How to Get Off the Wait List and Into College
Surveys of admissions officers show that fewer than 30 percent of the students who agree to stay on a college's wait list are eventually accepted. At many elite schools, the chances are even slimmer. In recent years, for example, Massachusetts Institute of Technology has accepted anywhere between none and 40 students from its wait list of several hundred.
But admissions officers say there are a few steps students can take to ease the anxiety and improve their chances:
• Choose among the colleges you have been accepted to, and send a deposit and commitment by the May 1 deadline. At the very least, you should arrange to enroll in a local community college. Admissions officers say the single most important action for all wait-listed students is to be realistic about the low acceptance rates for those on the wait list and make sure they have some other college alternative lined up.
• Don't automatically ask to stay on a college's wait list. Colleges typically ask wait-listed students to mail a card or letter stating their continued interest in getting a shot at admission in May, June, or even later. "If they are happy with their other choices, please don't say, 'Yes' to the wait list," says Eric Kaplan, dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania. "They could effectively be taking somebody else's spot."
• Ask the school about your chances. Some schools rank their wait-listed students: Lower-ranked students have lower odds of getting accepted. But many schools don't rank. They instead look to the wait list to replace the kind of student they had been counting on with a similar student—such as someone to fill a spot in an orchestra, a team, or a major. This system makes any individual student's chances much harder to predict.
• Ask the school about criteria for getting on, and off, the list. Emory University in Atlanta says that the students on its wait-list are typically those with academic credentials matching those of students who were admitted but who didn't demonstrate any special interest in or affection for Emory by, for example, visiting the campus or attending a local recruiting session.
• Be eager and creative, but not scary or desperate. There's a fine line between admirable persistence and stalking. Most admissions officers say students can help their causes by obeying the school's instructions and perhaps sending one well-written letter updating their achievements and explaining why they still should be admitted. Creative stunts can sometimes help. Jean Jordan, dean of admissions at Emory, remembers admitting a student who rewrote the words of the school song to argue her cause. But Jordan's pretty tired of getting mailed shoes from students who "want to get their foot in the door" and is a little leery of any gift of food. "Don't come down here and make a big plea; and hounding us can be superdestructive," she adds.
Reader Comments
Could this article be anymore duh
Here are three of the five suggestions from the article "How to Get Off the Wait List and Into College" and some important anti-duh observations on them.
1) Choose among the colleges at which you have been accepted. This is obviouslyf or those waitlisted students who don't understand that the waitlist is a waitlist. What more than duh can we say?
2) Don't automatically ask to stay on wait lists. This is sometimes also called the Woody Allen reverse psychology ploy. Woody, way back when he was funny, didn't want to be a member of any club that would accept him. Waitlisted students can escape this conundrum by removing themselves from the waitlist of the schools that they really want to go to. If the reverse psychology works, and the spurned school quickly calls back with an offer, teach them a lesson: turn them down and go that fourth or fifth choice school. What we call duh to the highest power.
3) Be eager and creative but not scary or desperate. No comment needed. Not even another duh. It's there between each phrase. (Be eager, dugh, and creative but not, duh, scary or desperate). Hear that kids. Don't be scary in trying to get off the wait list.
An old poem - modified
There one little school and loves me
and one little school that don't;
and why can't I long for the school that love's me
instead of the one that don’t!
An old poem - modified (and corrected!)
There's one little school that loves me
and one little school that don't;
and why can't I long for the school that love's me
instead of the one that don’t!
Paying for College
I worked myself through college and none of my family even remotely thought of contributing to paying for my education. These days parents are raiding their retirement funds to pay for their children's college education. Children are too spoiled. If the parents cannot afford to pay for their children's education, let the kids go to work and put themselves through college or take out loan and pay it back themselves. Don't burden your parents with it. They do not owe their kids an education. Besides, not everyone has to attend college. There are many other venues for a decent education where they can earn an honest living.
Re: Paying
Honestly, parents are typically the ones who push their children to enter these $40,000+ a year schools. Of course they are raiding their retirement funds, nothing like bragging about how little Johnny went to Harvard. If you really want to teach your kids something, let them go to the college of THEIR choice, then let them pay for it.
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Top schools are very proud of and protective of their reputations and want students who are excited about getting in. After weeding out applicants by HS classes, grades and test scores, there are still many times as many applicants as openings. What sets students apart is how good a "fit" the student is for the particular school compared to another top school.
Wanting to go to "an ivy league school" won't get you into any of them no matter what your grades are. You need to be excited about a specific school and explain why you are a good fit and why having a graduate such as yourself can be an asset to the school's reputation for years to come. If you'd as soon go to Yale as to Harvard then don't blame Yale or Harvard if they'd as soon admit John Doe as you.
...and MIT... better love using science and technology to build stuff and be able to drink math through a fire hose!
Apr 17, 2008 17:08:11 PM [permalink] [report comment]