Waitlisted and Visiting Campus

<p>My D was waitlisted at Northwestern (her top choice by far) and at CMU she is on their priority waitlist. Based on advice we received on this forum She has written her supplemental letters and requested additional letters of recommendatons. Her supplemental letter for includes information on 3 productions she is directing and/or producing, additional community recognitions and her most recent grades (which are great). She has also had a few e-mail conversations with the associate director of admissions at Northwestern.</p>

<p>OUR QUESTION NOW---We are willing to fly her from CA to visit the campuses (we were at Northwestern in Feb) again if it could help...does anyone have experience with this????</p>

<p>She is accepted to Northeastern and SDSU (winter quarter) as well as to CSUF and SDSU so there are choices but she still wants to "give it her all" for the other 2 schools.</p>

<p>Thank-you to all of the parents and students who have been supportive!</p>

<p>I don't think a visit is going to help. In fact, I think it may ultimately hurt more than help because it will allow her to keep falling in love with schools that she may not be able to attend. To me, it would be wiser to fly her to the other schools on her list and have her start making connections there. If Northwestern or CMU come through, that will be great --- but if they don't, she needs to feel good about her other choices as soon as possible. You've sent the additional information, she's been in touch with admissions - what exactly will another visit accomplish besides furthering her disappointment if she doesn't get off the waitlist there?</p>

<p>Just my opinion, of course.</p>

<p>My daughter's top choice is Villanova and she is waitlisted. Two weeks ago she asked if she could visit again. My first reaction was 'Absolutely Not'! She needed to concentrate on the seven schools that did accept her and move on. Her reason for wanting to visit was simple - what if she was granted admission from the waitlist and decided that the school she plans to attend is better (Love thy safety)! By remaining on the waitlist she could be taking an opportunity away from someone else, and she didn't want to do that. She needed to know that Villanova was still her first choice. So, I started looking at it in terms of regret. If someone asked me if I could do over some of my own regrets - if for several hundred dollars and 2 days I could revisit a situation and not necessarily change the outcome, but change the way I felt about the outcome - would I do it, and my answer was yes.</p>

<p>She wrote admissions and told them this and she will follow up with another letter to tell them that she still loves the school and will attend if selected. Honestly, I had hoped that she would walk away and say “Nice school – but not for me’, which of course did not happen. It was not an easy visit for her. The accepted seniors are there at this time of year.</p>

<p>I doubt her visit will make a difference in the admit/ don’t admit equation. If she is admitted – great, if not, she knows she did all she could. We only went there to give her a little peace and clarity.</p>

<p>Good luck to you and your child.</p>

<p>I do not think visiting will help get your D in off the waitlist--you have done all you can/should. And visiting a school to which she does not have great odds to be admitted at this point may be somewhat upsetting/frustrating. Better to know she has done what she can and to focus on her existing top choice school--the favorite among those to which she has been admitted and to which you will be sending in the deposit before May 1. If she has no clear favorite right now, then visit her two top admitted choices so you can decide where to send in the deposit. (We went through waitlisting last year--D was WL at a number of her top-choice schools and did ultimately get into one but by then had visited her top choice among schools that had originally accepted her, liked it very much, and did not accept the spot off the WL when it was offered in early May--so that spot prsumably went to the next equally deserving student on the list.)</p>

<p>It can hellp depending on who she sees there and the impact she has on that person. Interviews are always tricky for young people, because many of them do not help themselves with the interview. If the application hints at a boring, reticent, typical kid, but has some flashes of things that may hint of some excitement, it is all down hill if the interview notes confirms that it's just another BWRK. For such kids, if the interview does not count, I would say "stay away". What I find amazing is that most parents think their kid is so great that he is going to sell himself at that interview and spend a lot of time preparing him. There are some kids that just shine at these things, and others who are ok and typical (far more of those). If you can honestly say, she is the sort that makes an excellent impression in person, it is a consideration, because it would likely also get some point for being truly interested since she took the trouble and expense to come to the school, and for waitlists they do not want to fool around with maybes. But as Carolyn says, these visits can be hurtful in that if she does not clear the waitlist, the schools she did not make will be looming in the front of her mind, and in my opinion, she should be focusing on the birds in hand, not in the bush.</p>

<p>Thank-you to everyone. After sharing all of this with my daughter and alot of thought my D decided to just keep in e-mail and written contact with Northwestern and to actually remove her name from the priority waitlist at CMU. She plans on going to visit Northeastern and make a decision between Northeastern and UCSD (while hoping Northwestern comes through---she is already talking transfer strategies and where she will go to grad school). I think her mood vastly improved when she was admitted this week to USC (Marshall School of Business). Although she had already decided to not attend USC the admission was wonderful to get following the waitlisting at the other 2 schools. I think-no I know- that she will shine at which ever school she eventually selects. She is a theater kid and I we have been going through the same thing that happens when she auditions for parts and gets a different one than she initially wanted..but she loved being Louisa Von Trapp. Great things will happen and just like she eventually became Dorothy and shined in the spotlights she will shine at Northeastern or UCSD or ......</p>

<p>Carolyn, thank you for the private messages!
C-</p>

<p>Best wishes for you and your D, WaitingMom - she sounds like a delightful and thoughtful young woman that will make her own luck.</p>