<p>Hello everyone! So all my college letters finally came in and I got wait listed into 5 schools: MIT, Columbia, Stanford, Brown, and Yale. These are all amazing schools and I am very happy that I didn't get a rejection, I was just surprised that I got so many wait lists haha. </p>
<p>So I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to get off the wait list. Any help would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>You let them know you are interested. Then you forget about them and move onto choosing from among your acceptances. Your odds of getting off the waitlist are about the same as winning the lottery, OK that is an exaggeration but you get the idea.
Go to the Common Data Set of any of you WL schools and look at the data in section C and you will see how many people are put on the waitlist and how few come off. Remember that they send out more acceptances than they have seats for to begin with. So to go the waitlist means a larger than expected number of kids turn them down.</p>
<p>Haha yes, I know the numbers are ridiculously low for getting off the wait list, but I would like to increase my chances as much as possible.</p>
<p>I will most likely SIR to UC Berkeley though.</p>
<p>With regard to continued interest, is it better to write a letter or correspond over email?</p>
<p>Now, you go to work if you want to get off the wait list and into the school. Let them know that you are really interested and will definitely go there if offered acceptance. My daughter was wait listed at Yale and sent letters and had references send letters - they say not to do that, but, what can it hurt? She got in and loves Yale. It lets them know that you really want it. If they are choosing between one wait list kid they haven’t heard from and another that they know is going to accept because they sent 6 additional letters of reference and any updates regarding athletics or academics - they are going to go with that one. A huge privilege to be wait listed - let them know that you really want it. Good luck.</p>
<p>What is SIR?</p>
<p>I would wait for few weeks, after all the craziness has died down a bit, ask your GC to give those schools a call to get some colors as to why you were wait listed. Send in another packet to the schools you are interested in. The packet may include another essay about why school X, update from your GC, one or two additional LORS, latest transcript. If you are a full pay student, have your GC communicate that to adcoms. I would then pay attention as to when those schools open their WL. As soon as you know the WL is open then give the adcom a call. When a spot is open they would want to fill it as soon as possible, so they would expect an applicant to respond right away. My kid was called into her GC’s office during the day and they wanted her to say yes or no right away. We were able to delay it for few days. D1 did matriculate at one of her WL schools.</p>
<p>SIR means “Statement of Intent to Register” and you have to send it to the college you pick by May 1st to be officially put into the school.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all the advice. I will look more closely at each school individually and try to see what I can do. I will most likely try to get another rec letter and write a page to each school (if not, then just Stanford because that has been my dream school since I was a kid.) </p>
<p>Should I try asking my guidance counselors to put in a good word for me at Stanford, or do they only do that in private schools?</p>