<p>I've got some random questions about the waitlist this year.</p>
<p>First, how many people were accepted onto the waitlist this year? The letter says it varies from around 100 to around 300, which seems like a pretty big variation.</p>
<p>Second, what should I be doing if I wish to get accepted off of the waitlist? What is there that I could do to improve my chances?</p>
<p>One of my friends suggested asking my counselor to call, and see how close I am to being admitted. Does this make sense to people?</p>
<p>Caltech is really my top choice school, and I'm sticking through this, even if it seems unlikely that I'll be accepted off the waitlist. Ben, are you in a position to post about the number of acceptances as time goes on?</p>
<p>Currently I can't say how many are on the waitlist because I don't know, though 150 is my guess based on the sorts of numbers I recall looking at through the committee process. Calling your counselor and emphasizing that Caltech is your #1 is <em>definitely</em> an excellent idea. </p>
<p>Sometimes we take 50 people off the waitlist, sometimes 5. No way to predict. But don't lose hope.</p>
<p>So, for reference, I was accepted off the Waitlist for the class of 2005 (current senior). That year we took something like five or six people off the waitlist. I was also accepted off of Harvey Mudd's waitlist, so I must have been doing something right.</p>
<p>Actions speak louder than words. Do not just call the admissions office and tell them that Caltech is your first choice, <em>show</em> them that it is... assuming that it really is. Let them know that you will, for sure, come if you're accepted. Get more recommendations from people that matter (have you had any college classes? Get the prof to write you a rec; is there another teacher that you think could right you a stellar rec, especially with respect to your senior year? Have them write it). Send them lists of other accomplishments that you have done. </p>
<p>You know, just think of anything that you can do to distinguish yourself from the other 50 or 150 or 1500 or however many people are on the waitlist. It is -not- easy to get off the waitlist, but it is possible. Don't lose hope.</p>
<p>On the "Waiting List Reply" form, do we write our current plans even though we want to remain on the wait list? I guess that would be weird, but I already did it, and using white-out would be weirder.</p>
<p>It won't influence our consideration of your application if you have put down wht you are currently planning. We're aware you have to make arrangements in case Caltech doesn't work out. I'm fairly sure that form isn't even physically involved in the process whereby we select the waitlisted students to whom we offer places.</p>
<p>(If you want to know just how pure and unsneaky we are, it happens in about one of ten cases -- at least -- that a teacher's recommendation contains the name of another school, usually a close competitor. That is, we get sent a rec meant for Stanford or MIT by mistake. Combined with geographical information, etc., it's pretty easy to surmise that school X also has a great shot at the student, who is often a star. Nevertheless, we never let that influence admission decisions -- whereas if we cared a lot about yield, we would sneakily reject students who would probably not pick us. The rumor is pretty strong that Yale does this with some kids. So rest assured, at least at Caltech we don't play games, using stuff we know to play the numbers in our favor.</p>
<p>The most amusing case of this that I've ever come across was a direct appeal in a letter of recommendation: "Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any doubts about admitting John Doe to Duke University." I had no doubts whatsoever, and did not contact the poor gentleman.)</p>
<p>I have a question- are international students admitted off the waitlist eligible for need based financial aid? I would love to stay on the waitlist but this is the clinching factor</p>
<p>oh ok...so basically if a person who decides not to enroll asked for aid then they transfer that aid to someone they take off the waitlist...is that right?</p>
<p>Sorry for hijacking this thread but Ben seems to frequently visit it so :D</p>
<p>Ben,
Could u please tell me whether all the emails to the people rejected or waitlisted have been sent.
Could u also tell me what u do if an application is incomplete i.e teacher recs not recieved or something else missing cause I haven't recieved my tracking no. yet and emailing the admissions office didn't help. So suppose my app is incomplete do I get a rejection or do I not get a email i.e. decision at all?</p>
<p>Quick thing, shekar9: If emailing Admissions doesn't work, try calling them. Keris (my boss there) mentioned the other day something about migrating over to a different email address, and somehow a bunch of messages weren't received or were overlooked or something. Bottom line is, if you don't receive a reply in a few days, you should email again (and check the address) or call.</p>
<p>I'm in the same position. I was waitlisted, and Caltech is by far my top choice. I didn't realize until too late how interested I really was in going somewhere better than a state school with a good scholarship.</p>
<p>Ben, do you know how soon we generally hear about the waitlist? I'd like to know where I'm going to college before I graduate, but if it really is June 15th, then that's just over 2 weeks after. </p>
<p>Also, I assume we'd get the same fin. aid. we would have gotten had we been accepted regular decision?</p>
<p>If we've already enrolled to our backup school per their requirements, how do we get out of that?</p>
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<p>Ben, do you know how soon we generally hear about the waitlist? I'd like to know where I'm going to college before I graduate, but if it really is June 15th, then that's just over 2 weeks after. </p>
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<p>The admissions office works very hard to let you know absolutely as soon as possible. I don't think it typically stretches all the way to June 15, but it could. You can get a firmer number by asking the admissions office closer to May 1, when we hear from the regular admits... if I recall correctly, in past years waitlist admits were often done at the end of May.</p>
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<p>Also, I assume we'd get the same fin. aid. we would have gotten had we been accepted regular decision?</p>
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<p>Yes, typically.</p>
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<p>If we've already enrolled to our backup school per their requirements, how do we get out of that?</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>If you decide to enroll somewhere else (which you should obviously do, to have a backup), and then get into a preferred school, you will probably lose your deposit at the first school, if I understand correctly (That deposit is typically several hundred dollars). That's the cost of changing plans : (</p>
<p>Teehee. For a moment I didn't realize that this was last year's thread, and I thought for an instant that Sucharita was applying to Tech as a freshman. But the last I talked to her she was a perfectly happy frosh at Princeton!</p>
<p>Whew. <em>pokesben</em> :p</p>
<p>(By the way, your profile lies. You are not currently in Pasadena! :D)</p>
<p>ok a question about waitlist. I was just accepted to Carnegie Mellon and will probably enroll there while waiting for my waitlist at tech my #1 school. But on the enrollment form for CMU it says "I will enroll at Carnegie Mellon University for Fall 2006. I understand that I must notify all of the colleges and universities which I have been admitted to of my decision to enroll. I will not post an enrollment deposit at any institution other than Carnegie Mellon." How does waitlist work then? It sounds like that is binding or do I just break that bind anyways if I get accepted to Caltech?</p>
<p>I don't dispense legal advice, but my strong hunch is that this is not a legally binding contract -- or if it is, the worst way CMU can punish you is by not letting you attend their school, which you wouldn't do anyway if you ended up at Tech. You can call them and double check (anonymously if you want, without identifying who you are) but I don't know of any school that really expects you to enroll there even if you get accepted at your first choice off the waitlist... You would, however, lose the enrollment deposit.</p>