Priority Waitlist

PRFRMR20 · 04-01-2006, 07:00 PM

Hi all!

So, I got my letter from CMU today, and I have been put on the priority waitlist for Acting!

I was just wondering.. it says taht if you choose to continue to go with the priority waitlist you are saying that if accepted, you WILL attend CMU next year.

What if you don't? I am guessing that I will lose my $500 (What you have to pay if you get in from the priority waitlist). But, for exampl, what if you get into ED at a school and just not go? Will the sue you? Does anyone know what will happen if I continue with the priority wailist get in and end up choosing to go to another school???

Thanks for your knowledge and comments! Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear!

-Zal

soozievt · 04-01-2006, 07:38 PM

Zal, my D got on the Priority Waitlist as well. If I recall, you do not need to put ANY money down NOW. What you are agreeing to, unlike a regular waitlist, is that if you are called with an acceptance, you would need to accept with a deposit within 24 hours of notification, so it is not like you would be able to mull it over at that juncture. So, if you get in from the Priority Waitlist, be prepared to accept immediately or not. So, think about that ahead of time. All you are doing now is saying you want to be on the Priority Waitlist. You aren't sending money, nor signing on the dotted line, so to speak. But if that offer comes, your intentions should be well thought out as you'd have to put the deposit down immediately at that point.

I suppose at ANY school, once you put a deposit down, you can back out and lose the deposit, theoretically. The commitment is not quite like the binding contract that an ED thing is. People do it and they are not sued and then others on the waitlist fill those slots. That is often referred to as "summer melt". However, that said, ethically, one should only put deposits down if planning to attend because it is not fair to those on the waitlist. (Everyone should be sensitive to that, particularly those who are on waitlists themselves who would not want someone to hold a spot that they did not intend to fill.) So, for CMU, you don't need to put money down now but think long and hard so that if that call comes to get off the waitlist, THEN you would have to commit with a deposit at that time without lots of time to "decide". At THAT point, you'd truly be making a commitment that you should keep.

Most schools do not have this "Priority Waitlist" designation like CMU has. At other schools, if someone gets off a waitlist, they get a little time to decide whether or not to accept the spot. What CMU seems to be doing is ascertaining who on their waitlist is seriously wanting to attend and would be ready to commit to attend with 24 hours notice of a deposit being due. Other schools often just ask students who are put on waitlists if they wish to stay on it or not. This school has a two tiered waitlist with those who are saying, yes, I would attend if a spot opens up and would agree to put $500 down in 24 hours if that happens and those who are not ready to commit to attend in such a time frame. I think the bigger commitment and the one you ethically should uphold is the one when and if a call comes and you put $500 down to hold your spot. Right now you are not putting any money down.

Zal, the short version of what I just wrote is....IF you get in and then put $500 down, you SHOULD commit to attend. After that point, there should not be a turning back. I don't feel you are quite at that juncture now but should think seriously about what you would do should that call come and you have 24 hours notice.

Susan

kingsandcabbages · 04-02-2006, 10:01 PM

Anyone have any idea how long the waitlist is? Are there separate lengths for MT and Acting? Do they put people in order on the waitlists, or is it selected randomly, etc?

PRFRMR20 · 04-02-2006, 10:19 PM

First, thank you to Soozievt... Did you get my email??? If not let me know I will send it again!

Second, In the paper work I got... They said taht rgular waitlist is about 50 people and they accept about 50% of their priority waitlist every year.
1. I don't know if this is 50 for MT and 50 for Acting...
2. I am guessing the priority is about 5-10. I can imagine them accepting many more than that!

Please share if you know more!

soozievt · 04-02-2006, 10:38 PM

Zal, I did not get the email.

I have no idea the numbers but can't imagine too many coming off the waitlist given how many slots that exist in the class in the first place and that they likely have a good yield too. That said, two years ago, my D's friend from same place you went in summers, got in for MT from this waitlist. My daughter was on Priority Waitlist for Acting but I have no clue how many got off it last year. She didn't, though truly did not care cause she wanted MT and was SO happy and commited to going to NYU at that point. Another friend from same summer program you go to was also on Waitlist last year for acting but did not get in and went to BU for BFA in Acting.

wct · 04-03-2006, 12:42 AM

There may be one boy I read about on CC that is taking a CCM spot rather than a CMU spot (?) which means that someone in that case will come off the waitlist. That would mean it would most likely be a boy and probably someone that types the same as the person that did not accept.

This is a guess of course.

ElvisPretzle · 04-03-2006, 06:08 AM

did your application look like this for PRIORITY WAITLISTING?

1. College: CFA Dept: DRA Program: MTH Decision: Not Admitted
2. College: CFA Dept: DRA Program: ACT Decision: Waitlist

ElvisPretzle · 04-03-2006, 06:11 AM

this was on - line of course

mandemb · 04-03-2006, 08:02 AM

Would love to hear what anyone else thinks about chances for getting in on waitlist. My son found out online this morning that he is on the waitlist for CMU. Haven't got the offical letter yet. Didn't say priorty waitlist online.

soozievt · 04-03-2006, 09:25 AM

The Priority Waitlist thing is not stated online. It came in the hard copy in the mail. I do not know if everyone who is waitlisted gets the Priority Waitlist Option in their packet....they might. I think they probably do as I haven't heard someone say they got waitlisted but didn't get the prioritiy waitlist option in the packet but that doesn't mean anything conclusive. Either all the waitlist kids got the priority option or just some do.

Anyway I do not think anyone can predict your odds of getting off the waitlist. This varies year to year at any college. They do not know what their yield will be....that is how many will enroll who got offers. Sometimes you can ask a college their waitlist history....for instance, how many taken off the waitlist in each of the past five years. Often that history varies a lot from year to year and in fact, for some schools, they didn't use the waitlist at all in a given year. They may be willing to tell you the total number of kids on the waitlist. Waitlists are normally NOT ORDERED. When a slot opens up, that slot was for a certain type of student or performer in the group they admitted and they likely will look to the waitlist to fill it with someone else that fills that type in the class they built.

In my opinion, someone on a waitlist can let the school know they would attend if accepted (at CMU that is basically what the Priority Waitlist thing is) and then must move on psychologically and embrace the options they WERE GIVEN. Forget the waitlist and move on. You can think about if the waitlist opened up for you, what you would do but after that, count it out for now.

cmujohanna's mom · 04-03-2006, 11:13 AM

My daughter was waitlisted four years ago. She was thrilled to be waitlisted, but did not expect to get in. She evaluated her other acceptances and sent in a deposit to one of them. Realizing the odds were against her, she was able to move on. She was notified of her acceptance from CMU the first week in June. (The design on their acceptance envelopes are wonderful!) Obviously we lost the deposit to the school she had chosen in the meantime, but it was worth it. The story goes that someone declined CMU's acceptance and instead went to Julliard. To her knowledge, Johanna was the only student taken from the waitlist that year.

PRFRMR20 · 04-03-2006, 12:36 PM

Yeah, as Soozievt said... my acceptance for the Priority Waiting list came in the mail - however, I just checked the website and yes it said waitlist not priority... GOOD LUCK!!!

ilbamom · 04-03-2006, 01:08 PM

Were you waitlisted for acting or mt?

PRFRMR20 · 04-03-2006, 09:26 PM

I was waitlisted for acting

SingingLLG · 04-04-2006, 07:37 PM

From what I know if you have recieved a priority waitlist letter it means you are on the top of the wait list. I don't know exactally what the numbers are, you could be one of the first 5 on the list or one of the first ten. Good Luck!