Many students and families have questions regarding what to do when wait-listed. It is important to remember that selective colleges and universities use wait -lists primarily to control for enrollment needs that arise after May 1, when they know which of their admitted students will actually enroll. If the institution needs more boys, or students from the south or the mid-west, or soccer players, or clarinet players, or students who can pay the full costs of attendance, etc., they pull such students from the wait- list. These are institutional needs over which individual applicants have absolutely no control.
You cannot assume that you will be admitted from a wait- list. While it happens from time to time, the reality is that highly selective institutions admit very few students from the wait -list from year to year. Some admit none at all. Make sure to commit to one of the colleges that admitted you, the one that you believe to be the best fit, and plan on enrolling there in the fall.
So what can you do if you're wait listed?
-Commit to staying on the wait -list (use their portal, submit their reply form, etc.)
-Reaffirm your interest & update the college via a concise but informative statement uploaded to your portal or email to the admissions office. Let them know that the institution remains a top choice, and why. If you would DEFINITELY enroll if admitted from the wait list, you can let them know that. Notify the admissions office of any new and noteworthy accomplishments about which they are currently unaware, whether they be inside or outside of the classroom. If the institution allows for the submission of new materials (many do not), feel free to do so…so long as you are sending something new and significant that is not replicating something already within your file.
-Don’t pester the admissions office. Frequent communication, superfluous documents, etc., can actually be counterproductive. Reaffirm your interest, share anything new and important, but then leave things to play out as they will.
Please remember that we cannot call a college to which you've been waitlisted to advocate for your admission. There are several reasons why we can't do this. First, there are simply too many of you (we have over 800 seniors) and too many of you are waitlisted at the same schools. Advocating for some students, but not others, is unfair. Also, this kind of advocacy is ineffective, particularly at highly selective colleges and universities; they aren't going to pull students from wait lists just because counselors ask them to. Their institutional enrollment needs will dictate who, if anyone, will be offered admission from the wait list, and any attempts by our office to convince or pressure them to admit specific students are not only pointless, but potentially seen as amateurish, and may jeopardize our professional relationships with our admissions contacts…relationships that are important for the sake of our current and future students.
We wish you the best of luck as you make your final decisions…remember, this process is about finding the right fit. Choose the institution that suits you best given all of the factors that may be important to you and your family. nt and future students.
