<p>My D's experience with being w/l-ed last year is not giving me much hope that she will move off any w/l this year. But maybe I'm being too pessimistic?</p>
<p>If you know of someone that moved from a board school waitlist to being accepted, can you share the story here? Detail would be great, like what school, when it happened, FP vs FA, kid's special talents, anything that you think is relevent. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>It’s a bit early, but there will be a few over the next couple of weeks. I believe that the number of applications per student is rising and with it the number of multiple acceptances. My D has already declined a number of offers but won’t do any more until revisits are over. I’d love to know how many kids revisit only one school. I suspect most revisit multiple schools and then have to decline all but one.</p>
<p>People DO get off the waitlist - if you just look at the master thread of acceptances, you’ll see how many are accepted to more than one school. Obviously they can only attend one, which just goes to show how many offers get moved to the waitlist kids. Don’t lose hope!</p>
<p>kraordrawoh and CaliPaki, you are both a little naive (and I don’t mean that in a mean way)… Schools extend more offers than they have slots for. That’s why Deerfield had a problem with over-enrollment a few years back and had to squeeze a lot of freshman girls into the dorms. They were expecting more kids to say no to their offer of admission. Deerfield hasn’t had to go to their waitlist for the past few years. And that’s just one school.</p>
<p>What I was hoping for was the veterans of CC to share their stories, not the kids that are now waiting to move off the w/l. I know that if that happens this year, it won’t be until April 11th or so.</p>
<p>See this helpful thread, with a number of happy endings:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1093284-anyone-have-waitlist-story-happy-ending.html?highlight=happy+ending[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1093284-anyone-have-waitlist-story-happy-ending.html?highlight=happy+ending</a></p>
<p>It is a roll of the dice each year in terms of getting off the WL. Best of luck to your daughter, and I hope you will be able to post your own happy ending onto one of these threads!</p>
<p>@mombk: I’m quite familiar with yield management. It’s not an exact science and can work both ways. You’re correct about DA, and they also seem to WL a ton of applicants vs other schools. Still, with kids applying to 6-10 schools in many cases, schools can also be surprised with a lower than expected yield. Regardless, we won’t know until after the first few revisit days at the earliest. I hope your daughter finds a good situation!</p>
<p>Here’s the difference, because of over enrollment some schools waitlisted more students and sent fewer acceptances this year. So the conventional wisdom and previous year’s statistics may not apply this time.</p>
<p>Because of pressure on dorm space (schools at capacity), and financial aid, I firmly believe schools are managing yield more conservatively which is why I advocated letting the top school(s) know you are still interested. The polite but squeaky wheel may get more attention if a spot is available.</p>
<p>I do know of students who received FA offers at multiple schools. So declining a spot may create opportunities for someone still waiting. But it’s likely that will happen close to April 10th after the revisits and when the deposits are due.</p>
<p>The next likely occasion will be when existing parents have to return their contracts (May). </p>
<p>The third occasion is late summer when payments are due from FP’s. That’s an overlooked period when many families on waiting lists have given up trying.</p>
<p>It’s not over until it’s over. Hang in there.</p>
<p>Sorry kraordrawoh, I didn’t mean to be insulting or patronizing. I just wanted actual evidence that it DOES happen. I guess I’m feeling a little wary, after watching my daughter sit on a couple of waitlists last year and was not looking forward to it again. </p>
<p>Thanks Exie, for the explanation of why this year might be different. So how squeaky is squeaky? We don’t want to cross the line from highly interested to annoying pest.</p>
<p>Depends on the school. Some welcome additions to the file (accomplishments that occurred after the application deadline). Others don’t mind another recommendation (don’t flood them, though). I suggest a note by the student expressing continued interest in the school and explaining why he/she’d be a addition to the student body. (Note this isn’t the time to rehash the school’s prestige, but a brief, from the heart, explanation of what the student would gain, and what they would contribute). Then follow up with an email (or phone call if you have the stomach for it) in a week or two.</p>
<p>This is the point where students will have to take the lead - especially if FA is involved. Parents sole contribution should be a note saying they are looking forward to being part of the (fill in the blank) community and fully supportive of child’s efforts to matriculate. </p>
<p>I like letters initially because they don’t get lost in a crowded in-box and they are tangible.</p>
<p>We were told specifically (last year by 3 schools) to have the student write to the school stating why they wanted to stay on the waitlist and if the school was in fact their first choice, why that was so. We also included a small list of relevant additional information.<br>
3 Years ago I know three families who did this at one school and subsequently stayed in touch with their admissions person at the school and 2 got in, one FP, one with FA. </p>
<p>Caution: Do not tell more than one school they are your first choice! You can say A top choice, one of my top choices, but not first choice for more than one.</p>
<p>@momb2k- we are right there with you… and I hope we can both report our own success stories on the previously mentioned thread - <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1093284-anyone-have-waitlist-story-happy-ending.html?highlight=happy+ending[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1093284-anyone-have-waitlist-story-happy-ending.html?highlight=happy+ending</a></p>
<p>@Exie and others… I’d love even more input on how squeaky to get with your top choice…</p>
<p>Here is what we have done so far-
Son called - AO was out and he left message saying he would call back (she said what day she would return). Meanwhile he composed a very persuasive letter addressing what he felt was the weak link in his application and how he thought he would overcome that and succeed at School Z. He sent short email to AO - attached letter. </p>
<p>Next day he talked to her on phone, she had not read letter. She was nice but gave the same generic answers you usually get. He asked specific questions about how many they usually take off WL and she gave a number but did not say how many are ON the WL. (She did say that letter goes in the top of the student’s file and is the very first thing they read when picking up a WL file. She emphasized it is important to say it is your #1.)She also indicated that it would not be until early April that they would start to know anything.</p>
<p>Son mailed hard copy of that letter and I attached a short, hand written note similar to Exie’s suggestion above. Specifically stating that we fully support him and are ready to sign a contract. I wanted them to know that the legal contract signors were 100% on board.</p>
<p>A week has passed. No new school grades or awards to pass along. It is not April yet…:)</p>
<p>Is another phone all too squeaky? Who should it come from and when?</p>
<p>Son thought he would call on Monday before returning to school to say something along the lines of…“I just want to let you know that I am going back to JBS and how to reach me/my parents (we will be traveling) over the next two weeks”</p>
<p>I emailed a school stating that it was my first choice, should I write them a letter stating the same thing that the email said, or should I write a letter which is more comprehensive and in depth ?</p>
<p>I have been thinking about writing something to schools too. I found it way too main street to pledge first choice and showcase recent achievements. In stead I am thinking to tell the schools how many bad areas that I need working on and if they ever take me off the WL, I pledge to becoming a far nicer person than <em>cough</em> I am <em>cough</em>. </p>
<p>Which bs in the right mind can reject the idea of having one more good person in this world, particularly after that person has just swore?</p>
<p>IMHO - once you’ve made contact and did a quick follow-up, you have to give it time. The problem is that a lot of people with multiple acceptances are doing revisits. I remember last year we were doing revisits schedule only days before the deadline.</p>
<p>So the next real opportunity may be after April 10th when schools have had time to count the contracts sent back in. Some parents will push responding until the last possible date because the deposits are 10% of the parent contribution and the deadline corresponds to tax season. </p>
<p>Waiting until the April responses are in to make the next inquiry prevents you from being the wheel that squeaks one too many times. From here on out, just send snail mail additions if applicable (awards, etc) otherwise - you’ve done all you can do and the only thing left is to eat comfort food and ask everyone to send out waves of good karma for you. </p>
<p>(btw - do NOT do what two parents have done recently – the mother of a prospective student I interviewed thanked me for helping her daughter then hit me up to buy Mary Kay from her - commenting that it would improve my skin tone. Another told me about a great way to keep in touch with my BS student but the website was an electronic product for which she’d recently become a distributor, tacky, tacky, tacky. )</p>