The Waitlist

Applying to College
1

Well this is a bit ridiculous. I am an international student needing A LOT of aid, so i applied to 20 schools. Now, I was expecting to be rejected from a lot of schools. But I was not “waiting” for this; From the 9 I have heard, 2 acceptances (both full ride whooooo), 2 rejections and 5 waitlists.

Now, from what I understand, it’s not so common to be put on the waitlist so often. I assume what schools are trying to tell me is “Hey you’re qualified enough academically but we want to see if we will have the funds to hand over to you”. Am I right in this assumption?

And should I accept my spots on these waitlists? Mostly this is just annoying because I was hoping I would know where I’m going by April 1st so I could start applying for a Visa, but unless one of the ivies decides to pick me up I might have to be waiting until June.

2

@Esat936 It all sorta depends on what you actually want to study, where you really want to go and the costs involved! To me, nothing beats a full ride but I might be wrong … Could you please give more details?

3

@SalemN History or Economics. Maybe philosophy. The schools I was admitted into are great, and I’m not distraught because I was expecting a heap of rejection letters. I just don’t know how to approach the current situation.

If we forgot about finance, I would rather attend 3 of the schools that have so far waitlisted me.

4

”Get a clue!” portion of post (feel free to skip):

Yes, if I were you, I would most definitely be annoyed to have been offered two opportunities to attend college in the U.S. at no cost!

Absolutely, and you should tell them that. Decline the two offers you’ve received - no point in keeping them. You don’t want to attend either of those schools anyway. And then don’t bother about a visa, because unless you’re “picked up” by one of your precious Ivies, the only thing you’ll need is a school to fall back on in your own country!

Alright, sarcasm aside, I’ll explain why I’m responding this way. You’re an international student who’s been offered two full rides to U.S. colleges . . . and you’re complaining about how frustrated you are and how you’d “rather” have something else! You’re not new to CC - you’ve been on this forum long enough to know that there are plenty of highly qualified applicants who haven’t been offered any spot at all . . . anywhere. And others whose only offers have come with so little financial aid that they have no hope of being able to accept them. And these are students in the U.S. who now have nothing left to fall back on. And you come on here to complain about your extraordinary good fortune???

Advice starts here:

First, congratulations on your acceptances!!!

I understand that you may have preferred one of the colleges that waitlisted you, but, if you need to start your visa application prior to June, then you simply can’t afford the luxury of waiting to see what may happen. Figure out exactly what the deadline is for applying for your visa, and inquire also as to what impact it would have if you apply first, and change your mind about the college later. Once you have that information, pick a “drop dead” date and stick with it. On that date, if you haven’t heard anything back from the waitlist schools, contact them to let them know you are withdrawing your name from their waitlists.

So, yes, if nothing changes on Ivy Day, pick your favorite of the two schools you’ve been admitted to (and accept that school’s offer of admission), accept your place on the waitlists at your three preferred schools (and politely decline the other two) . . . but be prepared to withdraw your name promptly on the deadline you selected, regardless of the outcome.

And best of luck on Ivy Day! :slight_smile:

5

It’s annoying to have not only one free ride to a US college, but a choice between TWO free rides? I spent a lot of time last night trying to advise a bright, low income US student who’s living in a less than optimal situation about how to pull together enough resources to be able to attend college…at…all. And s/he’s a US citizen with a family who pays US taxes. Please. I understand you and the other internationals who post here are teenagers who probably haven’t learned to think much outside the realm of your own experiences, but I really wish you would try.

6

Anyone who applies to 20 (presumably) highly selective schools is going to have a lot of waitlist offers if they are reasonably competitive. That’s the law of probability when you are one of tens of thousands of applicants who are “qualified enough academically” for schools with admission rates below 30%-40%, in some cases below 10%. A place on the waitlist means the same thing in your case as it does in others’: that the school is interested in you, but you’re not at the top of their wish list. You should follow @dodgersmom’s advice to focus on the opportunities you have been provided and hope for (but not expect) the best in your preferred options. This is the reality for most kids.

7

Actually the Waitlist is:

We have offered admission to what we think the correct amount of people is. Or maybe just less than we think.
So we will have slots left, based on previous years. Then we will offer those slots to people who say they will enroll for sure. So for those waitlist people, the “yield”, that is the number of people enrolled/number of people offered admission will be 100% which will help our overall yield value.

Look at the Common Data Set for your preferred universities to see how many get off the wait list. Decide whether or not you want to accept a spot on the waitlist.

Meanwhile, start looking at your acceptances and pick which one to go to!

8

I don’t think the OP is annoyed that he got full ride offers, I think he’s annoyed that he’s kind of left in the lurch by being put on the WL. I would assume he’s grateful for the full ride offers just as anyone would be. Otherwise, I agree with the plans set forward by everyone else.

Congrats on the great offers thus far.

9

As the number of apps submitted by students has gone up over the past 5 years, so has the number of waitlist admissions, since schools now have more trouble estimating yield. At D’s schools last year most kids had multiple waitlists, some at half the schools they applied to.