Getting waitlisted can be frustrating. You spend all this time working throughout high school to get into your dream school only to face uncertainty. It can feel like being in limbo, but there are things you can do to get yourself out of limbo, one way or another. In this post, we discuss how to proceed if you’ve been waitlisted.
The Yield Rate
The first thing you should know is that colleges care a lot “yield rates.” A yield rate is the number of students who are accepted who choose to attend a given school. One of the reasons schools waitlist students is that they don’t have enough spots. Another reason is that they want to protect their yield rate. Strong yield rates mean good rankings. Publications like U.S. News & World don’t only consider acceptance rates, but like to look at stats like yield rates as well. People who donate to schools and fund their endowments don’t only want to know that a given school is competitive, they also want to know it’s highly ranked and desirable for those who attend. A strong yield rate is one of the best marketing tactics. At the end of the day, universities are businesses. They want to that strong return on investment.
Expressing Intent
So, keeping in mind the fact that schools want to protect their yield rates, consider that letting them know you will help in that process is a good place to start. The first thing you should do decide if you still really want to go to the school for which you’re waitlisted. Will you actually go if you get in? If the answer is yes, 1000% then you need to tell the school that. Write a letter of continued interest in which you affirm just that—if accepted, you will absolutely, unequivocally go to this school.
This is similar to writing an entirely new supplement, so again, if you don’t think you’re going to go if you get in, save yourself the trouble (and consider saving the spot for someone else who really will). In this letter, you should write why the school is your number one choice. Hopefully you’ve already done your research on the school, but take the time to dive in further. Get highly specific. You need to express interest in a particular area of study that is an extension of what you’ve already been doing in high school. Write about the classes (sophomore-level or above), professors, and research that interest you. Then, connect the dots. Write about how you’re a perfect candidate to take advantage of these opportunities, as evidenced by the work you’ve been doing for the past four years in this highly specific area. This should be in letter form and should not exceed one page. You should also include your current semester grades, an update on extracurriculars and an additional letter of recommendation in the package.
Getting off a school’s waitlist requires focus and hard work. If you really aren’t into a school, consider giving yourself a break and put your eggs in another basket. But if there’s a school whose waitlist you really need to get off of, you should go for it and make sure you continue to keep your GPA up and the rest of your application in tight shape.
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