It’s college decision time and disappointed teens are receiving news they have been placed on the college wait list. A wait list decision does not reject an applicant outright, but it also offers an uncomfortable level of ambiguity about whether an applicant will receive an acceptance to the college later. So how likely are teens to be taken off the wait list, and is there anything they can do to increase their chances?
Continue reading Getting Off the Wait List
The life of a high school and ultimately college student is often filled with opportunities to navigate through new situations, learn new competencies and skills, and deal with problems that haven’t been faced before. Your chances of being successful and overcoming perceived barriers are entirely dependent on your ability to remain positive and take initiative to alter your outcome.
Take for example, the ever notorious college wait list. Students work hard to get advice from academic counselors regarding available options, explore different schools of interest, and work feverishly to complete the often rigorous process of applying. Then, the moment comes when you receive notification that you have been wait listed and will be contacted if and when any changes are made to your status. Rather than sit idly by, here are some proactive tips you can use to increase your chances of getting off the wait list a securing a spot on the college campus of your choice.
First: Know What NOT To Do
Have you ever tried to acquire a certain outcome only to discover your efforts have actually been counterproductive? In this specific situation, there are definitely behaviors that can come across as desperate, selfish, and even unprofessional which could potentially cost you an opportunity to become a student. These behaviors include:
Second: Contact Admissions
An initial phone call to the admissions office may help reveal the reason you were placed on the wait list. Often, admissions staff is happy to talk with you and provide some insight into your academic standing. Once you have a better idea of why you were wait listed, you can make confident decisions going forward in your quest to be accepted.
Third: Be Informative and Honest
An excellent way to proactively move your way to the top of the wait list is to write a letter that clearly states your interest in the school, its extracurricular programs, and its relevance to your area of study. Be sure to include any updated information regarding awards you have received or recognitions you were given in regards to your academic successes. Speak with your school’s college counselors to learn if they have any insight; perhaps they’ve worked with students who have also been on your dream school’s wait list.
Conclusion
Your efforts to proactively work with the school staff will be far more effective than simply waiting and hoping for the best or being overly obsessive and making endless phone calls to argue and pester. With the right amount of determination, a professional demeanor, and a positive attitude, you may find success in working your way off of the college wait list.
It’s college decision time and there will be disappointed teens receiving those words from the college, “You have been placed on the wait list.” You might think it somewhat softens the blow of the rejection, but does it? What are the odds that your student will be taken off the wait list and offered admission?
My advice: skip the wait list. Why? Getting off the wait list is like playing the lottery. Here’s are three examples of wait list statistics taken from the College Board’s website:
(Note: To see any college wait list statistics, click here, type the college name, and select “applying” for the specific college)
As you can see, the odds are NOT in your student’s favor. And for highly selective colleges like Notre Dame and Dartmouth, the number is zero. Students who place all their cards on the table for their wait list schools are often disappointed. They reject offers of admission from perfectly good colleges hoping against hope that they will be taken off the wait list.
Instead of playing the wait list odds, take a second look at your second choice colleges. Read my list of 5 Good Reasons to take a look at your 2nd Choice College.
Colleges who offer admission want your student. They see potential and have offered them a spot in their freshman class. And if a college backs that up with an excellent financial aid package, all the more reason to reconsider your options.
Lynn O’Shaughnessy on The College Solution blog, explains the college’s rationale when using wait lists:
Schools use their wait lists as a way to manage their admission yield. They’d rather put more students on a wait list and pluck teens off as needed than accept more students and then see too many of these teenagers spurn their admission invitation.
Schools want to be in control of saying, “No.” And when they say no to more students, they look more selective which appeals to families looking for elite schools. And U.S. News & World Report’s also rewards schools that reject more applicants.
One major reason why highly ranked schools are placing more students on wait lists because admission administrators are stressing out that ambitious applicants are applying to a very large number of elite schools and they can’t get a handle on which teens would accept an invitation to their school.
With help from the Common Application that makes it easy to apply to many schools, some high-achieving, affluent students are treating college admission to elite schools like a high-stakes lottery. The application mania also explains why prestigious private schools are accepting more early-decision candidates whom they can lock up early.
Using a wait list is also a way to reject students without completely demoralizing them. It can be a helpful tool, for instance, to turn away students of alumni, who are not desirable candidates. Some students see an invitation to a wait list as something to even brag about. I’m not joking.
The wait list also allows some schools to generate more revenue by not offering financial aid to anyone rescued from their lists.
Don’t fall prey to these tactics. Encourage your student to consider the colleges who have offered admission. In the long run, it will probably be the best decision you ever make.