I got "wait listed"! What do I do now?

First of all, let’s figure out what the phrase, “waiting list” really means. In university admissions language, it translates as follows: the applicant didn’t get accepted and also didn’t get rejected...yet. That’s the good news. The not-so good news is that if you are waitlisted, the admissions committee had a lot of competitive files to consider and yours wasn’t exactly what it was looking for this year. Further, from a statistical standpoint, universities do not accept most wait-listed students. The number of wait-listed students, who do eventually receive acceptances, varies from institution to institution. One year one well-known institution reported a zero percent acceptance of its wait-listed applicants, while another equally well-known institution had an acceptance rate that was nearly 30%. Of course even 30% is not particularly high. If there are 100 people on your wait list, more than 70 will not be accepted.

So what can you do to improve your chances to get off the wait list and get accepted? With some institutions there may not be anything you can do about your wait list status. See http://notjustadmissions.wordpress.com/ for more info. However, it doesn’t hurt to try to see if you can do something. If you still feel that you would really like to go to the institution or if the institution that put you on its waiting list is your only choice, then you should probably try to communicate with the institution. Here are a few ideas on how you can communicate with the institution and to try to keep your file in consideration.

1. Read the “wait list” message carefully to see if you are expected to take some steps to follow up that status. For example do you need to accept a spot on the list? Sometimes this question comes up as an email form for you to complete and return within a specified time period.

2. Even if the university’s letter doesn’t clearly ask you to confirm your place on the list, you should go ahead and acknowledge that you received the message. Your message should thank the admission contact for taking the time to let you know of your status.

3. Then if you really would like a decision (whether negative or positive), add in your response that you remain interested in the university and its programs and hope that an admission offer may be possible. In other words, if you are still interested, then let the university know. There is one caveat here: If you have no intention of enrolling in this university, then kindly let the university know this. Don't someone else a chance if you aren’t serious about attending the institution.

4. Finally make sure that you check that the institution has received all of your updated academic credentials, as these can strengthen your file. For example, if after you submitted your initial application, you re-took the TOEFL and got a higher score, send in the new score. If you have taken classes and have updated grades like mid-term grades, send those in. Unless you are asked otherwise, you don’t need to send in other documents, but you do need to make sure that any new grades or test scores are sent immediately.

If you learn in the end that you did not get accepted, don’t take the decision personally. Most admissions offices will readily tell you that the admissions process is a numbers game. You know that you had many of the qualifications needed for an acceptance because you were put on the waiting list. You also know that there were a lot of qualified students out there. Making a decision about which qualified students to accept isn’t easy because the American educational system is a competitive one where there simply isn’t room for everyone all the time. With a little persistence on your part, other opportunities will certainly come your way!