Waitlisted by Yale Linguistics

[Jon42]

Hi everyone,

I was waitlisted by Yale Linguistics PhD program on January 30 and they told me I am on the top of their waitlist. Recently, they emailed me that my chance of getting in is low and I probably have to wait till April 15 for the final result.

Does anyone know what I can do to increase my chance of being admitted? I heard if I can find someone who declined the offer to refer me and that would help. I need some help.

Thank you and I really appreciate your help.

 

[fuzzylogician]

Best advice I have for you would be to stay in touch with your POI and reiterate your interest in the program. They will have an interest in finalizing their admitted students list and they would prefer not to make an offer to someone who won't take it but will delay the process of moving further down the waitlist by a few weeks. I don't think that having someone who declined mention your name would make any difference. If they told you you're at the top of the list, all you can do is wait and hope someone with an offer declines. 

[Jon42]

Thanks for your advice. So you are saying it is okay to email my POI about my interest? I only emailed with the admission professor and was afraid that emailing my POI individually could be harmful.

[fuzzylogician]

Have you been in touch with your POI before? It's probably more useful to be in touch with whoever is doing admissions, since they are more likely to have influence over the decision making process. But it can't hurt to also reach out to your POI in case they also have some say in it. Not that I can make you any promises, but this is one of those "what have you got to lose" situations. Be professional and polite, but in general you can't really harm your case since you basically already have a 'no' now. All that can happen is it stays that way (no harm) or it switches to a 'yes' (improvement). 

[Jon42]

No, I have never contacted my POI. Thank you so much for the advice. Maybe I should really email him with my improved research progress and see what he says to it.  

[Jon42]

Just an update, got an email yesterday saying that their positions got filled up and they won't be able to go down the waitlist. 

[DeepWhaleSlumber]

Jon, I'm sorry to hear that man. Best of luck wherever you go. Show them you should have been accepted outright.