smustehsan

If yes, then please post which university took you off, and what did to do to get accepted(e.g sent in recommendations, improved grades, telephone calls etc.)

b@r!um

Sending in recommendations, making phone calls etc will not make that big of a difference.

Waitlists are used by colleges as a tool for enrollment management. A college may notice that not as many science majors enrolled as they had hoped, so they will take prospective science majors off the waitlist. Or they may need more actors or a French horn player. If a college were not interested in enrolling you, you would not be on the waitlist. You have already convinced them that you are a good candidate. Now it's just a matter of whether or not they have a space for you.

If you are an international student and have applied for financial aid, that is probably the reason you are on a waitlist. In that case you might be accepted if other international fin aid admits choose not to enroll.

smustehsan

@ barium: well, which international student who has received fin. aid from UPenn would not decide to enroll? . Anyway, thanks for the feedback, but I am still looking to hear some waitlist success stories from international students

Rister_Chutophs

I know one, no kidding. He was admitted to the engineering school, I think.

Good luck! where are you going if Penn doesn't work out?

danhernan

I was a lucky person removed from the wait list and given need based financial aid. I was wait listed at Trinity University in San Antonio in late March.

I asked for a lot of financial aid, so a lot of colleges I had applied to rejected me. It might not have been the only factor, but I think it certainly made a difference at most.

So in April I had my safety University of New Orleans, and basically two wait lists, one at Trinity University and the other at Davidson College. I had met with two representatives from Trinity, who came to my school, so that was a plus. I communicated ocasionally throughout the year with one of the representatives. An email every two months or so, I believe.

When it came April, and I pretty much just had wait lists I decided to communicate more. I sent my third quarter grades, that were even better than my previous grades. I told the representative I was going to do an internship (which I currently am doing). I also a lot of specific questions, not really general or common ones, one could easily find at the website. I also stated, that Trinity was my #1 choice, and I would definetly assist if I was given the financial aid I needed.

Late April arrives, and I am suddenly called by the admission officer I had been in contact with. She asked me where was I accepted to, and I told her my acceptances and rejections. She then congratulated me for being admitted and was given the financial aid I needed. I was literally speechless, a unique moment I don't think I'll forget.

She said that it was during this time, late April, that Trinity saw how much left over funds it had, and if it was able to fund wait listed internationals. She also told me that my insistance had been a factor in my acceptance.

As Barium said, money has to do a lot with it. I think if I had been a full paying international, Trinity would have accepted me in regular decision. However, I was wait listed due to the financial aid I asked for. However, it might have been my insistance throughout the year, and especially April, that motivated Trinity to accept me instead of a better applicant in stats from somewhere else.

It can happen .

sefago

I once got removed from a waitlist last year- but funny enough immediately someone from my country told the school that they weren't enrolling I got off the waitlist

b@r!um

The one who was also admitted to Harvard?

namayani

i just got a place at swarthmore. (and a guy at my school got an offer before but rejected it. I wouldn't, but if he hadn't, maybe I wouldn't have gotten the place)

insaneabd

I know two people from Pakistan who got into Tufts off the waiting list... They did nothing... basically, the dean emailed them to ask if they were interested in enrolling. They simply said yes. They offered them admission...

I am hoping something like this happens with me at Amherst...

Tsenguun

^^^ skunk got in there with a lot of aid. i hope the same would happen to you as well.

skunk

^^ As Tseguun has posted, I got off the waitlist at Amherst with a LOT of aid.

I accepted my place in the waitlist within hours of receiving the email with my decision. Then about a fortnight later, I sent in an additional recommendation which, I guess, was very good (I didn't get to see it). Then I sent a letter of interest stating that I would definitely attend Amherst if I was accepted. I also had the GC of my erstwhile high school email them a letter that expressed her disappointment at the decision and contained an update of my ECs.

Amherst applied some yield management tactics even when they accepted me. They first emailed me inquiring if I was still interested. Only when I said yes did I receive my acceptance.

smustehsan

hey congratulation to every one who got off. I think its even a bigger acheivement than getting in at first time.

YOU

skunk, bravo for not giving up!!! and congrats!

bocca

For us internationals, it is so damn true. Especially if you havn't got into respectable places in RD.

insaneabd

it will be a super great achievement for me if I get in at Amherst(my first choice) given that I got in NO WHERE on RD