Waitlist advice

Applying to College
1

@rutgersknight322 any advice to get off the waitlist ?

2

My D was admitted off a waitlist (and attended). What she did:

  1. Sent an update with new honors/achievements since her application
  2. Expressed her continuing interest
  3. Told them that if admitted, she would attend
3

Did she send an email to the admissions office ?

4

Perfect advise!

5

Agree with advice in post #1 but only say if admitted you will attend if it is the truth.

6

Usually with wait lists, there are instructions on how to accept a place on the wait list. Unless it specifically says otherwise, contact Admissions with updates. She waited until the end of April/beginning of May to update Admissions with new honors and achievements - and just send one email.

And yes, only state you will attend if admitted if it is absolutely true.

You can look at the Common Data Set for numbers for how many applicants were accepted off the wait list in prior years. Depending on yield, some years a school may never admit anyone off the list in a particular year.

7

  1. Your college will tell you how to get on the wait list. Do that.

  2. Once you have all of your acceptances, start the process of figuring out where you want to go for the colleges you WERE accepted to. If you get into the waitlist college, great! If not, you have somewhere you are delighted to attend.

  3. See how many students are accepted off the waitlist for that college. Google Common Data Set and look in section C2 for Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list, Number accepting a place on the waiting list, Number of wait-listed students admitted. At CWRU, they often accepted hundreds off the waitlist. But at say, Stanford, they accepted 36. So if it is a small number then really start focusing on your Plan B.

  4. If you have a clear standout waitlisted college, write a “Letter of Continued Interest” and state that you 100% would attend ( assuming finances are acceptable …some colleges would tell you “We would offer you Xx,000 in scholarship if we admitted you, would you attend?” and then if you say Yes I woudl attend then they would do a formal offer.)
    However you can only do this with one college.

The LoCI could include;

A reminder of where you in the process, such as “I am currently on the waitlist at Amazing U…”

A direct statement that you are still interested in attending. If the school is your top choice or if you’ll attend if admitted at any time, say so. The more committed to the school you are, the stronger your case for admission.

Provide any relevant updates to your application (new SAT score, new achievement, new grades, school visit, promotion, etc). In other words, if you have new info that would strengthen your app, let them know!

Discuss any relationship or interaction with the school you have that might not have come up before (but do not repeat yourself or other portions of the application). For example, if you recently visited the school and attended classes, and later spoke with professors who impressed you, there’s no harm in mentioning that. It shows you are serious about the school, and perhaps one of the profs made note of you.