Hey!
So I was recently waitlisted to several schools (JHU, WASHU, Northwestern, Notre Dame, etc…) and I had a couple of questions about getting off of the waitlist. (I already sent a Continued Interest and Update Email to all the Schools)
Should I send an additional teacher recommendation?
Should I go to the school and ask to talk to an admissions officer to express my continued interest?
What’s the best way to get out of the waitlist?
Sorry! I really want some advice about the waitlist process!
Thanks!
I want answer to all those questions. I am wait listed in Purdue engineering.I have sent an email to the UG admission office but they haven’t responded yet…Please advice.
Your letter of continued interest is all that is wanted/needed. Travelling there is rather desperate and “stalky”—don’t do it.
Hope that many others reject their offer – there is NOTHING you can do to increase the likelihood of coming off the WL other than what you’ve already done.
Without any reservation, the best advice for you is TO MOVE ON. Waitlists should be considered as rejects for all practical purposes. If one happens to come through, see it as a unexpected birthday gift. Pining away for a WL notification is a terrible way to live until July or August. Many times, the colleges offer ZERO spots off the WL. Frankly, it’s foolish. Good luck on your best choice among the schools that accepted you.
^This. Despite the fact that Princeton was my top choice pre-Ivy Day, I’m turning down my spot on the waitlist. I don’t want to be waiting and hoping for an acceptance that probably won’t come, and would rather spend this time falling in love with my top choice out of the schools that accepted me.
Odds are probably 100:1 that the waitlist positions are not about you, they’re about recruiting the juniors in your school that hear you were waitlisted.
There is no rule that requires just putting enough kids on the waitlist to provide a reasonable buffer. So some smart college adcoms realized they could use the waitlist to have a stock of kids to cover any shortfalls. And they could use the waitlist to pass out “acceptances” that didn’t require actually enrolling the kid!! They knew, of course, that the school had taken 50 or so kids at most in the past years, but they’d send out thousands of “waitlist” letters.
Parents and kids view a waitlist letter as practically the same as an acceptance; you were “in” if there was space available. This helps the college in the future; kids with similar stats will say “If Julie got in last year, I got a shot too” and apply. Colleges love this because the more apps they have the more selective they look. Thing was, Julie didn’t get in; she was waitlisted and somehow never made it off the list.
You can find waitlist info in the Common Data Set report. JHU, 2,069 offered waitlist, 57 eventually accepted from the waitlist. WUSTL, well known for passing out waitlist slots, won’t even list how many it handed out in its Common Data Set! In 2013-14 they admitted 80. Northwestern, 2,852 offered waitlist, 14 eventually accepted.
JHU enrolls about 1,300 frosh each year. They are under no illusion that every one of them will decline, and so will most of the 1st crop admitted off the waitlist. In other words they know most of the waitlist kids won’t get in, but it is a great move on their part to have 2,069 kids out their spreading the word they were offered a slot on the waitlist. Same with the others.
I echo the advice above. Don’t stalk the adcoms with visits or send cookies. Don’t badger your teachers for addt’l recs. Move on, and if you happen to get a happy surprise this summer from the waitlist(s) then its time to celebrate. In the meantime figure the school you’ll actually attend is the one you chose from the set that offered you a seat.
I also would advise you to move on but leave your name on the wait lists. D is wait listed at UChicago, Williams and oddly Vassar. My quess is that UChicago has 1000 plus applicants on their wait list with essentially 0 chance. Williams last year admitted 15 percent of the students who agreed to stay on the wait list. Do not waste any more emotional energy on what happened or attempt to position yourself on the wait list, focus on where you have been admitted. Waitlists typically clear over the course of May
Also agree with the advice from @T26E4. The only other thing you might do is if you have one school that is top on your list, you could ask your guidance counselor to call on your behalf and let the school know.
Other than that, I agree you need to move on, assume you will not be taken from a waitlist, choose a school you have been accepted to, and get excited to go there in the fall.