The Waitlist Diaries

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

<p>Hello, people who decided to click on this thread.</p>

<p>So my waitlist journey began on my front porch on Monday, with me breaking down into tears of pain, and disappointment after seeing and opening the small, white envelope. And my whole family was watching me go through that anguish. They wanted to be there for me if I got accepted. But I wasn't. My poor father even cried because he knew I wanted it so bad. </p>

<p>I didn't go to school the next day. Tuesday was full of me trying to recover and rationalize the situation entirely, with intermittent crying spurts throughout the day.</p>

<p>And now it's Thursday and my mind is cleared up, for the most part.</p>

<p>I still want to go to Vandy more than anything in the world. I put my heart in it and can't get it back. But I've come to the notion that it is unlikely of me attending next year, since now I have to go through the improbable process of getting off the waitlist. So I'll most likely be at GWU next year, since Wake Forest and Emory fail at financial aid. </p>

<p>But I'm not giving up hope! I poured my soul out into a two-page letter that I wrote, explaining just why I love Vandy so much and sent that off on Wednesday. Being there for 6 weeks this summer made me realize just how much Vandy is my home away from home.</p>

<p>And now I wait, hope and pray (and I'm not even that religious) that something good happens in May or June. If not, I'll know my fate via the Vandy admissions blog (I'm sure they'll say if they'll go to the waitlist this year and the number of spots left, if they do) and I'll move on, slowly recover and go about with my life.</p>

<p>But anyway, I haven't even gotten to the point of this thread.</p>

<p>To all you moms, dads, Vandy applicants, accepted/enrolling Vandy students, prospective applicants, and others, I would like to sincerely thank you for your hope, your concern, your support, and your consolation. For all the visitor messages you wrote, the PMs you sent, the posts you made showing that you actually cared about some college decision of a girl on the other side of the internet... my Vandy admissions process and unfortunate waitlist decision have been quite an interesting and enjoyable, albeit stressful ride. I just wonder what would have happened if I didn't bother to be the always-posting-token-overly-anxious-student writing on this Vandy forum!</p>

<p>-Hillary</p>

<p>Post Scriptum: I won't post in this thread often since I can't add something to my file every day, nor even every week. But if something interesting happens, I will definitely be posting an update!</p>

2

<p>I hope you get off the waitlist so we can backpack around campus :)</p>

3

<p>Unlikely to attend? I doubt it. The percentage that get in via waitlist will be up and you have a great chance with your interest and hard work.</p>

4

<p>What To Do If You’ve Been Waitlisted</p>

<p>Thom April 2nd, 2009</p>

<p>This year, Vanderbilt’s pool of applicants was so strong that many students who may have been admitted even a year ago were offered a spot on our waitlist. Keep in mind that it was equally difficult to be offered a spot on our waitlist as it was to be admitted. Still, I know that many students and families are unclear about what being on a waitlist means, and as such, I hope this post provides some insight into Vanderbilt’s waitlist process.</p>

<p>The good news is that we model our class with the goal of enrolling students from the waitlist. Before The Commons, Vanderbilt’s incoming class size could fluctuate with any additional students being housed across campus. With the advent of The Commons we are committed to housing all first-year students together. We use the waitlist to round out the class, in whatever way it needs rounding out. </p>

<p>First off, we do not rank order our waitlist. We approach it by school (A&S, Engineering, Peabody, and Blair). It is almost like having 4 different waitlists. Due to the segmented nature of the list, we do not comment on how many students are active on our waitlist — it is our belief that the overall number is misleading as a gauge of a student’s chances of coming off the waitlist. It is important to note that while we plan to make offers from our waitlist, we cannot predict our yield (% of students offered admission who accept), and therefore we do not know if we will be making offers from the list, and in what quantities.</p>

<p>We know that students’ reactions to being offered a spot on the waitlist will differ - some will say no thanks to the entire thing, some will accept a spot on the waitlist just to see what happens, and some will accept a spot on our list because we remain their top choice. It is identifying that third group of students that is of primary interest to us. </p>

<p>So how do you demonstrate your interest to us? You do not have to visit, or write another essay, or tattoo Mr. C’s mug on your forearm. You just need to do the following: 1) return the yellow waitlist reply form indicating you wish to be active on our waitlist, 2) contact your admissions officer and let him/her know you remain interested, 3) respond to our waitlist check-in emails when they come (see below for more on this), and 4) consider submitting any substantially relevant new information (e.g., new grades that might be available).</p>

<p>If you accept a spot on our waitlist, you will be asked to provide an email address because we will be communicating periodically with you via email. It is vital that your email address is one that you check often and is one that will not block our emails in a spam filter. The emails we send will try to keep you informed about what’s going on at Vanderbilt and (most importantly) ask you if you remain interested in Vanderbilt. We will ask you to respond to these emails by submitting an online Wait List Update form indicating that you remain interested in VU. </p>

<p>This information, along with all of the other information you already provided with your application, will be used by our staff to make offers from our waitlist, if we are able to do so. Students admitted and enrolling from the waitlist are still able to receive financial aid (if they qualify), get housing, and register for their classes, just like students admitted under ED or RD.</p>

<p>For now, you need to begin sorting your offers of admission and decide if you want to accept a spot on our waitlist. If we are able to make offers from the waitlist, we will not do so until May, so you will need to accept another school’s offer of admission by their reply deadline. Starting the first week in May (after all of the deposits have been received) we analyze our class and begin making offers of admission from our waitlist. We will try and provide regular updates on this blog about the waitlist, including more information about whether we’ll be making offers, and how that process will work.</p>

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<p>Hillary - I’ve been reading your posts and I have been rooting for you to get into Vandy. I hope Vandy admissions officers are reading your thread too, because I am sure they will be moved by your enthusiasm. </p>

<p>Good luck,</p>

<p>Rob</p>

6

<p>Hillary, I have been reading your posts too. While I know you need to move on to plan B - I think it’s great that you are completely playing out your first choice. That story isn’t quite over just yet and we all hope the best for you. Best of luck and keep that great spirit you have!</p>

7

<p>Hilary, as you know, I’ve been rooting for you as well. I’m glad to know you will be playing out the waitlist process and I really hope you end up in Nashville come August. I’m feeling pretty good about your chances, but I’ll keep sending good thoughts your way nonetheless! Good luck and keep us posted.</p>

8

<p>Again, thanks for being so supportive everyone! I’m not losing hope until late June. Three of my teachers are truly upset that I didn’t get in, so hopefully I’ll come up with one or two more recs out of that. And all my friends are upset, too, that I didn’t get in, even ones that even applied to Vandy and got rejected/waitlisted. My friend who even applied to Vandy and didn’t get in said she wanted to make a petition for all my friends to sign in regards to my Vandy decision. I liked her enthusiasm about my enthusiasm, but I think a petition sounds arrogant and makes me sound like I deserved it more than others, which isn’t true (I just may want it more ;)).</p>

<p>Thanks again everyone…again!</p>