Yale Waitlist Thread 2021

[ambikav33]

Hi everyone! I thought I would start a thread for those of us waitlisted at Yale so all of us 2017 hopefuls will have a place to talk and ask each other questions!

[appfast]

I was looking after this thread!

[22DLondon]

I was waitlisted as well. I really want to go to Yale! Does anyone know the best way to stand out?

[gibby]

I posted this last year and it probably needs to be repeated again on this thread with a few updates

In any given year, Yale’s waitlist has fluctuated between 1200 to 1400 students. Yes, almost an entire other class full of students gets waitlisted – just for a handful of spots.

Students admitted in the SCEA and RD round are not required to let Yale know of their acceptance until May 1st – so Yale won’t know how many openings for waitlisted students they will have before then.

**Admissions will not start going through their waitlist until AFTER May 2nd – after all accepted students have notified them of their decision – and YOU have notified another school of YOUR decision.

So every waitlisted student MUST fall in love with one of the colleges that fell in love with them. **So, here’s what you do:

You – not your parent or GC – can write a letter (not an email) of continued interest and let Admissions know that you would immediately accept an offer to become part of the class of 2021. FWIW: you don’t have to write a letter, you just need to let Yale know you want to remain on their waitlist. If you decide to write a letter though, address it to “Dear Officers of Admission” or “Dear Yale Admissions” and mail the letter via the US Postal Service or upload it to the portal.

And then, you need to do something very difficult – you need to completely forget about Yale. It’s time to move on! If Yale comes calling in May or June, you’ll deal with it then, but now you need to become an enthusiastic matriculating member of another college.

I very much subscribe to Jeffrey Brenzel’s way of thinking. Dr. Brenzel recently retired as Yale’s Admission Director and teaches philosophy at the school.

“After years of experience, however, here is what I know, virtually to the point of certainty: almost nothing depends on exactly which strong college admits you. Everything depends on what you decide to do once you get to a strong college, and how well prepared you are to take advantage of the infinite opportunities you will find there.”

[BKSquared]

The admissions statistics have been posted on another thread, but here it is again:

Yale Class of 2021

•Total Applicants: 32,900
•Admitted Applicants: 2,272
•Denied Applicants: 28,282
•Applicants on the Wait List: 1,181
•Incomplete or Withdrawn: 1,165

[Eloquence23]

I got deferred then waitlisted. For whatever reason, I remember reading something saying Yale didn’t do that, so not to keep students on the hook. However, I still flattered that I was at least good enough to make the waitlist.

[pocrocodro]

Does anyone know if it’s possible to ask for an interview post-waitlist? I haven’t gotten one yet, but I’d love to have one.

[ambikav33]

@pocrocodro Doesn’t hurt to ask!

[lhw1998]

Hey, everyone!
Do yourself a favor and don’t look at past waitlist threads. You will be disheartened.

[lhw1998]

@pocrocodro I had the same question! I think an interview would really boost my app, but I was never contacted for one

[doorrealthe]

I’m pretty sure Yale says that they don’t conduct interviews for wait listed applicants and that campus visits won’t do anything as well. I think they will truly just pick the students who were close to being accepted in March

[gibby]

Over the weekend, I received this private message from a student

I just got an offer from a Harvard alumnus for an interview. In his words, the interview would be so he could “submit a report to the admissions committee to see if we can move you off the waitlist.” Is this normal?

My answer: No, this is not normal. In all my years on CC this was the first time I’ve heard of an applicant that has NOT been interviewed in the RD round, offered an interview once on the waitlist. Given that Harvard received close to 40,000 applications and had issues with interviewing every student, I’m wondering if this is the “new normal.”

Yale was also having issues interviewing all their RD applicants, so Yale might decide to do the same as Harvard – or they might not. If Yale is indeed doing the same thing, it’s best to wait to be contacted by an alumni for an interview rather than contact the Admissions Office about it.

[finallysenior]

I am honestly really surprised that Yale waitlisted me. I hope it wasn’t a courtesy denial for me:(

[flipper30]

On the bright side it looks they accepted more students this year but they waitlisted about the same number of people as in past years so fingers crossed!!!

[flipper30]

@gibby I heard somewhere else you should only send a letter of continued interest if you’ve won a big award/have gotten new better test scores/have had a significant gpa increase do you believe this is true or that anyone should send a letter regardless of changes?

[gibby]

@flipper: It’s NOT necessary to send an update. In fact, if you go through the waitlist threads of past years, you’ll find many students admitted off the waitlist who did not send updates. Unless you have something HUGE, such as being nominated as an Intel Finalist, a lack-luster update could clutter your file and detract from what Yale liked. Remember, Yale LIKED what they saw from your original application, otherwise they would have rejected you, not put you on the waitlisted. Sometimes, “Less is more.”

[Tperry1982]

Yale does not interview wait listed students.

[gibby]

^^ Got it. FWIW: Harvard wasn’t interviewing waitlisted applicants until this year (2017)!

Interviewing waitlisted applicants not interviewed in the RD round seems to be the “new normal” at Harvard, given the vast number of applicants vs the dwindling number of alumni interview volunteers. However, Yale is not following suit.

Interesting, as a Yale alumni interviewer private messaged me earlier this year that according to the coordinator of his alumni chapter, applicants in the Yale RD pool were being divided into a “high priority” and 'low priority" piles. Obviously, alumni interviewers were trying to get as many of the “high priority” applicants interviewed as possible, but the left many “low priority” applicants without an interview. Does that mean students not interviewed in the Yale RD cycle were ALL denied? None ended up on the waitlist? Again, very interesting!

[lhw1998]

sla

[BKSquared]

@gibby. Have not heard that in my region, although I had to recuse myself this year. My coordinator did tell me we interviewed all 18 applicants after the fact. I would be very surprised if this were true generally. It would be the “ultimate tell”. Perhaps your friend was in a region with a super heavy imbalance of applicants to ASC members.