Hey guys, I got waitlisted from my first choice university and I was wondering if there’s anything I can do to get off the waitlist?
Is there any way to demonstrate my continued interest in the school? Is there something that I can do other than wait hopelessly? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!
I would take wait-list over DGS as a positive sign. It goes without saying that you should contact admissions and let them know of your intent. I would also ask how many others are on the wait list and how many they expect to eventually accept. They may not share that info, but I would ask.
Last year no one got in off the waitlist for computer science. I don’t know why anyone would consider wait list better than DGS acceptance. If you are accepted into another major other than your first choice, you are automatically considered to be wait listed as well. I called the university and asked about this.
Don’t feel bad, we can’t all know everything.
Yup, all applicants relegated to DGS are de facto deferred from their first choice major pending yield results.
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between being offered a spot on the wait list and being relegated to DGS?
Might one group be in line in front of the other?
Just to clarify for the OP, you should contact the school to clarify exactly what your status is.
There is no point staying on a university-wide wait list just for the potential to be offered a spot in DGS, assuming you have other options. They may not give you all the info you want, but it cannot hurt you to ask (and declare your intent).
Good luck.
Sorry, didn’t intend to be rude. Of course it can’t hurt to call the university and let them know you are still interested.
"Have you ever wondered what the difference is between being offered a spot on the wait list and being relegated to DGS?
Might one group be in line in front of the other?"
I did try to get an answer to this question and the person in advising didn’t really answer. He said something about them picking the candidate that would best round out the class if a spot opened up.
The university neither needs nor wants anything additonal from you other than that you have agreed to accept the wait list offer, and there is really nothing you can do to improve your chances or speed up the process. When you apply to engineering you provide a first choice major and a second choice major. The process of admission consideration is for first choice, followed by second choice, followed by consideration for DGS. Computer Science is not a major for which those wait listed have any real chance of being accepted unless history from the last few years reverses itself this year and they get a lot less accepting their offer of admission to CS than expected, rather than a lot more like has happened in the last few years, leading to CS becoming an impacted major. You still have some chance of being accepted to engineering and a better chance for DGS.
I have been corrected by a colleague and thus need to modify the above. If wait listed, the wait list applies only to your first choice major and if that was CS, you should assume the chances are low.
These days there is little chance for CS from anywhere if not directly admitted, for reasons explained above. They have over-enrolled for years.
However, in general, there is a difference between being offered DGS and wait list, at least in some cases. The school is a little dodgy on giving out details, which is why I suggested you call.
Here is a thought experiment…
If May rolls around and yield is lower than expected in a given highly-selective department, where would you go to fill spots? By going to DGS, you are taking students (presumably the most qualified) who have already agreed to attend and pay tuition and just moving them over to a different department. University-wide you are still under-enrolled! You now have to go out and fill those newly-empty spots in DGS.
As someone on the wait list, how interested will you be to help them fill one of those newly-empty DGS spots, considering you are a first choice ENG/BUS applicant? Not very interested, especially if you were only borderline rejected from that first choice, as you will have many other great college options. It will be the same for anyone in your shoes, and the school will likely have to lower its standards to fill those DGS spots.
Now if you are the school, how do you maximize the number of very strong students enrolled? Simple, you keep those strong students in DGS, who have already agreed to enroll, and use the wait list to fill the empty spots in the highly-selective department directly. There is no need to lower your standards to fill empty spots in DGS, because you are admitting directly to a very popular major and will be able to attract the best students off the wait list.
This is why I think that, in some cases, students offered a spot on the wait list are in a better position than those offered a spot in DGS. I reserve the right to be completely wrong. 
PS
@CSmajorQ apologies for the snark
@YZamyatin, considering that the CS faculty really want to limit the number of new CS students (because they have been over-enrolling for years now as you said) and they don’t really want to turn away transfers with a >3.66 GPA, taking from the waitlist for CS just doesn’t seem very likely. If those spots go to anyone, they’re likely transfers (inter- or intra-school)
Thanks for the responses everyone!
I am still very confused.
I didn’t get a DGS acceptance, they directly waitlisted me. I don’t even expect myself to get off the waitlist because I have some friends who have much better scores than me and were still waitlisted for UIUC CS.
So what exactly does being waitlisted mean. That I am not good enough for DGS or that they think I am good enough for CS but didn’t have enough spots? I know it’s wayyyyy easier to get into the less popular majors at UIUC.
The thing is, I am not hell bent on taking up CS as a major.
Just being admitted to UIUC would more than suffice for me. I already talked to an admissions counselor, she said CS was extremely competitive this year and said that she can’t share any information as to how many were waitlisted and what my chances are.
So let’s say no spots open up in the CS department but a lot of people do not choose to enroll in the less popular departments for UIUC, would I have a chance of getting in? Is there any way I can forfeit my CS waitlist decision in order to get into DGS?