I was waitlisted at Duke, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, and UChicago. I am going to do everything humanly possible to stand out (sending extra rec letters, update app, send letters of intent etc.). What is my shot at getting off for atleast 1? As a point of information, I was accepted at Georgetown, Vandy, and Case Western, but I am honestly not too eager to matriculate at any of those schools.
Google each college and the phrase Common Data Set. In the section that reports first year admissions there is a line for how many on the wait list and how many were taken off the wait list. Check for the past 3 years to see if there is a trend.
In my family we treated the wait list as a compliment but still a rejection.
Time to do a sales job on yourself to get excited about one of the great colleges you were accepted to. Getting off the wait list should be an unexpected surprise.
I think there is something in human psychology that has us value the fish that got away over the fish in the boat. Perhaps it kept our cave man ancestors striving for a better situation.
D1 was waitlisted at her top choice. We received a letter specifically telling us NOT to send in additional LORs or letters begging to be considered, but that we COULD send in any additional honors or awards that came her way. She did get a very prestigious award in the interim, which our GC promptly notified them of.
She came off the wait list on May 2 and went on to have a spectacular experience there, both in terms of what she got out of it, and the contributions she made there as well.
It’s probably a long shot for many of these schools, but if you do see a willingness of these schools to take kids off the wait list, you might have a shot.
Unfortunately your chances aren’t good. Best advice is for you to pick a school that picked you … get excited!!! and plan to enroll there. you can switch later in May or June if a WL offer comes, but don’t plan on it.
data from the CDS for each over the last 4 avail (hopefully i didn’t make any typos):
- means no data available
Year # offered # admitted
WL spot from WL
Duke
12-13 - 310
13-14 - 99
14-15 - 92
15-16 - 9
Brown
12-13 - -
13-14 - -
14-15 - 57
15-16 - 192
Dartmouth
13-14 1691 87
14-15 1855 0
15-16 1852 129
16-17 2064 16
Penn
12-13 2017 87
13-14 2816 44
14-15 2651 135
15-16 2474 90
Chicago (no CDS avail online)
So… just crunching some numbers: I have about a 5% chance to get off the waitlist at any given school (according to the number above). So I have about a 1 in 4 chance of getting into atleast one of these schools based on just sheer probability (not to mention all the people who reject waitlist offers and those who are just courtesy-waitlisted). Not bad odds. In the meantime, I’ll try and get pumped about the schools that I got into
The schools you mentioned are quite different.
Does it matter to you what type of school you go to? (urban/rural; open curriculum/not etc.)
I’d focus on the school that seems to be the best fit for you, and update that one (or two) only. I mean, you can’t tell ALL of them you’d definitely go if you got it, because that wouldn’t be true if you got off the waitlist at more than one.
Also I’d look at your acceptances and see which one is the best fit. If none of your acceptances are acceptable, there are still schools with rolling admissions looking for students, some of which might be a great fit for you.
Good luck!
UChicago has a massive waitlist. Your odds are way below 5% there. Two of the schools don’t tell you how many they waitlist, so you can’t tell for those. And whatever keeps you off the admitted list at one might hurt you at others as well – they are not completely independent events. I’d suggest that you get excited by the schools who want you right now.
No, not an aggregate 25% chance.
And not all waitlist kids are considered equal. There are different reasons one gets WL. You can’t know if you were the n+1 i in your area and as soon as another declines, you’re next. Or if this will depend on other factors that skew against you.
If you do send one college further info, please read up on what they’ll take-or not- as Nrdsb4 says. Be informed. They don’t generally want a repeat of your app or more LoRs- which may or may not be that great. It usually needs to be something that shows a leap in what makes you worthy. (You know what makes one worthy, right?)
No one can tell you your odds of getting off wait lists, because it can and usually does vary wildly from year to year.
I do not think you should send extra letters of rec. This is not an opprotuntity for you to reapply, and that will annoy them. Sending updates on your achievements, honors or the like is fine. Updated grades are fine. Keep anything you send brief.
My understanding is that wait list movement is by type. If they need 5 more girls, they are not going to pick a guy. If they lost someone really interested in art history, they are going to see if anyone on the wait list has that interest.
adding to @lookingforward, not only are there usually relevant differences between the people on the waitlist, but each of the colleges are (in that way) independent events: not getting one has no effect on the likelihood of getting a different one, so it’s still 5% for each of the remaining ones.
Look at the WL #s for the ones posted: they are all at least ten times the maximum number that they have ever taken. They are a polite way of saying ‘no’ to good candidates, legacy kids, etc.
Let it go. If lightening strikes, so be it, but it’s time to pick one of the ones you have and get excited about it (love @Snowball City’s 'time to do a sales job on yourself!)
@collegemom3717 I’m not a legacy nor the kid of a wealthy donor/VIP. So, I’d like to think I was not courtesy waitlisted (after all, I see no reason why they’d feel reluctant to reject me). However, point taken. I’ll keep you all updated if ‘lightning strikes’.