Hi - a lot of posters on the Venting and Notification threads are discussing waitlists. Thought it would be great to share resources on a separate thread here, for support and reference for next year’s class. Let’s hear it!
D received a WaitList result from BOCO. And while we are thrilled it wasn’t a “NO” we are wondering how often they actually go to their “waitlist”? Anyone know? If anyone knows some history on the waitlist, and how it works kindly share. It’s my D’s dreamschool. She has 2 Yeses from other schools thankfully, but BOCO has always been her dream and would love to be in Boston.
Would be curious to know if anyone has any info about Syracuse WL. My son really liked his audition with them and would love to have an offer. I figure that chances are slim, but…
And in general…if you want to contact a school about their waitlist, who would you typically contact?
@3Blessings I have absolutely no idea about how BoCo’s WL works, but one thing that is clear is that a good number of people have received offers with little to no financial aid. I am appealing the financial aid offer, but people have said that typically not much comes from an appeal. And frankly, there’s no way we can afford BoCo without help. I predict that we will release our offer pretty quickly. And I can only imagine that many people are in the same boat. So, fingers crossed for you.
@ZukAndSowash, Syracuse waitlist was reduced by one. My S also really enjoyed his audition there but already released his waitlist spot. Here’s hoping an accepted spot opens for your S.
@ZukAndSowash My D is on the Syracuse WL and I spoke to them today. She has not yet seen the school and we were told that we could go there and take a prospective student tour of the whole University and of the Drama dept but only accepted students could sit on classes. The person I spoke with was in the Drama dept but said all the waitlist movement would come from admissions. My concern was that I hear you can have a short window to accept if called upon and we do not live anywhere near there.
My D is on 3 waitlists that she would be happy to hear from, she is an acting major but same process. This is a tough position to be in.
@3Blessings - yes, BoCo accepts students off the waitlist. But it will likely be with no scholarship aid. Also, if you call with questions my experience has been that everyone is helpful and nice, so don’t hesitate to contact them!
@2artskidz - my kid had no hesitation about going to a school he really wanted but hadn’t visited! But we had at least been in the area, so he had an idea of what to expect.
D had 4 WL, one moved to an acceptance within a few days. Still WL for Unv of OK (MT), Utah (MT) and UMich (VP). Any ideas on movement potential for these programs? Both Utah and Unv of OK said we should know by mid April. UMich said May.
S is on the Carnegie Mellon Priority Waitlist…and I am left wondering if anyone knows anything about that process and if there is truly any “hope”. Also…wondering if CMU offers financial assistance to those that come off the WL. It will make a big difference in the end if it is truly possible.
Chances are high we will be releasing my D’s BoCo spot, so there’s one spot at least which should open up.
@luvbloominroses I personally know a 2018 CMU MT grad who got in off the WL. This person told me that they got the call with the offer when another student of the same gender declined their offer. It did take time…if I recall correctly they didn’t receive their offer until sometime in May. This person also told me specifically that a female got in off the WL from last year’s (Class of 2022) class when Micaela Diamond, who is now starring as young Cher (Babe) in The Cher Show, booked that job and decided to forego college. I believe that happened even later than May. There may have been others from last year’s entering class that I’m unaware of, but my friend specifically mentioned only this one.
With respect to FA, the person I know received very little. In fairness, though, I have no idea whether this was related to the person’s WL status or whether the same amount would’ve been offered regardless if the offer had been made with CMU’s initial round of offers. This person is the child of one of my close friends, so I will ask the mom if she knows anything about whether the financial package/offer is affected by being a WL student.
@luvbloominroses , I asked the mom, and she said that in their experience, CMU is fairly generous with grants, but that “scholarships” were small. In the end, they ended up paying about half the sticker price. YMMV of course. 
Also, I edited my last post because the kid had told me that they got in when the person that was their “type” declined their offer, but the mom just corrected that. She said that was her child’s guess and that that was the “rumor”, but that there are a lot of rumors that go around about CMU, but of course not all are true, so they can’t say for sure why they got in over other students on the WL that year.
@luvbloominroses and @muttsandMT No one was accepted from the CMU WL for MT last year (Class of 2022), but people have been accepted from the MT WL in other years, sometimes as late as the summer. I believe one or more people were accepted from the Acting WL last year. As you know, it’s a very small program with a very high yield, so it’s hard to predict from year to year. Just know that even CMU may “over-accept” by a few (at least they did last year), so even if you hear of someone declining, it does not necessarily mean that a spot will open up.
@muttsandMT thank you for your insights! He is on the “priority waitlist” which will notify by May 6th. It means committing someplace else…and holding off for a week before announcing it to the world. He is willing to do that…but honestly…if May 6th comes and goes and he is still in a holding pattern…I am not sure he will wait any longer. This whole process of being on a WL is grueling and takes so much of the “fun” of committing out of the equation. At some point he will need to take the dive. I don’t see him being one of those kids that is willing to make a switch come July or August! Crossing fingers…and hoping they come up with grants then as well! It would be a bummer to finally get in and have to have THAT conversation about how it can’t happen due to finances. He has been warned though…
@luvbloominroses yes, my friend’s child had to do the same thing…commit somewhere else and pay a deposit there. For them they didn’t mind because CMU was always their #1 choice, but I think my D may be like your S and might not be willing to switch once she’s “decided” next year…although she should be so lucky to have that problem, lol! I hope that it works out for your son.
@elsacc it’s certainly possible that the female who got in off the WL was for Acting…I assumed because my friend’s child is MT that the girl was MT as well…my mistake. There are published interviews with Micaela Diamond as well where she mentions backing out of CMU in August, and my friend was very specific that the female who got the call in late summer was a result of her backing out…I assumed MT, but there is such crossover between the programs (and so many of the Acting kids are fantastic singers according to my friend’s child) that it could easily be either Acting or MT. But you’re right of course…very small program, with a very high yield!
@muttsandMT I think your info is correct, but it was for Class of 2021 (not 2022). 
@elsacc and @muttsandMT I’m going to throw another opinion in the ring for whatever it’s worth. My daughter was waitlisted at CMU for MT class of '21. No one got in off the waitlist for MT, I can’t speak for acting. We watched and waited and knew Micaela had booked that spring. It’s a really small world and the acceptances that overlap at the tippy top schools is incredible (at least that’s what we found my daughter’s year…). All the kids were talking to one another and there was a bit of musical chairs at Michigan, CMU and CCM). My understanding was Micaela finally declined the spot on move-in day and by then they did not fill the spot. For the record, my daughter also told me that the stories about filling your type are untrue. She is currently at Michigan and she says the waitlisted students are not ranked and they don’t just plug in a blonde for a blonde,etc. So that whole thing is a myth. Just passing her words directly on…and she told me learning that was really interesting because she had always thought what everyone is constantly saying. At any rate, her year only 4 girls were waitlisted - it is always a very small group. But what I am surprised by @luvbloominroses is that you don’t already have the financial aid offer?? Two years ago they sent right away once you were notified of the waitlist. That way you can be prepared to jump as they only give you 48 hours to decide once they extend the offer. I loved having all the financial info in front of me. I know people say CMU is really expensive and I know some people won’t apply because they can’t afford it but oddly enough it was our best offer! Out of every single school! Isn’t that crazy? - it was really really good. So I guess you just never know and that’s why I think you just have apply if it’s your dream. But in the end it didn’t pan out for us and financially that was really sad (for me and her dad!!!) but for my daughter artistically Michigan is a dream so I guess it all worked out in the end.
^^^we knew our CMU FA package when my D was put on the WL last year. I will say some schools DO fill spots by type. My D was an alternate at Tx State and was behind “her type”. Not sure if that meant small brunette or if it was dance ability or voice part but she was definitely typed.
BW just rejected my D. Had been on the WL. Lots of tears.