College Admission Waitlist Follies

Forbes

5 days ago

getty
Historically, the college admission 'waitlist' was something that enrollment leaders used to round out their first-year class after the May 1 National Candidate Reply Date. With enrollment deposits in the bank, schools had a better sense of their yield—the number of students who accepted their offer of admission–and would rely on the waitlist to fill in the gaps or replace students who 'melted' (withdrew for any number of reasons after enrolling) over the spring and summer. Most of the waitlist activity was in May and early June and more prevalent among less selective schools.
That was then, this is now! As application numbers have soared and admission and yield (as well as teenage behavior) are less and less predictable, enrollment managers increasingly use the waitlist actively as a significant tool in their process. No longer is it confined to a month or two. During this current admission cycle, some students were placed on the waitlist starting in November and December when their early application decisions landed. Instead of a college deferring an Early Decision applicant to the Regular Decision round, only to then waitlist them (this unfortunately happens), some schools are skipping the deferral and sending them directly to the waitlist. Other students were notified of their placement on the waitlist in March, and by the end of that month and into April, there was already significant movement with colleges accepting students off their waitlist.
As we near the end of May, there are miles to go before enrollment leaders sleep. Waitlist activity at many institutions will likely persist well into the summer. Uncertainty reigns, even among the most selective colleges and universities. Take Harvard University for example where the Trump Administration has banned international students from enrolling. If nearly a quarter of their students are unable to attend, one has to assume that the waitlist will be crucial, and this will have repercussions throughout the admission landscape.
Students track waitlist activity on social media, Reddit, and among friends while developing their own acronyms, like LOCI (Letter of Continued Interest). They often wonder if the 'list' is ranked (no) or if there is some priority, rhyme, or reason. The reality is that most colleges use it to fill specific needs. For example, if they are tracking behind on full-pay, male students from the midwest, these applicants will get the call. For universities that admit by college and/or major, if they are running short on humanities students in the College of Liberal Arts, these applicants will be in luck.
There are plenty of articles and consultants that will claim they have the secret formula to being admitted off the waitlist. This is not that. Instead, I wanted to take a break from the hype around high-stakes selective college admission and offer some stories from admission officers and counselors. I asked them to share outlandish, creative, and/or head-scratching approaches that students have taken to try and be accepted from the waitlist. Stories flooded in, like the student who had a life-sized paper mache statue of herself with a fake acceptance card in her hand-delivered to the admission office. The follies had common themes and here they are:
Footwear Fouls
In an attempt at a Cinderella motif, one student sent a small glass slipper with a note asking to be accepted from the waitlist saying, 'I had a ball when I visited and the fit is there.' Another applicant sent a gold shoe that said "Just trying to get my foot in the door." Clearly, this is a popular approach, as one admission officer explains, 'Once we had a young man send the admissions office one of his size blue 15 Converse All-Stars with a note saying, 'I've got one foot in the door, how about the other one?'' Unfortunately, all they did was lose a shoe!
Laughable Letters
Often, waitlisted students will enlist alumni, politicians, celebrities, or other VIPs to write appeals to the director of admission on their behalf. Regrettably, the individual writing seldom knows the applicant well enough to be compelling. One student asked a notable senator to support them with the waitlist, but likely an aide wrote the letter because they mixed up the names. The plea they sent to the college was mistakenly addressed to the applicant and spent the whole note explaining how impressive the director of admission was and why they should be admitted. Needless to say, this correspondence was posted in the office for some time.
An admission leader shared, 'One thing that I still have in my drawer is a folder from a girl who listed the number of reasons we should admit her from the waitlist. It was the exact number of people we had on the waitlist.' Another student sent a postcard to the director of admission every day until his status changed. A budding poet (pun intended) who found themself on a waitlist sent a letter with this simple rhyme: 'Roses are red, Violets are better. I will sit on your waitlist until I get my acceptance letter.'
A counselor writes, 'About 25 years ago, I worked in admissions at a university in the Pacific Northwest. One year, a waitlisted student from Colorado took it upon himself to launch a daily letter-writing campaign to our office. Each day an envelope would arrive with a new reason for why we should admit him off the waitlist. I think it was Reason #6 that stated simply, 'I SUNBURN EASILY.'"
Edible Efforts
Many contributors shared stories of branded cookies or baked goods that incorporate the institution's colors that arrive at their offices. An admission officer writes, 'A long time ago, we had a student who had created a baking company while in high school. While on the waitlist, they sent a package of baked goods to us every single day.' Another leader explains, 'Every week through the month of April, a bundt cake arrived for the admissions staff and on the Friday closest to Easter, a human in an Easter bunny costume came with a bundt cake to continue with the creative waitlist advocacy.' And a student on the waitlist at Harvard, whose parents owned a candy store, once sent a three-foot-wide chocolate Harvard seal to the admission office.
Musical Maneuvers
One admission officer shares, 'My favorite waitlist attempt was a rap video about all the great things this student would do on campus if admitted,' adding, "Think Michael Scott meets Napoleon Dynamite.'
A high school counselor says, 'Back when I worked in admissions, I traveled to New England each spring for a week or two of college fairs. One school in particular always hosted a lovely dinner for the admissions representatives before the fair, and I arrived on campus looking forward to the dinner and meeting with interested juniors at the fair. I had completely forgotten that there was a senior at this school on our waitlist. I enjoyed dinner and the chance to catch up with other admissions colleagues, right up until I heard that the school's a cappella group would be performing while we ate dessert. That's when I remembered that this waitlisted student was in the singing group. What I thought might be a slightly awkward few minutes of trying not to make eye contact with him while they sang turned even worse when I saw him step forward after their first song to call my name and ask me to come forward so they could serenade me. Bright red, I stood in front of the entire room of cackling college admissions officers while he kneeled in front of me and sang a song I've clearly blocked from memory. Unfortunately that turned out to be a year that we were not able to make many offers of admission from the waitlist and we did not admit him.'
But the story doesn't end there…the former admission officer writes, 'Flash forward five years to my first year as a college counselor, working for another New England school. I went out to greet an admissions representative, visiting our students on behalf of another university, and discovered that he was the same young man who had serenaded me at that college fair. He ended up graduating from the college he was now representing as an admissions officer, wanting to share his transformative experience at that college that he ended up loving. Sometimes this process works out just as it should!'
Closing Counsel
My advice is, 'don't try these at home,' as more often than not it does not end well and you run the risk of annoying the very advocates that you want to have pulling for you. Follow the directions on your waitlist offer and don't do any more or less than instructed. If they ask for a letter of interest, send it. If they direct you not to submit additional materials, definitely do not send a rap video, shoe, or bundt cake. If it is meant to be, the college or university will reach out. In the meantime, while it does not hurt to remain on the waitlist optimistically, make sure you are getting excited about the school in which you enrolled and all the opportunities that you will have there.