A colleague's words inspired to me write this. Upset about being waitlisted by your top choice college? That college may not be convinced that you’ll accept their offer. Here’s why:
“Yield,” the percentage of students who accept a college’s offer of admission, has always mattered to colleges. The pandemic--and test optional admissions--dramatically increased the number of applications colleges received, making yield less predictable than ever. Yield carries bragging rights—Harvard’s yield is bigger than Haverford’s (or just about anyone’s)—and yield factors into college rankings. Colleges fear falling in the rankings. (Like Malcolm Gladwell, I distrust the rankings…but here we are.)
Like most of the college process, the waitlist offers no guarantees, and admits to competitive colleges are in the low percentages. However, I have data on most colleges’ waitlists from last year, and “waitlist” is not “deny.” So send your deposit to another great college by May 1st, and if you would definitely enroll at that waitlisted college, let them know. You are still in the game!
I generally advise you to follow the college’s advice. Not this time. The waitlist letter reads, “If you stay on the waitlist, don’t contact us. We’ll contact you.” But just as you work to get that great internship or summer job, be proactive.
Take a breath. Then, toward the end of April/early May, contact your college admissions rep with a letter of continued interest (LOCI) of no more than 250 words (there’s one in your Demonstrated Interest file if you’re working with me). Make sure to let that college know that you really mean it by sharing new accomplishments, what you will bring to particular courses, and how those courses and professors will help you reach your long-term goals. (If possible, consider visiting the admissions rep by Zoom or in person.)
Remember the “Why Us? essay and how specific I said it must be? Open that college website and revisit that strategy! If the reasons you state for wanting to attend a college could be applied to any college, no school will be certain that you will accept their offer. The only way to raise the odds of getting off that waitlist is to convince them you will attend.
P.S. DO NOT REMAIN ON A WAITLIST FOR A SCHOOL YOU WILL NOT ATTEND! Remove your name and help someone else get accepted!
My recent pet peeve is the regular use of the term “resiliency” for “resilience.” Why was it necessary to switch to a longer noun instead of continuing to use a perfectly good one? What’s funny is that hearing “resiliency” causes people to think it’s the more correct choice, as I suspect many high school students do when they write “highschool” in their essays.
Language has always evolved. There’s the story about the widespread scorning of presidential candidate Warren G. Harding’s “Return to Normalcy” campaign slogan. “Normal” was fine, so why did “normalcy” have to be invented (people called out these aberrations more in 1920 than they do today)? Eventually, “normalcy” took root, and was a mainstay of Dr. Fauci’s pandemic speeches a century later.
We too evolve and adapt to the “new normal.” Colleges that looked like “targets” have become “possibles.” Some institutions, even for our high flyers, have become “unlikelies” because of the barrage of qualified applicants. How do we predict and move forward?
Coping with today’s reality means regularly comforting my strongest ED applicants if they are deferred to the RD pool. (The “fairness” conversation is irrelevant because higher ed was never fair.) But this week, I was thrilled when a deferred student, after getting “yeses” from nearly every other college on her list (some with large scholarships), was admitted to her ED college from the hyper-selective RD pool. After a stressful ride on the “rejection>maybe there’s a chance but RD is way more selective >acceptance” rollercoaster, her wish came true.
Her list was solid, and she would have been a standout at every other college if “institutional priorities” at her ED college hadn’t worked out in her favor. Despite the initial disappointment, her resilience helped keep the denial (I never say rejection) in perspective. She was always qualified, and she will always go beyond expectations. It’s the student, not the college, that matters in the long run.
It turns out that “resiliency” has existed in the English language as long as “resilience” but it was used less frequently in our part of the world. I will continue to correct “highschool” however.
Like language? Read below.
I’ve just returned from a Counselor Fly-in to High Point University, which is legendary for its opulent campus. It did not disappoint, as I was treated to accommodations in the on-campus hotel (lobby below), delicious meals (including dinner in the Prime steakhouse, where students learn to dress appropriately, put their phones away, and exercise proper etiquette), and genuine hospitality by the admissions staff, faculty, and employees. I enjoyed the snacks (no minibar charges) in my suite, and the many fountains, firepits, and pools.
We toured and marveled at the cutting-edge facilities for business, the health sciences, media, and both visual and performing arts. After a Q & A with a fabulous student panel (mostly from NJ and NY), a counselor in my group said, “These kids are great! But what about the kids who weren’t such stars in high school, the ones with lower GPA’s? What are they doing?”
Of course, the student panel presented to talk to families and counselors at every college is composed of campus stars. This counselor was skeptical because HPU admits students who may not have been at the top of their classes. But the response from Dr. Kerr Ramsey, Senior Vice President for Undergraduate Admissions, was perfect (I’m paraphrasing here):
“Why shouldn’t the students who had lower GPA’s in high school be given every opportunity to succeed? Maybe they weren’t motivated to challenge themselves then. We provide every student with a student success coach, teach them the life skills they’ll need to be successful in the real world, help them get internships, and watch them blossom.”
High Point’s belief in its students’ ability to succeed impressed me more than all the fancy amenities. Every student, from those in the Learning Excellence program to those who will deliver the news on ABC after graduation, has the potential to flourish. It’s great to see a college with so much faith in its method and its students.
