Please help, I am in despair!

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

Hello,

to be honest, my application to the USA was the biggest disappointment (which I “caused”) in my entire life. I am from Germany and for the last years I was only living for one thing- my dream of studying at Yale.
I really did anything I could, but it wasn’t enough. After I was placed on the deferred list, I was eventually not taken. But that was not everything, I was not taken by any of the universities I applied to. I was just put on the wait list twice (Duke and UPenn). As I am a foreign student and also dependent upon an almost full scholarship, I am quite pessimistic-I will not be accepted by any university! This is really hard for me because I am not a bad student (I am the best student of my graduating class of more than 200 students, I already took lectures for credit at a German university, did numerous extracurricular activities, and so on). The “only” thing that, at least in my opinion, was bad is my SAT reasoning test (I had 1820 points though I was ill on this day (I did not write this in my application, my school counselor did it)).<br>
I do not really know why I am writing this, maybe because there is no one else I can talk to right at the moment.
So, if you have read until this point, you probabaly ask yourself what I want to ask or say.
O.K., the first thing is to all those of you who got accepted to any university: Be aware of the luck you had! You really can be that proud! I wish you all the best and make your university dreams come true as you have the chance to make them come true!!!

The second thing refers to me:
As I already said, I am placed on the waitlist of two universities. As you probably already know, I wish nothing more but studying in the U.S.
So, I do not know what to do: I have several things that I could include in my update letter
but I am quite sure that it will not change anything. The only thing that maybe would give me a tiny chance is if I would write another kind of essay, restating why I want to study there and trying to show them how “unique” I am. The problem is that I am writing my graduation examinations in Germany at the moment, so I do not have the time to sit down and write something which shows them that I really, from the bottom of my heart, want to study there. On the one hand, I do not want to lose time writing an up date letter although I hardly have any realistic chance because I heave to learn for the examinations to have at least a good grade. On the other hand, studying in the US is everything I really want and maybe I would not apologize myself for not having given everything until the last moment (when I receive the emails that I am definitely and irreversible) not taken.

Please help me, I do not know what to do!!!

2

Don’t waste your time writing any letters. The chance that a letter would help is minimal, and writing it would distract from your studying for a high grade on your exams.

I’m surprised that you even got waitlisted, needing nearly full FA and with a mediocre SAT score. Finish up your school year strong and see if you make it off the wait list (probably not). Assuming not, your choices are to go to school in Germany, and think about grad school in the US, or take a gap year, earning money for college and applying next year to US colleges a level down from where you applied this year.

3

Wait for those waitlist results first. You never know. Don’t jump to conclusions. Focus on your exams and postpone everything else. You’ll decide what to do. But later. Good luck!

4

These are fair points and good advice. I would, however, pursue your waitlists by updating the colleges of your accomplishment and your intent to attend if accepted. Other than that, there’s not much you can do.

5

Some schools take interest into account when you’re on the waitlist. If you take the time to write a letter, you’re more likely to be accepted.

The fact that you’re even on the waitlist means that you still have a chance, but you have to be fast because some schools will be deciding who comes off the list very soon.