Can Your Student Really Get Off a Waitlist?

Students think of all different ways to get off a waitlist, including delivering treats in person to admissions offices. Does anything work?

Make no mistake about it: the waitlists are for the colleges’ benefit, and they can be quite long with only a small percentage receiving offers of admission. Consider these statistics from last year:

The University of Michigan offered waitlist spaces to nearly 25,000 students, and almost 19,000 accepted a spot. U-M admitted 5 percent.
Boston College offered spots to over 7,000 students, and over 4,000 accepted. BC accepted 8.5 percent.

From many years of experience, I advise students to:

Always attend accepted students’ days
Make a choice from acceptances rather than waitlist offers
Plan to put in a deposit by May 1, the National Reply Date, with no double deposits
Submit whatever the college requests
Consider writing letters of continued interest for only certain colleges and in a particular style (for more, get in touch!)

Some of my students do get off waitlists. They may get a call or an email giving them just a few days to respond. While we hope that acceptances off waitlists happen as close to May 1 as possible, they may also surprise students who have already grown comfortable with a decision to attend another college.

Have questions? E-mail Nina Berler of UnCommon apps anytime at nberler@myuncommonapps.com