Waitlist Limbo: What to do?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>While many parents and students are anxiously awaiting a thick or thin envelope to arrive in the mailbox (or e-mail box) there is another option that is neither thick nor thin, neither here nor there: the wait list. As this well-timed article puts it "Students placed on college waiting lists need to take action" and often that means the need to reassess, take stock, and realize that maybe your "no. 2" choice is your "dream school" after all.</p>

<p>Good luck to all those still waiting!</p>

<p>
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... some students will receive letters that begin like this: "Congratulations on being one of our top candidates for admission. We had a record number of highly qualified applicants this year, and our admissions committee has decided to offer you a position on our waiting list."</p>

<p>Welcome to limbo. I'll say this right off the bat: Don't hold your breath while waiting to get admitted to a college from its wait list. The National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) says that about 20 percent of students nationwide are accepted from wait lists each year. Those are national averages though, and while one in five sounds good, it's also true that four out of five do not get admitted.</p>

<p>Selective colleges that receive many more qualified applicants than they can accept typically use wait lists. It's tricky for colleges to predict precisely how many accepted students will actually enroll at that college, so they use wait lists to have a ready reserve of students to fill their freshman classes. Public universities rarely use wait lists.</p>

<p>If you have been placed on a waiting list at a college that is your first-choice school, your first task is to determine which college is your second choice. Even if you intend to remain on a waiting list, it is imperative that you send a deposit to reserve a spot at your second-choice school. Nearly all colleges use May 1 as the acceptance deadline date, but double-check with your colleges to be sure.</p>

<p>If you are considering staying on a wait list, evaluate your chances of actually getting accepted from the list. Students should make contact with the admissions office. Parents, this is the time to step back and let your mature young adults communicate with other adults about their future.</p>

<p>Students should call admissions officers to determine if they are ranked on the list. They should inquire about the number of students who were accepted from the waiting list in prior years (or the percentage of students they took from the list), and how many (or what percentage) they anticipate taking this year. Ask whether they have a cutoff date to use the wait list.</p>

<p>If you choose to remain on the wait list, be sure to tell admissions officers that their college is your first choice. If applicable, keep the office updated with new grades, accomplishments, awards, and consider sending another letter of recommendation.

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<p><a href="http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MDkwNTkx%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MDkwNTkx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>I doubt my son will feel that congratulations are in order for being offered a spot on a wait list! Does anyone else find this insulting?</p>

3

<p>I don't know about insulting, but you would have to be awfully stuck on the idea of one school to accept a spot on a waitlist. This has been a very long year, and it is inconceivable to me that my son would ever agree to prolong the experience past May 1st (or even that long). But then again, my son already has some fine options; perhaps if a student has no good options and is patient--and energetic about staying in contact with #1 school--this would be a reasonable course to take. Not for this household, though.</p>

4

<p>I suppose, but I remember many eons ago one of my best friends was on the wait list at Yale. She didn't get off it until August. She just made plans to attend other college and then hoped for the best.</p>

5

<p>I was under the impression that very few waitlisted students do get admitted. Thankfully it is not a situation that our D will be in, but if it were I would urge her to accept another school's offer and if she wanted, and if the 1st school has it, to apply for transfer the following year.
Do many schools have second semester admission? I never heard of it until I read an article in a local paper 2 years ago.</p>

6

<p>I am wondering if a greater %age of students are being admitted from the wait list. With more students applying to 6+ colleges its seems that it becomes more difficult for colleges to predict as accurately how many admittees will choose to attend. If colleges need to control the numbers of the freshman class, admitting students from the wait list seems the best way to achieve this.</p>

7

<p>Accepting students from the waitlist is tricky, too. When the dinosaurs roamed the earth, I was waitlisted at College A. I made all my plans to go to another great choice, College B, but stayed on the waitlist (back then, you didn't have to "accept" a spot; you just automatically stayed on it). I got in from the list at the end of May. Psychologically, though, I was already a student at College B, so turned College A down. I wouldn't discount the power of the psychological "enrollment" in another choice.</p>

<p>Also, it appears from most of the numbers that I've read, primarily on this board, colleges are having over-enrollment problems, not under, so the waitlist is even more of a crapshoot.</p>

8

<p>The paid online version of USNews college used to include numbers for waitlist at each school and might still, so anyone in that position could check that as a possible resource. The trouble is past history doesn't always predict what this year will bring and as other posters have mentioned things can change drastically from year to year.</p>

<p>Our own, in house statistics on wait lists - we're one for five (counting not just colleges but other types of programs).</p>

9

<p>You can check waitlist statistics on the college's Common Data Set. There are links to the CDSs on the stickied thread in one of the other forums. I've found there's something of an up and down trend to waitlists - one year a college will take several from the waitlist, the next year they will "correct" the situation and take only a few, if any. Last year Duke took a large amount from the waitlist, but then they had a few issues going on then.</p>

10

<p>Waitlists are crucial for smaller colleges. They don't have physical room or housing space to over-enroll, so they have to shoot a little short, then fill up the untaken spaces - or they end up underenrolled. It isn't very pleasant for those waitlisted, but it's sort of a necessary evil. :(</p>

11

<p>I agree with Anxiousmom. Smaller colleges have to guess their estimates. Many kids get accepted to several places, then make their decisions. I don't think waitlist means you are going to be at lower end of accepted students; your essays or recs may just not have been as strong, or you could live in an area that isn't going tomake you stand out. I think there can be little difference between many applicants, and luck can shift from accept to waitlist.</p>

<p>Hopefully, the student is excited by where he/she is accepted,and only if they would prefer the waitlist school, then stay open to that possibility.</p>

12

<p>I understand that smaller colleges need to develop waitlists, but the experience we had with one small college was a bit overboard. This very selective school wanted a class of about 350. They admitted around 900 students total in ED and RD. They then had a waitlist of 900 as well. Historically this school rarely took more than 30 off the waitlist, often much less. In this case it becomes a courtesy waitlist. </p>

<p>A more honest letter would be - "Thank you for applying. You met all our qualifications and we would love to admit you but we have no more room. There were 350 people that we liked better than you. Thank you for playing our game! As a consolation prize we will give you a place on our waitlist. Have a great day!"</p>

<p>Perhaps it is easier to hear that you were great and just didn't get picked than it is to hear you are rejected outright, but it also makes it harder for kids to move on.</p>

13

<p>I think you should put the school on the wait-list back. </p>

<p>"Dear friends -</p>

<p>Congratulations. You have been accepted to the waitlist for my presence in your class of 2007. Your faculty, facilities, academic quality, dorms, and food were among the finest we have seen and tasted, and you should feel honored to have made it this far in this long and arduous process.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, only one school can be graced with my presence in September 2007. While I would like to have attended your school, there are other schools of equal merit competing for my presence, and there is only one of me. So there are some hard decisions ahead.</p>

<p>Please check the space on the attached card if you wish to remain on my waitlist. In addition, if you can provide more tangible reasons (i.e. checks or money orders to me in thousand-dollar increments, to be cashed at my discretion) as to why I should choose your excellent institution over the others, please fill out the attached form, and enclose the tangible forthwith. (I may be able to help your yield data for USNWR....)</p>

<p>Again, congratutulations on this singular honor.</p>

<p>Yours sincerely....</p>

14

<p>mini</p>

<p>I can see my son sending a letter like this...thanks for a good laugh.</p>

15

<p>HA HA! Great laughs out of me, mini. Are you and WashDad in cahoots?</p>

16

<p>I was waitlisted by two schools. I never had a top choice school, and I had been accepted to a school I loved with a merit scholarship. That school made it clear that they wanted me as a student, and they treated me very well. I decided not to stay on the waitlists and to accept my spot at the school I now attend. I knew a number of students who stayed on waitlists, but I felt that it would detract from the process of preparing for college. I really wanted to be able to say that this is where I am going and prepare myself for that particular school. I think that it's best if students, particularly those who didn't get accepted to thei #1, get themselves excited or at least prepared for life at a certain school. It's best if a student can get himself excited about going to his #2 rather than preparing for #2 while really holding out for #1.</p>

17

<p>First of all, I'd note that you are all getting worked up over a hypothetical wording of a fictional letter written for purposes of the article. I honestly don't remember if my kids' waitlist letters said "congratulations" or not. I think they were worded in a more considerate manner, though I don't really recall. </p>

<p>Secondly, whether a student accepts the waitlist spot or not depends on the other options available to the student -- most kids would accept an Ivy waitlist spot if their only other option was their safety.</p>

<p>For those who may face a waitlist option in a few weeks, I'd like to note one thing. Even at need-blind colleges, waitlist decisions can be need-aware -- so full payers probably have a higher likelihood of getting in off a waitlist. The corollary to that is that even if a student needs financial aid, if the college does not commit to meeting 100% need of all its students, there may not be much money left in the financial aid budget for waitlisted students -- so if financial aid is a factor, a waitlist spot is generally not a good option.</p>

18

<p>Waitlists are hard, because you have to simultaneously give the waitlist your best shot AND commit to one of the schools you have been accepted at. Send your letters and updates in, have your GC call - then just forget about it.</p>

<p>The CDS information can help with a little perspective - is the waitlist likely enough to be worth the emotional drain?</p>

19

<p>I accepted a place on a waitlist and I ended up getting in after writing a lot of letters expressing why I wanted to go to that particular school. So, it is not impossible to get off--if you really want to go somewhere, get busy and start getting proactive!</p>

<p>People who accept a spot and just sit there doing nothing will not get in. If you are very aggressive, you have a really good chance of being admitted.</p>

20

<p>"People who accept a spot and just sit there doing nothing will not get in."</p>

<p>I accepted a spot, did next to nothing, and was accepted (by #1 LAC). It was a long time ago. I later found that there was a lot more going on than I could have ever imagined.</p>