<p>Quick update on my D's status... she has moved off the waitlist for UMinnesota/Guthrie and is now accepted (although she hasn't made a final decision yet). Very nice to get this news before May 1! I believe Minnesota asks for responses by April 15, when possible, which allows for earlier notification to those previously waitlisted.</p>
<p>She is still on the waitlist for Rutgers/Mason Gross... we'll see what happens with that one!</p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter. We have seen the summer show for the U Minnesota program at the Showboat on the Mississippi River. I think we saw the shows 3 different summers. They are very entertaining and full of talent. Good luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the great information on how to communicate with my Ds wait listed program, Soozievt. What Im wondering about is how to communicate with the program where my D was accepted concerning the fact that she is still on a wait list elsewhere. </p>
<p>Heres the background. My daughter tried out for 12 schools, but her favorites were program Green and program Brown (pseudonyms of course). School Green was her dream school, but she really loves Brown, too. She got into school Brown, and is wait listed at school Green. School Green, in their instruction on wait lists, told her to communicate with School Brown and keep your other school apprised of your status on our wait list. This seems like the ethical thing to do.</p>
<p>However, if she does not get into program Green, she will LOVE school Brown and its director. Really. Still, she will take school Green if it comes through. Do we need to tell school Brown of her wait list options? We dont want them to feel like we are less than enthusiastic. </p>
<p>What do we do in this situation?</p>
<p>SurprisedByJoy (And I mean it.)</p>
<p>DEAR SURPRISED, </p>
<p>I have to chuckle a little bit at your pseudonyms for your daughter's schools because "Brown" is actually the name of my daughter's university. :D</p>
<p>Anyway, I don't agree with School Green's suggestion to keep your accepted school (School Brown) apprised of your status on School Green's wait list. You have NO obligation to do so and I have not heard of that in fact. The typical protocal is to send back your intent to enroll at School Brown and actually psychologically assume you ARE attending this school. IF you get off School Green's Wait List and enroll at School Green, THEN you can inform School Brown. Meanwhile, communicate to school Green that you want to remain on their wait list and will enroll if accepted. </p>
<p>So, no, you do not need to tell school Brown that your D is on any wait lists. It could very well turn out that she attends School Brown and in fact, that is what she needs to assume at this point anyway. She should let School Green know she wants to attend if accepted and then let School Green go in her mind and move on with School Brown. </p>
<p>Meanwhile....go Brown!</p>
<p>I was having this conversation with the admissions counselor at one of MY Ds final school choices. I asked straight out if students change their minds after May 1 because they came off a waitlist and he said it happens all the time. They expect to lose a couple every year. You will lose your deposit which I'm sure you know. Just send in your deposit and expect to go to Brown. My D is in the same boat, if it happens then you can just chalk it up as another cost to the process but probably worth it.</p>
<p>I concur -- Although I (of course) hope it won't happen, it is not surprising for a student to get into another school (off of the waitlist) over the summer and contact me to let me know they have decided to accept the other offer.</p>
<p>The student would lose their deposit, yes... but other than that there are no repercussions.</p>
<p>Nor is it dishonest to put down a deposit at the school at the top of your child's list, and communicate to the department that D will be coming (if this is also required). As of right now, she will be going there in the fall. Until you receive an acceptance from the waitlist school you have to move forward with the options that you have.</p>
<p>As others have said above, you have no obligation to let he school you have decided to attend that you are remaining on the waitlist for another program.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I appreciate the information. We are assuming she is going to School Brown and have been buying tee shirts and sweat shirts to prove it. Soozievt -- "go Brown" indeed.</p>
<p>OK--I'm back posting on this thread, with an interesting new development. . .</p>
<p>My son accepted an offer from one of the schools to which he was accepted. He was waitlisted at 3 schools, he declined one and remained on the waitlists of the others. One school notified him that they would NOT be going to the waitlist. The other school has indicated that they would NOT KNOW about going to their waitlist for "a while longer."</p>
<p>The school on whose waitlist he remains is a top acting school, and one that he rated very high after his visit there. Plus, he received a "likely letter" following his audition, and that encouraged him to be quite hopeful about getting an offer. </p>
<p>Here's the issue: He has accepted an offer from a school that he liked very much (not as much as the other, but way more than many of the schools to which he applied), and now has communicated with the director of the program via e-mail and with the new freshman class via Facebook. He is in the midst of completing his application for housing (yes. . .a little late, but we were holding off until after May 1st to see what happened on other fronts) and arranging for the English placement test. He (and we) have answered the question "Where are you (is he) going to school?" 100s of times in the past 2-3 weeks, always naming the school to which he was accepted. Today he announced that he "needed" to acquire some clothing items from his new school. In sum, he is becomming more and more attached to this school.</p>
<p>What now? With every day, he is less interested in WAITING and more interested in moving forward, putting this application/audition process behind him and getting on with life. I can certainly understand that! </p>
<p>Is this happening to anyone else? I'm beginning to wonder about being on waitlists. . .</p>
<p>In my opinion, I think it is GREAT that your son is moving on. That is what I hope all wait listed kids will do with the schools to which they have now enrolled. They can pursue the waitlist and do some tasks for that and after that, let it go. If it ever comes through, they can deal with it at that time. For now, time to move on. GREAT that your son has embraced his school for the next four years. I'd put the wait list school out of mind now (after putting some efforts into pursuing the wait list with the wait list school) and if it happens, you'll deal with it then.</p>
<p>I hear you Soozie, my D is on two, one being her top pick but unless they make a substantially better financial offer we're locked and loaded. I believe unless one school is considerably better than the other once you've finally come to terms with a school it's difficult to go back and change gears. I think it's just such a relief that we have decided on something!</p>
<p>Just to clarify, I am not saying to not accept the wait list offer. If the student prefers the wait list school....they ought to take the offer! I'm just saying that in the meantime, it is best to move on psychologically to the school the student has an acceptance at and is enrolled at and let go of an expectation to get into the wait list school. If it happens, great. For now, go on with what you have in hand and embrace it.</p>
<p>I've posted this in several forums because few know about the "waitlist" alternative to simply "moving on"--namely, taking a "gap year."</p>
<p>A "gap year" means enrolling as a part time college student and continuing private study to address issues encountered in the audition. </p>
<p>You might also enroll in a performance prep program or College Audition Prep program (like at Indiana University, Bloomingtion). During the gap year, you can check your progress with another sample lesson with the faculty member who you will reaudition for. In a few cases, you may be able to arrange studying with that faculty member. </p>
<p>Now here's the sweet part: when you reaudition, you may still be considered a freshman applicant--with a potential 4 admission slots (woodwinds). Compare this to a transfer student, for whom there may be only one slot. If you get accepted at your top choices, you can transfer academic credits taken part time. If you still just get accepted at a safety school, you can take your credits with you then take a lighter year academically to devote more time to practice for reauditioning as a transfer student. </p>
<p>This is not quite a win-win strategy, but it sure beats the labor and long odds of trying to transfer from a safety school. Some teachers have a tradition of rarely taking transfers.</p>
<p>Important: Check with the schools about their gap year policy. Eastman, for example, will accept a gap year. But don't take my word for it--ask the question while initially applying to schools and you'll be doubly prepared to succeed!</p>
<p>My D was priority waitlisted at CMU but had completely moved on and accepted at another BFA program. CMU would have been her first choice but she knew the odds of getting off the waitlist were slim. Then they sent us three pieces of mail in two days. One was a letter saying she was in the top 5 of the priority waitlist "based on the strength of her audition" and that they typically take 2-6 people from the waitlist each year. The letter was signed by the head of the School of Drama and Asst. Admisssions Dir. A separate letter told us to wait by the phone on May 6th for a call between 5 and 9 pm. Luckily my D put very little stock in this and we didn't even tell her about the wait by the phone part. As a mom, I had some hope from reading CC and knowing that some accepted at CMU had made other choices, but I didn't tell her as I didn't want to raise her hopes. Anyway, CMU called 5/6 to say "unfortunately, we are not going to the waitlist at all this year." I thought perhaps they just weren't choosing her, but when asked, they said they weren't taking anyone from the waitlist at all. It was just odd. They also sent us an attractive financial aid package, and then a revised even better one that was mailed on 5/5. Go figure.</p>
<p>lauriemom: That CMU story is CRAZY for many reasons. </p>
<p>I'm not sure I understand why kids come off wait lists at this point or later into the summer. If the National Response Date is May 1, spots open up then, and offers are made, how long can it take for things to settle?</p>
<p>As soozievt suggested, my S communicated with his wait list schools and moved on. With one, they called him weekly to keep in touch and update him on the wait list situation there. This was much appreciated. (This school did not go to their wait list, and that was expected.) With the other, my S has gotten an update only when he initiates a communication, and he has stopped that, so he has heard nothing for a while.</p>
<p>lauriemom, your story reminds me of the disorganization that we encountered when my D was applying to CMU Precollege. To make a long story short, my kid sent her stuff in pretty early. CMU verified it received everything. Later, she got a postcard saying that they needed her transcripts, test scores, essay, etc., which she had already sent. I called and the admissions office (very nice people there, btw) said to ignore the postcard. Months passed and I eventually called to see if everything was OK. I was told that yes, they had everything and they would render a decision soon. More weeks passed. I called again. I was told to wait some more. More weeks passed. I called again. This time, I was passed around to several individuals. The last one finally admitted that they had somehow "mislaid" my D's file. They asked me for a day to find it and if they couldn't, we would have to recreate the entire application! Fortunately, I got a call a few hours later saying that they found the file (it was on the desk of one of the adcoms) and she was accepted.
I should add that the people in the admissions office were completely sweet and helpful the entire time. But it sure was confusing!</p>
<p>With regard to CMU....I've written about in the past some disorganized stuff that happened with my D with regard to her audition appointment and won't rehash it but I do think as nice as they are, that there seems to be many examples of disorganization with paperwork. </p>
<p>I don't find the story that lauriesmom tells that odd though. First, CMU DOES send financial aid award letters to all those on the Priority Waitlist as happened with my own D. This is because the way CMU's Waitlist works is that you have to be prepared to accept the offer of admission if you get off the waitlist within 24 (it may be 48?) hours and that's why they already send you the FA award ahead of time. We got one too. I also think that it is not odd that they told you an estimate of how many they have taken off the waitlist in previous years because this is handy to know except that it truly CAN vary from year to year and so it is not like what happens the past year will happen this year. Asking you to wait by the phone was likely because IF they had to use the wait list, they wanted you to be aware of the notification because they only allow 24 (or 48?) hours for a reply. Then, as it turned out, they did call you on the indicated date to notify you that they were not going to utilize their waitlist this year. </p>
<p>letsfigureitout....you were asking why are schools (not necessarily CMU) still dealing with wait lists at this point....Well, many schools will be dealing with wait lists well into the summer. As you say, in early May, they will have their replies back from all those who took the offer of acceptances in the RD round and can then determine if they need to utilize their wait list (if they yielded fewer students than slots available in the class). BUT....what happens is that when kids come off wait lists, that then opens slots at the school to which they have put in deposits to enroll and now those schools have openings if the student accepts their wait list school's offer and so their original school will have to continue to use their wait list. This can continue into the summer and is "summer melt". Further, there are some students who have intended to enroll at a school who change their mind or have some other reason to back out and that also can create openings over the summer.</p>
<p>Regarding CMU--There have been posts on CC that indicate some students who received offers from CMU have chosen to go to another school. One report is first-hand, others are "hearsay" here but are reportedly based on info obtained elsewhere. So, how can they NOT be going to their wait list at all if they invite exactly the number of students they want for a class? It really doesn't matter at this point, of course, and those who got in and want to go should be very happy anticipating a stellar education. I hope the communication to them and to their families becomes easier!</p>
<p>letsfigureitout....You raise a good point in post #37 and well, I can't quite figure it out either with CMU this year. I have also heard of some not taking the offer at CMU and going to other schools instead. As you know, CMU is a school that only accepts the number of slots in the class and not any "extras" to yield their class, but rather uses a wait list if some do not take them up on the offer. So, it is a little odd to hear that they are not using the wait list this year since we know some who did not enroll who were offered admission. That is not odd at other schools who build in extra admits to yield their class. I don't know what is up with CMU this year. One possibility that is total conjecture is that they simply are choosing not to use the wait list and just have a smaller class than the number who were offered admission. Perhaps someone can ask CMU why the slots of those who are not enrolling aren't being offered to anyone on the wait list.</p>
<p>Anyone know what's up with SUNY Purchase wait list? I have seen 4 on the CC get in off the waitlist, but my S is still on it. I figure it's a no, or at best what you have called Summer Melt, but if anyone has any more concrete info, I'd love it. </p>
<p>As to the wild story of CMU, we had the exact same experience with Hofstra. The admissions office is only human, someone is always going to lose something!</p>
<p>It's funny what everyone has said about the waitlist for CMU. My D knows of two girls here in SoCal who both were accepted to CMU and both decided to go to other schools (NYU CAP21 and Emerson).</p>