I am currently on 5 waitlists, I already sent in a letter of continued interest to each school and now I have some compelling new news, by some miracle I was able to qualify JEE-Mains( about 1.7 million participants and 100,000 qualify). It is basically a cutoff based entrance examination for all colleges in my country, but it is considered a great feat if someone qualifies this here. My question should I send this news in through another update letter?
Schools in question- Berkeley, UCLA, GTech, UIUC, CMU( with priority to 10 courses)
While this might be a big deal for admissions to the universities in your home country, because this particular exam isn’t used for admissions in the US, it isn’t likely at all that anyone here will care about it.
I would DEFINITELY send it in. It doesn’t matter what country the exam was administered in; it’s a great achievement regardless, isn’t it? You were in the top <6% of participants. It would be a good boost for your waitlist chances.
I would send each school the update, with a link to the program details, even if it’s not in English.
What you want to communicate is your continued interest in each of the schools. There are only so many times that you can say, “If admitted, I will attend” so it’s nice to show the wait list schools they’re still top of your list in other ways – like sharing new, exciting academic recognitions that you’re proud of.
How many update letters are okay? Because I heard from someone who got off the waitlist at CMU 3 years ago and he said he emailed them every 10 days. Seems a bit much to me.
Not every 10 days! But I agree with the above posters who say to send the update, with a link or description in case the adcom wants to know more. If this is a high honor in your country, you should definitely let them know about it.
I’d send it. Seems like a very big accomplishment which could weigh heavily in your favor when the time comes to take some students off of the waitlist.
Also, I would like to bring to your attention that, more than 100,000 clear the Mains. The top 150,000 students are selected into the next round, not 100,000.
It’s not a big deal, unless you’re applying to NUS in Singapore. JEE Mains is cracked by a huge number of applicants. You can send it in, but it’s not a huge achievement, even if less than 6% clear the mains, and less than 2% clear the advanced.
@krishsc i got 170 i think the cutoff was 105 but, i did this without any prep and coachings (did not touch my books after march 20 but i can’t tell this to colleges )because i have my heart set on an American education. Also i just reviewed the stats and it’s 75,000 not 100,000 for general i am sorry, i am not competing against SC ST and OBC, only general right.
@darkeclipse i did apply to NUS but will prefer the abovve colleges to it anyday. Also was a huge achievement for me considering i got 170 with ZERO prep.
@Bored1997 I understand, but look at it this way. What college will readily accept the fact that a student had zero prep and aced an exam? It is possible, but then many others would start claiming they did it as well.
I doubt if this score would take me of the Penn WL. It wouldn’t because as another poster had mentioned, a lot of people cleared the mains. Even for nus one needs stellar mains scores (300+)
Weren’t you only on the cornell WL and i am pretty sure you got waitlisted with the 2010 SAT…right… Believable. That excellent grammar you have to make you stand OUT in essays… sure. @krishsc
Hahaha… look @Bored1997, I don’t have to make you believe anything I say. Whether you do or not is your wish. Yes I did have a score of only 2010 on my SAT. However, along with my application I sent some original work that I did with their abstracts and a researcher’s recommendation. Convincing you isn’t my objective. All I wanted to say is that the mains scores wouldn’t force the ACs to take you in just because of two reasons:
Too many people clear the Mains (75,000 as you said)
340/360 is the highest in the country and your score is only half of that.
Please don’t get offended by my comments. I am only here to extend my views. If you do not like them, I shall stop commenting. Take it from me, your stats are incredible. Really, not even kidding. All the best for your future! Enjoy the holidays while they last!
)because i have my heart set on an American education. Also i just reviewed the stats and it’s 75,000 not 100,000 for general i am sorry, i am not competing against SC ST and OBC, only general right.