Would You Do This?

[EarsToHear]

What are the thoughts on accepting an offer off the waiting list? Is it irrational to feel like a second-rate admit?

[captiv8ed]

I turned down a full admit with fellowship for a wait list with TA funding. I am waiting on one more wait list before I accept.

I don't feel like second string at all, especially since this was such a tough year.

[Raffy]

What are the thoughts on accepting an offer off the waiting list? Is it irrational to feel like a second-rate admit?

I think it's normal to feel like a "second-rate admit", but it doesn't mean the slightest thing about your chances of success. Jeez, the admission committee is NOT clear-sighted enough to rank the students exactly as they will succeed at the end of the program!

I understand you. Four years ago, I was accepted off the waiting list to a very competitive program in my country. I was really scared the first days, but eventually, I did well, and certainly better than some people who were immediately accepted.

So if you like the program, the university, etc., my advice is : go!

[origin415]

An admit is an admit. As long as you have funding I don't see the problem.

[fuzzylogician]

I understand the feeling but I don't think it's warranted. I know that there are several students in my cohort who were admitted off the waitlist, but: a. I don't even know who they are (nor do I care), and b. I'd never be able to guess based on the way the faculty treat us all.

As others have said, admissions is not an exact science and people on the waitlist are no less qualified than admitted applicants. Don't worry about your admissions status, you'll all start on a level playing field when the year starts and no one is going to care who was admitted when. What will matter is how well you do once the program starts.

[psycholinguist]

They wouldn't put you on the waitlist in the first place if they didn't want you. It's just a matter of how many they can take and/or afford. The people who don't get in off the waitlist are likely the ones the program is the most sorry to have to reject.

(Going to top choice with funding! Oh yeah, there was a waitlisted period in the middle. So?)

[modernity]

Is the school you were waitlisted at the one you really want to go to? I think this is all that really should matter. I understand the second-rate feeling, definitely. The schools that accepted me from the get go and gave me funding certainly made me feel better about myself than the waitlist, but I would try not to take it personally. It's a hard year and I think in some cases it probably came down completely to chance as to who they said was in, and who was waitlisted.

[ExoticTeacup]

A faculty member took the time to explain a bit of the process to me after I was waitlisted for funding at one of my top choices. A good program probably gets about 3 to 5 equally qualified applicants for every one offer they can make. If you are one of those well qualified applicants, then whether you get the first round offer or not is really just a matter of chance. If you were waitlisted, that means that they want you to be there. If they didn't want you, they would have rejected you. Being waitlisted just means it wasn't your lucky day when they picked the first round admits. It doesn't mean you aren't perfectly qualified to go to that school. If your number comes up, and you get an offer, don't think of it as anything less than what it is. They don't offer admission to students they don't want.