So I was waitlisted at a couple of colleges, and asked to remain on the waitlist.
But, I recently found a year-long internship position and now I want to take a gap year, regardless of whether or not I get off of these waitlists.
So, should I call my waitlist colleges tomorrow, while they are still in the midst of the evaluation process, and tell them to consider my application for the Class of 2021 instead of 2020? Or, should I make this call after they give their decision?
I’d let them know now (or whenever the internship is 100% finalized) that you decided to take a gap year and ask to be taken off the waitlist. If appropriate you can briefly mention what you will be doing in the coming year and mention that you remain interested in XYZ college and plan on re-applying next year. Enjoy your internship!
Not usually how it works. You will need to reapply for the class of 2021, brand new application. But never hurts to call and ask if they can roll it over.
edit: after reading it again it sounds like you’re trying to game this. Eg.get accepted off the waitlist(s) and then call to defer enrollment. Or turned down and then push it out a year. So up to you to roll the dice on what to do. Many schools will let someone defer enrollment, although who knows what they do with waitlist acceptees. If the decision is to turn you down I would be surprised if any school would let you say “oh, actually I want you to consider my app for next year and not this one”
And as a practical matter most “waitlists” are phony. Here are some examples from a recent year. For 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 from their waitlist. Northwestern, 2,852 offered waitlist, 14 eventually offered a spot.
Agree that you will have to reapply.