<p>I was recently waitlisted at my top three choices: Harvard, Dartmouth, and Amherst. I have heard that in order to seriously be considered for admission when waitlisted you need to write to the school promising to attend. I obviously cannot do that for all three schools. As I would be equally happy attending any of these three (thrilled in fact) I was wondering which one I would have the best chance of getting off the waitlist in?</p>
<p>I think you should write to all three schools and be careful with your wording. Say something like you would rather attend their school than any of the schools to which you have been admitted. It isn’t quite the same as saying if admitted you would definitely attend but it conveys close to the same message and is honest.</p>
<p>Do you need financial aid?</p>
<p>It’s really unlikely you get off the waitlist in the first place. Personally I would tell all three school that they are still my #1 and I would enroll if they offered a spot. If my some miracle you were offered admission at two, you can just tell one that it didn’t work out.</p>
<p>luckily, I do not need any financial aid. Should I explicitly write this to them, or will they take this information into consideration on their own? </p>
<p>Do schools share this type of information about which applicants wrote to them that they are their #1? I’m quite hesitant to be dishonest in this whole process…</p>
<p>I would write a brief letter and simply state the reasons you’re drawn to the school as well as any accomplishments/awards you’ve earned during your second semester. I would conclude by simply saying something to the effect, “…if I should receive a call offering me admission, I WOULD ATTEND.” The first school to call you, will be the school you’ll go to; it’s that simple. I will warn you, however, D was waitlisted at 8 schools last year and chose to remain on 6 lists. One didn’t take anyone, the other took less than 10. She made it into the final round at two, but they never materialized. The last two, her favorites, kept her until the very, very, very end. 5/6 of these were ivies. My point is not to discourage you but to make certain you know the chances of being called off a waitlist are very, very slim. I would take a look at your acceptances and embrace your favorite school. Obviously, they saw your potential and were willing to take a chance on you. “Love the one that loves you” as they say. Good luck!</p>
<p>I can relate, 12 waitlists here. I think I’ll try some of the advice listed here.</p>
<p>12! Oh god and I thought 5 was bad (though I only accepted places at 3). Of the three, I think I like Amherst the most at this point though their waitlist statistics kind of suck… many years they don’t accept anyone at all.</p>
<p>in their email the director of admission said: “Although I cannot forecast precisely the decisions of those to whom we have offered admission, I am hopeful that we will be using our wait list this year.”</p>
<p>Is this just them being nice or actually predicting that they will be using the waitlist???</p>
<p>thank you for all the advice! I don’t know what I would do without cc…</p>
<p>I asked about the financial aid because it puts you in a better position, you can write to any of these schools and tell them that you will attend if offered admission because you will, your family’s financial situation makes that possible. It’s honest enough, the only circumstances in which you wouldn’t attend is if you made if off of two wait lists and then had to choose and that is extremely unlikely. Don’t tell the schools that you don’t need financial aid, they already know.</p>
<p>jc40’s post is excellent and I hope you will take it to heart. Once again this year the wait lists are huge. They seem to have turned into a place to put students who the colleges don’t want to reject, rather than a list of students who they might reasonably admit.</p>
<p>I think you are too worried about being ethical here. I think that telling them you will attend if offered a spot is honest enough. College admissions is a business and I think you should think of yourself as making a business decision in this case. You don’t owe them the same degree of consideration that you would a friend, you owe them the same degree of consideration that you would an employer. I think you’re on solid ground ethically by telling them that you would attend if offered admission.</p>
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<p>I think he is being honest but going to the wait list could mean only accepting 1 or 2 people off of it, I’ve seen that happen.</p>
<p>I wish I could tell you something you wanted to hear, but there is no getting around that the wait lists are huge.</p>
<p>Yeah I totally understand that getting off the waitlist is ridiculously unlikely… Does anyone know if this year in particular is going to be harder or easier?</p>
<p>Either way I feel lucky to have gotten into the school I did and hopefully admitted student weekend will get me more excited about it!</p>
<p>anyone else have something to add?</p>