<p>I hear that this is a big year for waitlists. They're tough, just when you hoped it would be over, it isn't. Both of mine got waitlisted at colleges they were interested in. I longed to discuss it with them, maybe offer them my invaluable advice, but as usual they just blew me off.</p>
<p>My daughter just pitched the waitlist letters, never gave them another thought, and picked a place where she was accepted. It worked out well. Now she's 25, and I doubt she even remembers where she was waitlisted.</p>
<p>My son was waitlisted at Stanford and Harvard; dropped Harvard and sent an email to Stanford saying they remained his top pick, and he would attend if accepted. He then proceeded to pick his second choice school, and I never heard him say anything about it that wasn't upbeat and positive.</p>
<p>Then Stanford took him off the waitlist, he accepted, sent his regrets to the college he was planning to attend, and that was that. And in the end he won Stanford's top academic award, given to only 5-10 a year, and is now in grad school at MIT.</p>
<p>Looking back, I'm well pleased by the way they both acted. My daughter's "if your nt interested, I'm not interested" approach was right for her. I think my son's approach of a single email saying "if accepted I will come," and then moving on worked better than the approach of staying in constant contact, both by not bugging the waitlisting school, and by allowing him to concentrate on where he thought he was going.</p>