<p>My d has been waitlisted at many of her top choices (WUSTL, BC, Wm & Mary (out of state)). She is in the top 15% of her public hs class (240 in class), with SAT 2090, weighted GPA 3.8, played soccer and lacrosse for 3 years(not varsity), captain of hs acapella singing group, in musical plays, tutors elementary kids every week etc. Will it help her case to travel out to the schools to personally plead her case for admission? What about financial aid - will that be all gone by the time the colleges look to their waitlists?</p>
<p>There have been some good threads in the past about what you should do to express interest. Do a search or read the saga of Andi's son from last year. The thread is titled "Picking up the Pieces...but what went wrong?" There was quite a bit of discussion about waitlists in that thread.</p>
<p>Spinner - there are things she can do, but the "odds" may be daunting regardless. If you haven't already, check each of the schools in question to see # WL, # accepted off WL in recent years. This will give you an idea of how much focus to put on the wait lists. </p>
<p>Does she have an acceptance from a school(s) she will like? If so, she may want to put as much emotional focus on her future there as on getting off a WL. Some kids have successfully done "cutesy" things to get off WL - in The Gatekeepers one kid sent an amusing or informative post card every single day from the date waitlisted until accepted. More often, it has to do with what the school needs to fill out the class once the May 1 decisions are in (tuba player, fencer,...).</p>
<p>If she has substantive new information, she should email her regional rep. If she will <em>definitely</em> go to a given school if accepted, she should let them know.</p>
<p>If her GC has a relationship with an admissions officer at any of the schools, I would suggest a phone call to that person from the GC extolling your D and trying to get a read on what they might like to see (if anything) to enhance her chances.</p>
<p>Travelling out of state to plead her case - based just on what I have read and discussions here on cc - would not be necessary or higher likelihood of success.</p>
<p>Spinner - Getting off the waitlists at these schools would be an accomplishment, but it's been done so by all means try. But you really need a Plan B because it's very hard to be waiting for a decision as the summer months pass by. My D was waitlisted at one school that didn't say "Sorry" until August 1. By then she'd decided to attend one of the schools that had accepted her in April.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the tip about the archived Andison thread, which was long to read, but definitely worthwhile. Incredible that the family was willing to share their heartbreak and finally their triumph. I was impressed by the wonderful ideas and support shared by other CC parents (and kids!) Perhaps we made the same mistake - the list of colleges was not balanced enough. Who was to know that this year would be so competitive, not only in overall numbers of kids applying to colleges,with those numbers inflated by so many multiple applications but also for girls?</p>
<p>You might read the current thread about waitlists:</p>
<p>Especially Andi's comments on post #19.</p>
<p>Spinner, imo, save the money that you'd spend traveling to visit the WL schools in person. Do be diligent and energetic with a mail/e-mail/telephone campaign...and I'd use all three, this is no time to be bashful. Before doing so, I would compare your D's interests, likes/dislikes, strengths/weaknesses and evaluate each school in terms of "fit" for her. When your D contacts them, be able to explain in depth what makes each school a good fit for her...she needs to be selling them about herself on that score. She should definitely find out the name of "her" admissions officer (usually regional) be talking to that person by name, developing an advocate who can and will speak for her before the whole admissions committee.</p>
<p>Now, a bit of bluntness, so that your D has some perspective while making her appeals and for other parents for next year's applicants:
[quote]
Who was to know that this year would be so competitive, not only in overall numbers of kids applying to colleges,with those numbers inflated by so many multiple applications but also for girls?
[/quote]
The relative disadvantage to girls applying to some schools aside, due diligence on the parents part (I wouldn't expect a student to know it on their own), an hour's research, would have revealed both the demographic trend of more applicants and the structural trend of increasing numbers of applicants per school.</p>
<p>Moreover, your D is in that awkward category in terms of the schools she's WL'd at: she's a good applicant, she's not an outstanding applicant. E.g., a cursory look at admissions stats for those colleges reveals how important the "top 10 percent of hs class" is: 91 percent for WUSTL, 73 percent for BC, 85 percent for W&M. Directly linked to class rank, that 3.8w isn't going to scare anyone (for this reason, I often prefer to look at unranked GPA and then strength of schedule separately). The SAT scores extrapolate to (I'm using the stats on the "old" scoring system to only slightly above mid-range for WUSTL, a bit better than that for W&M, and finally at about the 75th percentile...the point at which you can breathe a little easier, for BC. (One of the most widely misunderstood aspects of admissions is that average grades/scores for a college have a less than average chance for admissions.) Those facts could have been pulled in less than 15 minutes and should have been yellow flags right there. What might have been harder to find without cruising some of the search/application threads on this board is that her EC's show her to be engaged kid who doesn't stand out in any particular way...m'goy, read the EC profiles of some of these students who are being rejected left and right and you will be sobered.</p>
<p>All that said, by the numbers, she has the best chance at BC but the other key numbers to consider are numbers accepted from the waitlist...but I think someone pulled those up for you on the other thread.</p>
<p>Good luck, both to you and your daughter.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The SAT scores extrapolate to (I'm using the stats on the "old" scoring system to only slightly above mid-range for WUSTL, a bit better than that for W&M....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Using overall SAT ranges for out-of-state for UVa and W&M can be very misleading. The breakdowns for in-state and out-of-state SATs at UVa were published a few years back in an anti-affirmative action research article based on actual admissions data obtained from the University. The out-of-state ranges at UVa will be very similar to WUSTL's numbers. W&M is pretty much the same as UVa. For out-of-state students, those two schools (along with the other super-competive publics like UNC-CH, UMich, the UCs) are no bargains from an admissions standpoint.</p>
<p>For next year's applicants, the point that really has to be emphasized is class rank, class rank, class rank. Unless the high school is notably competitive (and I'm talking Thomas Jefferson science magnet or Exeter competitive, it is nearly impossible for an unhooked student to get into the ultra-selective colleges from outside the top 10%. From an average public high school, it really takes being valedictorian or salutatorian.</p>
<p>Corrections regarding OOS for UVA/W&M noted and stipulated.</p>