<p>My d has been waitlisted at many of her top choices (WUSTL, BC, Wm & Mary (out of state)). She is in the top 15% of her public hs class (240 in class), with SAT 2090, weighted GPA 3.8, played soccer and lacrosse for 3 years(not varsity), captain of hs acapella singing group, in musical plays, tutors elementary kids every week etc. Will it help her case to travel out to the schools to personally plead her case for admission? What about financial aid - will that be all gone by the time the colleges look to their waitlists?</p>
<p>Merit aid is probably out, but need baed aid should be available.</p>
<p>At most schools, needing financial aid makes it much harder to get off the wait list. I wouldn’t bother with WUSTL, they wait list almost everyone they don’t accept.</p>
<p>While a very good score and GPA, a 2090 and weighted 3.8 for WUSTL is probably on the low end of their RD pool. Her scores/stats would have given her a better chance at WUSTL if she had applied ED because historically their ED pool is not as strong statistically as RD. They admit a less strong group overall in ED but they also can guarantee their yield. This doesn’t mean the whole group is weaker but you can go back and look at posts over the last three years and compare ED to RD admits and you’ll see a considerable difference in stats. WUSTL is also not need blind…they are need aware so this could also have an impact on her status. You would have limited your options for financial aid in ED though.</p>
<p>Can she have her guidance counselor at school call the colleges and have them lobby on her behalf? I would think that they would want a definite commitment for a particular school, ie “if I am admitted, I will attend” before they just start calling all the schools, otherwise they are asking for a favor and then not following through/delivering.</p>
<p>There may still be need based money available at some schools but any merit money is already allocated , in fact over allocated to those already accepted.</p>
<p>My S got financial aid his first year when he got off the waitlist.</p>
<p>While one occasionally hears of the extraordinary effort that goes into a successful waitlist appeal (skywriting over the admissions dean’s house, etc.), there is absolutely no evidence that any of this makes one whit worth of difference. And the reason for that is simple: as they build a class for next year, they have dozens of niches they need to fill, and the first thing done with a waiting list is fill those niches made empty by an accepted applicant deciding to go elsewhere. </p>
<p>Different colleges have different policies around financial aid for those on waiting lists. Some will tell you that they are “needblind” for everyone (I don’t believe that for a minute), and some that they may become “need-aware” as they get down to the bottom of admits (which could include the waiting list.) Since it isn’t anything you can control one or the other, it’s probably not worth spending a lot of time thinking about.</p>
<p>Waiting lists are also used by various schools as a way to turn down legacies, please gc’s, etc., but without any real possibility of folks actually getting off of them.</p>
<p>So, she should go the extra mile to write a nice letter, send news, etc., so that she feels like she’s given it her best shot. But she should focus on where she is more likely to attend next year.</p>
<p>From UChicago’s web site:</p>
<p>Wait list When you get a decision in the mail, youll either get a letter of rejection, a letter of admittance, or a letter offering a place on the waitlist. We think you know what the first two mean. If youre offered a spot on the wait list though, you need to either accept or reject it. If you want to still be considered for admission to Chicago, you should claim your spot on the wait list and start talking to your admissions counselor. Tell him or her how awesome you are, how much you love Chicago, and send in more credentials to prove your wonderfulness. The rates of acceptance of waitlisted candidates vary greatly from year to year. </p>
<p>(Actually over the last 5 years I believe I have read that it has averaged about 16% with a range from 6% to 27%.)</p>
<p>Thank you all for your ideas and encouragement. By now we know she was rejected by 3 (Brown, Georgetown, Middlebury), waitlisted at 3 (Wash U, BC, Wm & Mary) and in at HC and URoch + 2 large public universities (not really interested). Not much of a choice for a National Merit Commended Student. I’ve tried to find out how large the waitlist is at WashU, but can’t find that info. I was able to find info that other colleges of a similar size send out 1500 waitlist letters of which about 45% accept a place on the waitlist. Why is that inofrmation so hard to find? Aren’t all the colleges which get Federal money required to annually complete a Common Data Set questionnaire?</p>
<p>A couple years ago you could get waitlist information for each school (of course it lags by a year and each year can be very different) by paying for the online US News and World Report college information. Since you’re just dealing with a handful of schools, why not call and ask them directly? If they won’t/can’t give any information, you could pay the $20 for US News.</p>
<p>William and Mary:
Qualified applicants placed on waiting list: 1,265
Applicants accepting a place on waiting list: 595
Students enrolled from waiting list: 20 </p>
<p>WUSTL:
Qualified applicants placed on waiting list: N/A
Applicants accepting a place on waiting list: N/A
Students enrolled from waiting list: 134 </p>
<p>Boston College:
Qualified applicants placed on waiting list: 4,500
Applicants accepting a place on waiting list: 2,000
Students enrolled from waiting list: 165 </p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Also, WUSTL’s W/L rate may be difficult to find as WUSTL waitlists EVERYONE they don’t accept.</p>
<p>Spinner.
First things first. Congrats on U of R and HC and the publics!</p>
<p>Lacking other information, I would guess that your D’s rank (out of the top 10%) may well have been the issue at her wl’s and denies. So, if she decides to address the wl’s, her quarter and final grades should be at the top of her to do list. </p>
<p>W & M is pretty grades-oriented. IMO, this is the least likely.</p>
<p>WUSTL and BC are, I think, worth a shot IF you D can simultaneously pick HC or U of R (or a public) to bond to AND do the wait list limbo.</p>
<p>Some thoughts on wl’s. Convince the GC to make some calls to see if additional information on your D’s case can be obtained. Have your D call and chat with her regional admissions rep. Her call and that fo GC will be better received and may elicite more useful information. Don’t want the sound of helicopter parent rotors in the background.</p>
<p>Sending additional material that either clarifies a students strengths or shows another aspect of them may, in some cases, help. An additional rec letter may, in some cases, help. </p>
<p>The problem is, the numbers at your D’s wl schools aren’t happy. U of R and HC are both fine schools - but very different. If she can visit both, it may help her move forward.</p>
<p>This is a very trying situation and I wish you all the best. Your D sounds like a wonderful young person - and I am sure she will do well wherever she lands.</p>
<p>Ohio_Mom, thanks for your thoughts and support. Can you tell me anything about HolyCross vs University of Rochester. Although she does well in science/math, my D expresses strong interest in the humanities. She loves singing, hence her interest in WUSTL, Brown and Wm & Mary, which have great acapella music groups.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your information. Tlaktan, I was wondering where you were able to find information about waitlists? The waitlist letter from BC said they typically waitlist 1500 and in the past have taken from 50-300. However, the letter did not share the numbers from this year. How many are on the waitlist for WUSTL and why the secrecy? My understanding was that this sort of information is supposed to be publically available. If they chose to not publish it on their own website, then it should be available on the government site, College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics</p>
<p>Spinner1020,
Unless it has changed since last year, U of R students are allowed one lesson per week at Eastman, if they place into it. We visited U of R, and were impressed by the number of majors and options available to the students. </p>
<p>I am not as familiar with HC - never visited - but it has a good rep on CC as a nuturing place with solid academics. </p>
<p>These two schools are very different places and environments, and if there is any way you can swing overnights at both, I’d say it would be money well spent. Then she will know - and you will know.</p>
<p>I heard around 3000 wait listed at WUSTL</p>
<p>Spinner, as I a diagnostic offered to help any parents for <em>next</em> year who made this thread, for the schools where your daughter got on the w/l, I think at least one factor was class rank…Boston College has 73 percent of their admittees from the top 10 percent, WUSTL has 91 percent, and W & M 85 percent. If below the top 10 percent, there are generally compensating factors <em>relative to the rest of the applicants</em>…i.e., your kid’s EC’s/scores/recs/essays have to be beating out a lot of other applicants’ EC’s/scores/recs/essays. </p>
<p>Second item that’s very sobering, implicit in your post #8 “Not much of a choice for a National Merit Commended Student.” The cold blunt fact: even NM <em>Finalists</em> are a dime a dozen for schools on this level. NM Commended is an accomplishment…it just doesn’t buy very much at this level of institution.</p>
<p>Spinner, we looked at the U of Rochester when our older son was a Junior, and really liked it. We happened to visit on an Accepted Students day, so we just went to those events. I think the head of admissions used to be at the U of So. Cal., and the entire presentation was just very warm and friendly. The undergrad pop was relatively small, I think, and it had the feel of a very nurturing environment. We are definitely going to look again for our next son. We didn’t visit Holy Cross, but I’ve also heard just wonderful reports about its academics and environment. It’s a popular choice with kids from my kids’ HS, as is BC, and they seem to do very well. Your daughter really seems to have some wonderful choices!</p>
<p>Spinner,</p>
<p>I agree that your child has wonderful choices. Your daughter was rejected from selective schools for reasons unrelated to her qulaifications. There is no doubt she would succeed at any of those schools but she failed to satisify some niche that these schools are seeking. (The fact that she is a female may even hurt because so many more females apply to college than males.)</p>
<p>It is quite an accomplishment to have been accepted at both U of R and Holy Cross. Each of them are distinguished highly repected upper echelon schools.</p>