. If they made the initial call, your kid must be very high on their list, you want to make sure he is the person they consider when a spot is opened again.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your advice and insights. I was also told that the student himself should do the calling, not the parent. Our guidance counselor doesn't think anyone should call, however. "Just be patient," he says. "You'll hear soon." My son did send the admissions office an email a couple of weeks ago restating his desire to go the school. </p>
<p>Based on the CC forum threads on waitlisting at different Ivies, there are still vast numbers of kids still anxiously waiting word on their wait-list status. My son has termed this "Survivor: Wait-List Island". </p>
<p>Has anyone gone through this in prior years?</p>
<p>Adding to the prior post citing insight from The Gatekeepers, some may recall the story of the kid who went on a (humorous) postcard <em>campaign</em> to get off the wait list. He got in. I'm not sure the advice to avoid contacting the college is the best advice. (I have no actual wait list experience, so my advice may be off base. But the GC's advice just doesn't sound quite right to me. Unless he's got a very strong relationship with Harvard and really knows how they are operating on this front).</p>
<p>Your son has the humor thing down - Survivor, the Wait List Island. Maybe he should drop a note in that vein.</p>
<p>If it were me, I'd be having him call now, and again from time to time.</p>
<p>Unless the GC's "You'll hear soon" indicates he has some inside info. Wouldn't that be nice?</p>
<p>My D was On Harvard's Wait List last year. They did send out some initial rejections. She met with the admissions counselor in April after D was waitlisted. She did e-mail her admissions counselor.around June 6th or so. They had just met on the final spots. Unfortunately D was rejected, but had a wonderful year in a state university honor's program. </p>
<p>If he knows who the admissions officer is, I would have him call or email. I think the more information they have about him the better they can lobby for him. I think when D met with the counselor she presented a different picture, than the counselor got from reading her application.</p>
<p>Admissions may or may not be a crapshoot, but the waitlist almost certainly is. A neighbor's daughter was accepted to Harvard off the waitlist a few weeks ago. No campaign, no calls (GC or student), no supplemental material, no relationships, no nothing. She was happily preparing to attend a second-tier rural LAC; all of her acceptances had been in that vein, and that was where she expected to go. She's good (but not D-I scholarship good) at her team sport, and all anyone could guess was that there had been a disappointing response by other girls in that sport, and she was next on the list.</p>
<p>I just wish they would eliminate and notify the kids they know for sure they are not going to take, i.e. those not at the top of the heap. It would give these kids closure.</p>
<p>The schools that I was waitlisted on--Brown and Columbia--did this. Within a week or so of the initial date that they informed us that we could be expected to hear from them, they gave everybody some sort of decision (accepted, still waitlisted, we're not taking you (my pride dislikes calling it rejection :))). Being that at this point I truly didn't care and just wanted to get a decision and move on, I found this most humane. Of course, those who were still waitlisted were still on the line, but that's unavoidable, I think.</p>
<p>It was hard for my D to go thru graduation ect. not knowing for sure where she was going. I do thing WL admissions is very dependent on who says no. It is also dependent on who is lobbying for you. Not all coaches at H have the same pull.</p>
<p>The frustrating part of this episode is that the school called the guidance counselor (asking if our son would accept if offered) more than three weeks ago! We were under the impression from that call, that very positive call, that an acceptance package would be on its way in a matter of days. </p>
<p>Has anyone hear ever gotten a call like that, from the school to the guidance counselor?</p>
<p>mom1472: My understanding is that once they make the determination they’re going to the waitlist, some schools will make preliminary “feeler” calls to discern waitlisted students’ continued interest. That may have been the nature of the call your GC received. The reason is purely practical. It lets schools winnow the pool of waitlisted applicants before they sit down to make decisions on specific individuals. No reason to consider kids who confirm they’re no longer interested.</p>
<p>know me as a business guy. By that, I mean I see college admissions as one might see any business negotiation. A college is offering a service for sale, a student is also seen as an asset, in that a successful student is a good reflection on a college. In this instance, a college has expressed an interest in the student, and it would seem to me might be seeking a "tiebreaker" among students they see as qualified for too few openings.
It also appears to me that the school is seeking a committment from the student without offering anything in return. Essentially, they are saying "would you sign up, if we offered the position to you?" Theoretically, the answer was already yes in the sense that the student applied there. I believe a better response to the school might have been "are you making him an offer?" Just as the school was trying to get a better picture of how serious the student was about attending, you might have gotten a better picture about how serious the school was.
I think the student or parent(the counselor isn't the best one to negotiate on student's behalf) should call school back and let thewm know that Ivy school is his first choice, and that he is ready to commit now. Are they ready to do the same? If not, remind them that it is his first choice, but that if they are not prepared to commit, he would be forced to continue to seek alternatives. Then, really seek alternatives! If they don't want you bad enough to tell you yes, then find a school that does.</p>