Helpingboy

Hi everyone, First of all, congratulations on being waitlisted, it's a great achievement, trust me! I'm an applicant from last year, who had been waitlisted by a top-3 school, and then admitted. Now that I'm in the program, I certainly have many insights and valuable information that I'd like to share. I want to preface, that not everything is 100% information given to me by faculty, but things I concluded, observed, and heard. 1) The supposed faculty member who writes in the main thread yearly to say that there is no reason to ask people to decline their offers, as it wouldn't mean it takes a person in, is somewhat wrong, maybe they're speaking about their department. While it doesn't mean, that it's 1-for-1, one applicant declines the offer, one in from the waitlist. In some cases it is true. Firstly, it depends on the institution, as wealthy schools can often negotiate their class size with the graduate school, whilst others are given a pre amount. The more notable fact is that it actually depends on an uncontrollable fact (post-application), that is, profile and research interests. Say you are CP and work on Africa, there are typically few Africa applicants, if one is admitted, but they decline, and the school has 2/3 faculty members on Africa who want a student, your chances are very good. If you are a CP working on China, and 3 students working on China have accepted their offers, you're unlikely to get in. This is even more likely if they hadn't admitted someone last year with your profile, a top school without a CP on Africa for 2 years? Not acceptable. This is what happened to me, and the DGS had told me. I was in an orientation Zoom call with the other five waitlist people, and none of them got an offer, likely because each had someone with their profile already admitted. 2) If I had to strategize on how to push my application, I would do something of the following: As the deadline to accept offers is typically the 15th of April, I would wait till something like mid/late March if you haven't heard back to reach out. In the meantime, you have a month, and it has been 3/4 months since you applied, hopefully, you have achieved some other things that have strengthened your profile. Attended a methods school? Nice. Did you present at a conference? Great. Won a research grant for the summer? Impressive. Did you get an award for best master thesis? Stunning. Co-authored on a paper? Lovely, Cold as Chicago. Published in a reputable journal? Gorgeous, just like Bologna red. Take any of this information, write a letter of continued interest (1-page should be enough), discuss all your new accomplishments, and send it to the DGS, and any senior professor who you mentioned you'd like to work with alongside a short email (professors are busy people). Oh, and I would mention that I have other offers but I want this school (do name-drop if you have a top school). Lastly, be proud of yourselves, don't worry whatever the outcome is, and the light is very pretty on the other side. It is somewhat of a long wait, but think positive and try to secure a predoc just in case, this way you can come back next year with a stronger profile! I'm happy to answer any questions if I come by the website again.