Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Waitlist Notification

This might be the most pressing question this week. It comes from Waiting, Watching, Wondering and Wishing While on the Wait List:

I am currently on the wait list for three schools-San Diego State, Florida State and Antioch. Is there anything (short of bribery) that I can do to improve my chances of getting in? How long can I be left on hold? Do they have an obligation to notify me if after my long wait there are no openings?

Your second question first: Yes, they have the obligation to notify you, yet they may do this by mail, and it may not be high on their priority list. In other words, and for example, they might take two students from the waitlist this week, but the other four might not be notified of their “no” for another three or even four weeks.

Unless you’ve been pestering them a lot, and I get the sense that you haven’t been, there’s no harm in calling them this week. Or email if you prefer. April 15 has come and gone, and while that’s not a uniform decision date, it is the decision date for the majority of programs.

Call them up, WWWWWL, and see what they have to say. Being polite and personable won’t hurt your chances, and hey, it might help them.

I’d appreciate other insights on this. Thanks.

2 comments:

Jason Michael MacLeod said...

Just one thing to keep in mind: if you _are_ accepted off the waitlist funding might be an issue. I.e., you might be offered admission, but not a TA. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

If you're still on the waitlist after April 15, can't you kind of write off the chances of getting in off the waitlist? I'm waitlisted at my top choice, but I've got to make plans to matriculate at the program whose offer I accepted.

You gotta articulate where you matriculate, even though you'd like to state "matric-u-later."