Categories
Admissions college admissions Ivy Admissions Ivy League Admissions Statistics Waitlist

Get Off the Waitlist

Thousands of college seniors are now sitting on college waitlists. What’s interesting about waitlists is that well over half of waitlisted applicants secured acceptances to other schools they love more, either in the early or regular round, and they no longer even want to take up space on a waitlist. That slices the list down quite a bit.  However, climbing off the waitlist of a top college or university is never an easy feat.

May 1st is an important date for waitlisted students –it’s deposit day. Schools will be able to quickly assess who, of their accepted applicants, is actually coming, and who either didn’t respond in time, didn’t pay up, or declined the admissions offer.

The waitlist gets another slice once waitlist response letters begin rolling in. If you’re a waitlisted student and you don’t take the time to submit a well-crafted waitlist response letter with updates on what you’ve been doing this spring and how you’re connected to and a unique fit for the university, then the admissions office can draw some serious conclusions on your love for the school, or your lack thereof.

college admissions deferral denial waitlist counseling

Deferral/Denial and Waitlist Analysis & Guidance

Launch an action plan to maximize your chances of admission.

DON’T I GET A NUMBER?

It would be much easier if, when you received a waitlist admissions decision, you were also given a number on a waitlist queue, i.e. you’re # 233 out of 470, or # 6 out of 380, like pulling a number out of a deli counter ticket dispenser. Alas, it’s not that simple. Thankfully, some colleges are forthright with information and their proposed steps on the waitlist process. Georgia Tech offers key input on why waitlists even exist:

“Colleges use historical trends and statistical models to predict ‘yield,’ i.e., the number or percentage of students that accept an offer of admission and choose to enroll. . . If yield drops (as it has most places in recent years), the college needs to be able to make additional offers to hit stated targets.”

Yet, hitting admissions targets has become less like target practice and more like freeze tag.

“You’re frozen, now you’re IT! You’re frozen, no, now you’re IT!” The pandemic has made admissions and yield-predicting way more complicated. Students applied to more colleges than ever before (test-optional policies across the board boosted students’ application confidence), gap year students from the Class of 2024 are now infringing on your territory, and everyone flooded the pool –actually all the pools, in the same year, at the same time.

HOW WELL CAN YOU SWIM?

How do you make room amongst all of those swimmers and climb out of the flooded applicant pool from the waitlist to admit territory?  Here are some key steps to take:

  1. Accept your position on the waitlist (if you want it) and prep a strong waitlist response letter for your admissions rep for the school, and perhaps the portal as well, depending on the instructions from that particular college. We can help you craft it.
  2. Lock in elsewhere. Review your list of where else you’re in, and make your final selection on the college at which you want to accept and pay the deposit (if you get off a waitlist and accept, you’ll have to forfeit that deposit though). The hope is that you make it off the waitlist, but your waitlisted college knows you’ll have to deposit elsewhere–you cannot (or should not) hold out for them and risk not accepting somewhere by May 1st.
  3. Own your April, May and June and finish school strong. Plan a scholarly summer –one that’s worth relaying to colleges.
  4. Examine your virtual touch points with the college. How in touch with them have you been and are you now? Is there a virtual conference they’re hosting in late April or May? How about a symposium in your targeted academic area?
    • EX: Did Duke waitlist you last Monday night? Is your main academic interest math?  Maybe check out this link and then mention how much you loved it in your waitlist response letter –and link it to what you did in early spring.

It’s a very stressful year to be a high school senior right now, and the parent of one too.

Getting off the waitlist as you review 4% acceptance rates (wow, Duke!) seems daunting to say the least. At some colleges it really is–and yet some students do get off of the waitlist at most schools. Last year, UPenn waitlisted 2,051 students and admitted 101. MIT typically waitlists 600 (more this year) and then accepts anywhere from 0-52 depending on the yields they obtain.

The University of Notre Dame waitlisted 3,101 students this month and they expect to take only 50-120 and will let them know in late May. Johns Hopkins University topped them slightly, waitlisting 3,400 applicants; their regular round admit rate was just 5%.

Hopefully, you’ll hear your final response sooner rather than later (either you’ll get off the waitlist and be admitted OR you’ll be released from the waitlist). Brown confirmed this week they’re aiming to tell waitlisted students if they’re in by the close of June.  That’s way better than early August, which Stanford has been known to do.

One thing’s for sure, if you’re in the Class of 2025, you didn’t have it easy.

Admissions officers know this; they’re mindful of it and they feel it too. Vanderbilt confirmed this week that “the students on our waitlist now would have been our top scholarship recipients five years ago.”

WAITLISTED? TAKE FOCUSED ACTION NOW

Try to focus on the good and on your admissions WINS.

A waitlist is infinitely better than a straight rejection, and you likely secured other acceptances that you can lock in just in case. Also, you have people in your corner who want to see you land at a college you love this August–and you absolutely deserve to have that happen! We’d love to assist you on your admissions path –consider our Waitlist Analysis Program and reach out to us for a consultation. We’re pretty great at playing admissions freeze tag and ready to help!

Dr. Kristen Willmott

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top Tier Futures: Early college prep, educational guidance & resources for grades 4-8

X

Subscribe to Our Blog - Expert Insights & College Admissions News

X