Waitlist Questions- What can admissions tell me?

Applying to College
1

Hi all,
Smith has been my dream school ever since I visited two years ago. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, I want to go so badly, but I unfortunately was waitlisted.
For some background, I was accepted to Mount Holyoke with the Leadership Award ($20,000 a year) and also Wellesley. I was shocked, then, when I opened up my bannerweb to find myself on the waitlist. I was also shocked to hear that my good friend, with similar stats and extra curriculars but lower scores (I got a 35 on the ACT, she got a 31) was accepted.

As much as Mount Holyoke and Wellesley are great options, Smith has my heart. I’m planning on contacting admissions as soon as I get my package in the mail, but I’m just curious if anyone has recommendations about what to ask them. Are they permitted to give me any indication of where I am on the waitlist? Will showing interest help?

I plan to accept my place on the waitlist and hope for the best. No one from my school will be attending (my friend is going to Union), if that makes any difference. Thank you for any help you are able to give me.

2

@dancingtocollege‌ Smith and most other schools do not rank their waitlist. You can see in Smith’s Common Data Set (http://www.smith.edu/ir/data.php) that last year 79 students got in off the waitlist.

I would venture to guess that Smith and Tufts are relatively similar in their treatment of the waitlist. Here’s a post from a Tufts admissions officer that has some helpful information about contacting a school about the waitlist:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/15715299/#Comment_15715299