<p>D is an international student. Wait listed in Bryn Mawr, Carleton, Macalester, Middlebury, Vassar and Wellesley. Rejected by 4 other LACs. No acceptance. Naturally, she is very disappointed and disillusioned with the outcome. She is very keen to go to LACs and only applied to LACs. From the rankings of the colleges that rejected her and waitlisted her, we are not sure whether it’s mainly due to her stats or the amount of financial aid we requested. Should we call the admissions office and ask them?We are aware that admission is not need blind for international students. </p>
<p>What can be done to increase her chances in the waitlist? Will informing the waitlist colleges that she has no acceptance help her chances or make it worse? Does anybody know whether, there are separate waitlists for international students?</p>
<p>IntnlParent, very sorry to hear about your daughter’s outcome. It’s been a tough year for several kids whose parents write on this board and the schools your daughter applied to are very selective. </p>
<p>Your financial needs may very well relate to your daughter’s status. I don’t see any point in asking the college if this is the case unless you don’t really need the aid. If your situation has changed and you can get by with less aid than you indicated, then yes, you should let the adcom know. Unfortunately, the money supply seems to diminish as schools get into their waitlists.</p>
<p>There are many strategies for “getting off the waitlist.” This site has a section that you can investigate. Basically, your daughter needs to convince the colleges that she is REALLY interested. She should do this by e-mailing (or telephoning) them to express her interest. She should send along any additional positive information that may have come up since she sent in her application: awards, scores, grades. Another recommendation also helps. If her guidance counselor has any “pull” s/he could intervene.</p>
<p>I don’t think it would be a good idea to let the schools know that she hasn’t received any acceptances. This may actually work against her. This is just my opinion. Others may feel differently. </p>
<p>Waitlists are very difficult to analyze because the schools don’t let you know your rank. You may be next in line or last. Is your daughter an American living abroad or is she Malaysian? </p>
<p>Good luck to you and her. The good news is that she’s got six chances for a turnaround. Keep us posted!</p>
<p>First, I agree with momrath. In addition to her advice, there is a website of colleges that are still accepting applications. Someone please help out by posting the link! I don’t remember what it is right now. I would have her apply to a couple of these schools. If they are percieved by her as below her caliber (they are ususally not top tier schools) & she ends up unhappy there she can always transfer.</p>
<p>I strongly suspect that students who come off waitlists will not get financial aid. The OP’s D would be better taking a gap year and doing something that will add to her experience and re-applying next fall if financial aid is a consideration. She should also consider schools in countries that are less expensive than in the US.</p>
<p>Macalester specifically states that students being offered spots off of the waitlist would be eleigible for the same financial aid they would have been ofered if they’d been originally accepted. But clearly they wouldn’t qualify for any merit aid.</p>
<p>Sorry that April’s being such a rough month for your D. I know its not much consolation, but you are not alone.</p>
<p>Some of the Canadian uni’s seem to be accepting apps until the end of the month. I looked up University of Victoria, for example, and it takes apps until the end of April. I guess the cost would depend partly on your exchange rate. </p>
<p>All this waitlisting makes things kind of random. On the positive side, it means that your D does have a shot. Excellent advice has already been given - please add my best wishes to it :-)</p>
<p>It’s possible that financial aid would have been a large consideration in your D’s acceptance chances as typically financial aid is very limited for international students, even more limited than it is for American students.</p>
<p>I imagine that due to the very small number of US colleges guaranteeing to meet 100% of documented need for internationals, the stats for accepted internationals are even higher than they are for US citizens at those colleges, which already are among the most selective in this country.</p>
<p>For instance, Carleton’s web site says, “Financial support for international students is now broadly expanded, although we still have limited funds for international scholarships.”</p>
<p>I agree with Marite. Financial aid for any waitlisted student may be limited and this may be especially true for international students. I think a gap year and applying to a few more less selective LACs with aid for internationals next go round might be a good option to consider.</p>
<p>I would guess that applying for financial aid is the issue here. Schools that are need blind for US citizens often are not for internationals. And because foreign students how they are going to pay for their expenses before they are issued a visa to study here, it is a pain in the neck to gap internationals. You get desperate pleas for more money since you have left that opening. Most schools have a stringent set amount of funds for internationals so they are simply not going to budge and don’t want the problems. </p>
<p>If you need the money, then there really is not much you can do. You are just not going to get it from the colleges and legally your D cannot work. From what I understand loans are even limited for internationals. I would try again next year, and this time include some lower cost schools, with lower selectivity that are interested in getting a good student like your D to bolster their stats. All of those schools you listed are expensive and selective. You do not mention her stats–is she an outstanding student in terms of the colleges where she applied? Even if your D were a US student, it is possible to turned down by all of those schools, it they were a stretch stats wise. And needing financial aid could be an issue with some of them even as an American.</p>
<p>You know, there is a Malaysian girl on another board who also was not accepted anywhere, but she applied only to Ivies and such if I remember.</p>
<p>I wonder if you are being impacted by visa-potential-issues…It could still be a problem? I don’t know. It might be worth finding out. I only suggest this because of this other girl, in fact, however, on the international threads there are many kids with no acceptances.</p>
<p>I feel for your daughter, who surely had expected this to turn out very differently. I would guess it is worth asking the very direct question as to whether or not her international/needs aid makes her wait list situation still unlikely…</p>
<p>I do want to add, however, that the list is pretty top heavy even for US students unless the academic resume is sterling. I would suggest adding schools like Wells College, Agnes Scott, Sewanee, Rhodes–schools a bit more off the beaten track that would welcome international and are looking for diversity and willing to pay for it. My friend’s daughter with a 1390 SAT, high SAT2s and AP scores, and top 3 in a very good school was not accepted to a number of schools on that list that the OP has given. She was accepted at Macalester, wait listed at Carleton. Turned down by Middlebury and Wellesley, accepted at Barnard, BrynMawr, Smith and Holyoke, waitlisted at Vassar. Her mom is a Barnard alum. But she also had some real safeties on her list where she was not only accepted but got some awards–Sewanee,And Agnes Scott were particularly generous, and she is also accepted at Mary Washington and College of Charleston where the cost is very low.</p>
<p>A friend of mine’s daughter did not get in anywhere and got waitlisted at a few schools and her mom and I have come up with some schools that might still have openings. They include New College of Florida (application deadline May 1–very small public school), Whittier College, University of Denver, Hendrix College and some state universities (SUNY-Binghamton and Rutgers). Except for New College, I think that these schools are rolling admissions, so you’d have to call up and see if they still have spots. Also, Scottish universities are, I believe, still accepting applications. I don’t think that any of these schools would have money available, because the financial aid deadlines have passed.</p>
<p>I agree that international fin aid problems could have everything to do with this. I also agree that there was a severe advising problem with this family, which is water under the bridge, but it’s a good lesson to families for next year that it’s worth investing in good advising, from a private counselor if necessary if the high school can’t carry the load. It’s a very bad idea for even a superstar U.S. citizen student to have Vassar and Bryn Mawr as the safest “safeties”; for an international student needing fin aid, this admissions disaster is not at all surprising. Don’t give up on the wait lists (stay in touch with the schools), but my advice would be to explore gap year options at this point and then try again next year with better guidance.</p>
<p>Many public universities are “rolling admissions.” They may have spots that open up since they often are “safeties” for students who end up going elsewhere. Also, there will be more openings in a school with 30,000 students than with 3,000. The problem is that there will me limited financial aid for “out of state” and certainly for “out of country” students. Still, the overall cost will probably be closer to $28,000-$30,000 which is still lower than most private schools. Some schools are exceptionally good – not LAC’s but still top choices. Finally, if she cannot get in for Fall 2005, many have a Winter or Spring term that starts in January 2006. With “rolling admissions” (first to apply, first to be admitted), she should have a good shot at admissions.</p>
<p>ouch. . .I guess you should adopt a three-pronged strategy. (1) Play out the waitlists. Bryn Mawr and Macalester are the least selective of the group; Wellesley and Middlebury appear to have the most money. So I’d have your D send letters to the adcoms reaffirming her interest and adding any recent awards, good grade trends, and accomplishments. The earlier poster is right about the aid packages at Macalester, though the flip side of that is that they may not offer spots off the waitlist to kids with low EFCs. (2) Check the NACAC list May 9-10 or so. One school that has been on that list in past years is Lawrence, and they are reasonably generous with international students. (3) Sound out your D on a gap year and her interest in applying to less-selective schools next time around.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the advice and best wishes. D has written to all the waitlist colleges with updated information. Meanwhile, she has been offered admission to the University of Toronto. It is a much cheaper option for us. Toronto has a collegiate system and she has been assigned to Trinity College which was her first choice. So she is now quite content and not as disappointed as a month ago. UofToronto has all the benefits and disadvantages of a big university. Hopefully, the collegiate system there will provide some features of the LACs. I will keep you all informed if she receives an offer from her waitlist colleges.</p>
<p>Glad to hear the good news. With the visa issues and cost discrepancies lots of internationals seem to be choosing the fine Canadian schools, like U.T…</p>
<p>I had a friend who was the Director of Admissions for a LAC and another friend (international) whose daughter was applying to that LAC. I got to follow the progress of the application from both sides (within privacy limits) as it went through the process. It is very important to understand that international applications requiring FA are very different than domestic ones. If the FA is not available, it doesn’t matter as much what the stats look like. In the case of my friend’s D, she had SAT’s and a TOEFL that were truly spectacular, and would have easily put her in the top, top, TOP of the list of applicants. In addition, she had overcome lots of hardships and had incredible experiences to bring to the mix.</p>
<p>But since the school had only two full-rides for international applicants, the competition was fierce. At the end, she was ranked in the top four, but not the top two. And without the FA, there was no way she could attend. Her letter might have been an acceptance or a WL (I don’t remember because it didn’t matter), but the school knew that without the aid, the letter might as well have been a rejection (and was perceived by her as being one).</p>