My application was waitlisted, what should I do? Answered
Hello,
I was just waitlisted at my top 3 "target" liberal art schools. Although they were targets, my SAT score fell in the upper range and my extracurriculars/GPA/course rigor was all strong, so I don't know how I wasn't accepted into at least one. I accepted my spot on the waitlists, but don't know what to do. I got a scholarship from my safety school that covers all tuition which is a big plus, and plan on depositing there if I do not hear back from any of the other schools before May 1st (which I doubt will happen) I know it is ok to send letters of continued interest at these three schools, but I don't know what to include. Also, my deposit is like $800 and I also have no idea what financial aid these schools could potentially offer me. They all claim to give 100% need-based aid and if so, these schools would be cheaper/relatively the same price as my safety with the scholarship. I just don't know what to do and have just been upset lately because I just spent the last 2 years and $500 applying to colleges, SATs, etc. and I am going to end up at a school where I did not even have to take the SAT (they are completely test-blind). I researched waitlist stats but can't seem to find my likelihood of being admitted, it seems to change a lot every year, but my chances don't look too good. Ugh well, thanks for reading my little rant I guess my question is just what advice do you have for me? Should I stay on these waitlists? I do like my safety it's just not my top choice. :) Thanks
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1 answer
Are you all done with hearing back from all the colleges you applied to? Or do you have more to hear from in the next week? If you have more to hear back from, I would wait and see what all your schools say before doing anything.
If you are all done, the first thing I would do is to look at the last 2 years of the Common Data Set for each of the 3 schools, so 6 files. Under Section C. First time admissions, there will be a line under the enrolled number of students which will state how many offers they extended for waitlists. Then the next line after than will be how many students accepted the waitlist offer, and last will be the line of how many they took off the waitlist. By doing this both for the 2020-2021 CDS and the 2019-2020 CDS, you will see if the these schools actually take a healthy amount of students off the waitlist or not. This will better inform you on what to do.
I did 2 years of Hamilton College as an example for you:
https://www.hamilton.edu/documents/CDS_2020-2021_FINAL.pdf
https://www.hamilton.edu/documents/CDS_2019-2020%20v3.pdf
1875 offered waitlists, 1060 accepted waitlist, 17 offers from the waitlist
1934 offered waitlists, 1062 accepted waitlist, 21 offers from the waitlist.
I did 2 years of Kenyon College as an example for you:
http://documents.kenyon.edu/instresearch/CDS/CDS_2021-2022.xlsx
https://www.kenyon.edu/files/resources/cds_2019-2020-2.xlsx
1827 offered waitlists, 1027 accepted waitlist, 1 offers from the waitlist
2161 offered waitlists, 1231 accepted waitlist, 12 offers from the waitlist.
These were 2 random LACs but it's clear that neither school had good stats to justify staying on the waitlists since 1% or less were admitted that way.
If you find that your schools are more like 10% then I would stay on the lists, otherwise it's just wishful thinking right.
Remember, going to your safety school is not the end of the line. You can always apply to other schools next Winter as a transfer student. Many students do this. And I think more and more will be doing this because getting in to colleges is just getting harder and harder.
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No, at this point I have heard back from all my colleges. I looked at the Common Data Sets and all are between 5-10% so I think I will remain on the waitlists and just hope for the best. And if I don't like my safety school I can always transfer, I really hadn't thought of that because I have heard transferring is a pain but if I really do not like the school, it's always an option. Thanks for your help.