worried_mom

My son is currently waitlisted at NU, his top choice. He just found out that he will receive a MAJOR award this Friday so he wants to pass on this news to the Admissions Office and also use this opportunity to remind them that NU is still his top choice.

We were told at an info session last year that NU does not assign admissions staff to cover specific geographic areas. Should he just send this new info to the general address (email or snail mail?) for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions? Or is there a better way to do it?

BK22889

call them and ask

worried_mom

I tried that and the woman who answered was decidedly unhelpful. "We discourage sending in additional information."

masterofphunk

Then don't send anything in.

worried_mom

masterofphunk, If you search the CC boards, you'll find many postings from students who were waitlisted at NU, then sent in additional material and/or even visited the campus and talked to an admissions rep, and were consequently offered a spot in the class. So it seems to be a very common thing to do, despite what the woman told me. And she did say "discourage" not "prohibit."

My son has not sent in anything before, other than the standard "I want to be placed on the waitlist" response. He wants to let NU that he is still very interested in attending. (We know NU is very big on demonstrated interest.) Also, this award is a significant one, particularly with respect to his intended major.

cptofthehouse

I have found that the school counselor can usually get to talk to an adcom when a student cannot. Your son should ask his counselor to relay the news along with an assurance that he really want to go to NU, that it is his top choice. Sometimes the counselor can get some info as where the wait list stands and what kind of chance your son may have. Though it hurt, my friend found out her daughter was very unlikely to clear the lists at GT and UP through the school counselor. At least, she wasn't obsessing over the situation, and moved on when she found this out.

masterofphunk

worried_mom, for some reason I thought that your original post said that they "strongly discouraged" sending in information. I don't know why that would have sounded so much more negative, but I was under the impression that they really didn't want you to send it in. I would guess if you (or your son's counselor, like cptofthehouse suggested) mailed to to the Undergraduate admissions office it would get to the right person. Good luck.

JaneyPT

He is currently waitlisted.

JaneyPT

My son wrote a wonderful letter. Should I call the HS counselor and ask her to call them as well as above? Should he contact the counselor instead? Thanks

JaneyPT

I called NU today and they haven't even started to look at the need for a wait list according to the admissions department.

jrpar

Look at the NU threads from last year at this time - by May 5 or 6 students were getting in off the waitlist.

hktk

But about 500 more students were admitted this year than last year, so I suspect that NU will take fewer off the wait list this year.

JaneyPT

Good luck jrpar. I hope for the best for my son.