<p>Thanks, modulation! It’s really frustrating. I would totally send a four page letter detailing 50 specific examples why I want to go there as well as telling them that, no, I have not accepted spots on the Harvard, Princeton, MIT waitlists. Pretty frustrating. </p>
<p>Sorry, but I in some way see the practice of telling multiple waitlists “you are my top choice” as cheating and unfair.</p>
<p>I would remind everyone here that being the LAST one to get into the school you love is better than “settling” for something you know is not what you really want. No one said this process was going to be easy (and sadly even fair.) To me it seems like part of it boils down to how much you want it, AND are willing to work for it when it gets very challenging. PARTICULARLY, at a school like Dartmouth as referenced above, they WILL care about the quality and level of commitment you demonstrate even though the chances are slim. In addition, as someone who has talked to an Ivy league admissions officer for years, they DO talk to each other, they do NOT like it if students commit to more than one waitlist school, and for certain schools, this year is shaping up as an atypical waitlist year because so many kids applied to so many schools. There is no model for predicting the acceptance ratio except for the most selective of schools, thus no way to judge what the waitlist situation will be. If you commit to more than 1 school and you happen to be chosen and then you reject that school, they will be forced to go deeper into their waitlist later in the summer. If the candidate behind you plays that same game and then accepts school A AFTER also telling school B he would “definitely come” school B will have to go deeper and later. Many non-tier one schools are already struggling with how to handle that scenario if it happens. And BTW that also encourages them to UP the percentage they take in ED 1 and 2, as that ensures the schools can minimize this craziness next year. Anyway, keep your heads up and figure out where you REALLY want to go and work just a little more on that. If you do get in, won’t you be happier AND go into college appreciating it that much more?</p>
<p>Telling all the schools they are your top choice is unethical. It’s not like they go searching through each essay saying, “IF THEY DON’T TELL ME DIRECTLY THEY’RE GOING TO ATTEND I’M THROWING THIS RIGHT IN THE GARBAGE.” It’s just so unethical.</p>
<p>I checked my school’s Naviance, and I am the only one to be waitlisted at Dartmouth College from my school. I don’t have any way to predict how this might turn out. The people who apply from my school either get in or don’t. Is this a good sign that this college just doesn’t waitlist massive amounts of people, and might admit me?</p>
<p>Do all schools have Naviance?</p>
<p>How do you get data from Naviance?</p>
<p>When the 4th waitlist came in, I just laughed and ripped it up on the spot. My brother encouraged me to tell the 4 waitlists that they were my top choice, even after I had ripped the last one up. I’m actually not sure if he did something behind my back since he helped me manage the whole process (he already graduated from a good LAC), but I warned him about the dishonesty if someone found out. Even if someone didn’t, I’d still feel bad about that. Some people will be ruthless in the pursuit of getting what they want. Oh well, unless Brandeis magically accepts me off of their waitlist, I’ll happily be attending Knox with a near full ride. I’m not counting on it, even though I feel that I add a certain diversity that 95% of applicants won’t be able to offer. I’d much rather walk through open doors than ever grovel at an institution’s feet, especially when I have to pay a ridiculous amount.</p>
<p>When I got waitlisted at UMich, the faq’s specifically said not to contact the admissions office about anything about your application unless you want to appeal or add in more credentials that weren’t in your app. Be careful about what this article says. If I were an admissions rep, I wouldn’t want to be bothered by some overachiever giving me unnecessary informantion after I just spent every waking minute reviewing apps for the past few months.</p>
<p>In reference to the earlier comment about being waitlisted and being “waitlisted” at prom…</p>
<p>Being waitlisted (and then admitted) is like being asked by a really hot girl to be a ‘reserve’ date at prom (just in case her top choice won’t take her…), then going, and then getting laid that night. Sure you weren’t at the top at the beginning but in the end you are. If you’re waitlisted and then get in, you receive the same benefits as everyone else.</p>
<p>Post Scriptum: No fat chicks…</p>
<p>lol nice comparison</p>
<p>We are in a similar position. 6 Waitlists with 4 of the schools clearly preferred over the accepted schools. My daughter is planning on telling each of the 4 schools that if offered admission she will attend. First school to tender an offer of admission will be the school my daughter attends. Fortunately (or unfortunately) we will be full pay so fin aid isn’t a consideration here. At that point she will remove herself from the other waitlists. This seems ethical and similar to the ED process whereby once an admission offer is received you need to withdraw all applications. </p>
<p>Seems OK to me but more opinions are welcome.</p>
<p>Idk, anxiousdad, I only got waitlisted once but I’d feel a bit bummed to find out about that if I were a kid with multiple waitlist offers who made his/her choice and stayed on for one school. Still, go ahead and do it, there’s technically no rule against it.</p>
<p>"We are in a similar position. 6 Waitlists with 4 of the schools clearly preferred over the accepted schools. My daughter is planning on telling each of the 4 schools that if offered admission she will attend. First school to tender an offer of admission will be the school my daughter attends. Fortunately (or unfortunately) we will be full pay so fin aid isn’t a consideration here. At that point she will remove herself from the other waitlists. This seems ethical and similar to the ED process whereby once an admission offer is received you need to withdraw all applications. "</p>
<p>Seems ethical to me. I have no probs with it.</p>
<p>I was waitlisted at four schools but I’d rather go to Caltech which I did get into. I already told 2 I won’t be accepting the waitlist offer but my parents want me to stay on the waitlist for Harvard and Princeton and to actually try to get in off it because they say even though I think I like Caltech more I can’t know for sure unless I do get into one of those and can compare. It would be even more unethical if I say any of them are my top choices in this situation than someone who says it to several schools that waitlisted him or her knowing he or she would go to any one of them so I’m going to say in my letter that I am still very interested in said school and would love the chance to attend or something like that to still show interest without actually committing or lying.</p>
<p>stanford says the same thing. I guess that means I shouldn’t write a letter to the admissions office?</p>
<p>Hey.</p>
<p>Having read around a little, is there are difference for international waitlists at top schools in the US? For example, way harder to get in still?, they would rather choose domestic students? Do international students paying full fee get an advantage?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>not for princeton ^
thats the only school i know about though.</p>
<p>Hey ikari, yea, Stanford seems pretty strict about that. I’m not sending anything in although I’m prepared to write an encyclopedia if they start allowing it tomorrow. Frustrating.</p>
<p>If anyone has read my posts, my daughter hit waitlist jackpot twice - Cornell and Duke. The same year, another girl we know hit triple jackpot three times - Cornell, Duke and NU. Everyone of my daughter’s friends at school got into their WL school. It was 2 years ago.</p>
<p>I am certainly not advocating people to not try to move on. But at the same time, you are not going to get in by simply returning that 4 x 6 card. This year, if you are a full fare student you will have a much better chance of getting off WL. I am sorry to say, if you need FA, then I say just move on.</p>
<p>My daughter had her GC tell ONE school that she would absolutely enroll if accepted. Her GC called me to make sure we would stand by it. We did not tell the other school she would enroll, but we did send in additional information.</p>
<p>Nothing in life is ever handed to you. It doesn’t matter how you get there, what matters is that you do. There is nothing wrong in being WL or go to your WL school. Unlike some people, I never take no (or maybe) as the final answer. My daughter is very happy at her WL school. If any of you should get off the WL, just say thank-you and happily accept it, if that is where you want to be.</p>
<p>Good luck to all of you. This must be very hard for you. It was for my daughter.</p>
<p>anxiousdad, you seem to have the illusion that what you are doing is ethical, because you obviously see that as the most likely way that your daughter will get in to one of her schools. Personally, I see it as dishonest and cheating. I’m sure the schools, and your daughter’s GC will feel the same way. It may even hurt her chances at these schools (or even the one to which she submits her deposit, if they find out). I encourage you to read my previous post in the thread (on page 4, i believe) and reconsider this decision</p>
<p>also, if you have a good gc, he or she will advocate for you and will only be able to say that at one school. If the other schools see that you said you’d attend if accepted, and ask her to verify, she won’t. It would ruin her credibility. When she can’t verify, your daughter’s chances are gone.</p>