Getting off the University Waitlist

For those students who chose to remain on university waitlists, you likely sent in a card indicating that you wish to remain on the waitlist. But is that all you did? Have you just been sitting back and waiting for that university to get back to you? If so, your approach is all wrong. Getting off the university waitlist requires proactivity. You should have contacted your regional admissions officer at that university. You should have sent in a letter of enthusiasm to the university. You should have inquired about sending an additional letter of recommendation. Or what if since you applied in January, you received a Nobel Prize? Unlikely but if you accomplished something great (it doesn’t have to be a Nobel Prize!), you should ask your guidance counselor to update the university admissions office that has you on the waitlist.

Being proactive can prove important in getting off the university waitlist.

Getting off the university waitlist requires persistence, attention to detail, and creativity. Just think about it — most students do nothing. Absolutely nothing. This is your opportunity to stand out, to let it be known to university admissions counselors that you still want to attend and that if admitted off the waitlist you will attend. Listen to this audio from “The New York Times” on Christoph Guttentag, the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Duke University, who suggests these very things to get off the university waitlist. He would know…he offered 3,383 students spots on this year’s waiting list at Duke!

Check out our newsletters: The College Waitlist and Waitlisted? Welcome to Limbo!.

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