Waitlists

[nervousnelly]

It seems like schools already admit more people than they hope will accept (say, admitting 15 people, hoping 10 will accept), before they ever get to taking people from the waitlist. Am I understanding this correctly? If so, does anyone ever get off a waitlist, or is it just a soft rejection?

[Melchior]

My brother got off the wait-list for UChicago PhD a few years back.

Edited February 16, 2011 by Melchior

[nervousnelly]

Well, that's something! Thanks -- it gives me some hope.

[Strangefox]

It seems like schools already admit more people than they hope will accept (say, admitting 15 people, hoping 10 will accept), before they ever get to taking people from the waitlist. Am I understanding this correctly? If so, does anyone ever get off a waitlist, or is it just a soft rejection?

People definetely do get off waitlist!

[roarie]

After the recent financial crisis, several schools now only offer as many acceptances as they have positions, putting everyone else they were still interested in onto their wait-list. I'm not sure what sub-field of history you're in, but I do know of some esteemed history programs that do this, and have taken students off their waiting list the last few years.

Did it mention anywhere in the letter of half-acceptance (what are waiting list letters called anyways?) how many offers were made versus how many positions there are? If you're on the wait-list, it means that they're still interested in you, so I would shoot them an email if I were you and ask them for a little more details on the situation. It's always a bit awkward, but you can ask how many people are on the wait-list to get a better sense of where you are. I asked this for the school I got wait-listed in, and they told even told me on which tier of the waiting-list I was (although, my self-doubting nature makes me wonder if they were just being polite and padding my ego to keep me on the hook).

[OnceAndFutureGrad]

I'm in my current program off a wait-list. I got an email at the beginning of March, a phone call from my POI in mid-March to let me know I was near the top, and by the end of March I was in and fully funded.

[indydream]

I had a friend last year who was waitlisted at every program she applied to, and then was accepted off the waitlist from every school. So it is possible!

[tolstoy]

One of my friends got waitlisted last year for her top choice program and got in the morning of April 15..

[thelost]

Do schools usually notify you if you're on the wait list or do you have to contact them?

[nervousnelly]

Do schools usually notify you if you're on the wait list or do you have to contact them?

I don't know about all of them, but I've been waitlisted by one program. I hear that it varies (i.e., some won't tell you for a while), but I really don't know.