Vancity, I was accepted off the waitlist this year but this is my third time applying. I was rejected the first year and waitlisted last year and then again this year after finally being accepted. Don't lose hope! I took classes and took on a lot of research responsibility at my lab at SFU in the interim. I also volunteered with the ALL group at UBC for a couple years as well, and gathered new references. I think that even if you did one of those things next year (assuming that you didn't get off the waitlist this year), you would be in for sure.