DEALING WITH A WAITLIST
With growing numbers of students applying to increasingly large number of colleges, coupled with difficult economic times, waitlists are more and more a fixture in the college admissions process.

adMISSION POSSIBLE® TIP! Sometimes it’s easy to let your grades slide at the end of spring semester of your senior year. However, if you want to get off a waitlist, this is not a smart thing to do. Acceptance slots might open up in May, after school ends, or even in the late summer, so a downturn in grades could severely compromise your chances of getting off a waitlist.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE PUT ON A WAITLIST
If you are on a college’s waitlist and would like to get onto their accepted list, here are some things to think about and do:

1. If you are on a waitlist of a top choice school, then notifying them that you want to remain on their list is a good thing to do. Each college usually gives students specific directions, ranging from mailing a reply postcard, to sending an email, to completing a questionnaire that updates your application or explains why you want to attend their school. It is very important that you follow their directions, doing and not doing exactly as they say. If they want a one-page letter, then write it. If they don’t want any additional letters of recommendation, better not send them. Also, it is always better to do these things sooner rather than later.

2. If there are no waitlist directions or vague directions, then call the admissions office (preferably the representative assigned to your high school) and tell an admissions officer how much you would like to attend their school. Let them know that you will attend the college if you are taken off the wait list. Ask what additional information would be useful for them to have about you or your background.

Most officers will suggest that you write a letter indicating your continued interest and an update of your application with any new information.

3. Write a very positive, upbeat letter (not an email unless told to do so) to the college indicating your continued, strong interest, including:

a. Why you and the college are a perfect match. Identify what you have been looking for in a college, and then very specific examples of courses, professors, activities, and programs at the college that meet those needs, wants and desires. Also, identify how you would contribute to the college community. If you have already done this or described the perfect match concept in your application, then do it again with new, more sophisticated material. Be as enthusiastic as you can be. Admissions officers like energetic applicants.

b. Update the college on what you anticipate your second semester grades will be (hopefully very good). At the end of the year, don’t forget to have a final transcript sent to the college.

c. Update the admissions office on any awards, honors or successes you have achieved since you turned in your original application. Also, alert them to any accomplishments you have made in your academics, activities, work, volunteer efforts, or sports. This can come in the form of a resume, or a list. Also, consider sending them any special work you have done, whether a paper, research project, art portfolio, or even a CD of a musical performance.

d. If meaningful or impressive, let them know about your summer plans.