<p>I imagine that all of the decision letters for Fall 2010 applicants should be in within the next 2 or 3 weeks. Then the crunch time begins. It seems that the month of April will be extremely busy trying to make a decision before the May 1 deadline. You look at your list of "accepted" schools and delete any that are financially out of your reach after the scholarships & financial aid is awarded. You get answers for any outstanding questions, perhaps speak with the admissions and/or financial aid offices, compare and contrast the schools, and hopefully visit the campus one last time. Maybe even attend an Accepted Student Open House. I know it varies for each individual situation. But what else should I be doing? What's the best way to go about this process? Do any parents who have done this before have any advice for us first-timers?</p>
<p>The only thing I can think of is confirm that housing is available. I think most campuses guarantee freshman housing, but there are a few that do not. We know one student who accepted his offer and then found that he should have applied for housing before being accepted- it was all gone by the time he was offered acceptance. If he had looked at the housing website it did clearly state that housing was not guaranteed, but he missed it.</p>
<p>Here’s another question: For those who are waitlisted at schools they really want to go to, any advice on approaching these colleges? How much is too much contact? We don’t want to hit them over the head with emails, but don’t want to be too coy either. Has anyone successfully gotten into a wait list school who can share what worked?</p>
<p>Whether you are offered admission from the wait list depends on whether the school’s yield from its accepted student offerings hits the school’s class size target. Usually this is not known until May 1 which is the national response cut off date for accepted students to reply. With a few exceptions, most schools accept more students outright than the size of the freshman class, are pretty good at predicting yield and know how many students need to be accepted to get the required class size. While there is nothing inappropriate about contacting a school towards the end of April to inquire whether it thinks it may go to the wait list and expressing a continued desire to attend, the reality is that a student is much better off choosing a school from among the student’s acceptances and becoming invested in attending that school. If another school does offer an admission from the wait list, a student can always shift directions but I would not sit around waiting for that to occur.</p>
<p>Our plan is to move ahead and we plan on making a decision on the schools he has been accepted to. But the waitlist school is still his #1, and his plan is to remain on that list even though the odds aren’t great. What I’d like to know is how much contact with this school is appropriate? What has worked for others?</p>
<p>Wkdk-- I know a young woman who was waitlisted (not for acting) at a very good school-- she wrote a letter saying the school was her first choice-- essentially another short essay. And her GC spoke to the admissions officer. She got in. I know that can make a difference – schools want to be able to say they didn’t go far down the waitlist, etc. </p>
<p>Whether, in a very competitive creative field, it would be much help, I’m not sure. But I don’t think that measured contact such as that, or such as informing the school of any awards or new honors, can hurt. You can’t badger them obviously…(but maybe you can find out how long the waitlist is?) I’ve known people to get in from waitlists as late as August, btw.</p>