If admit declines, when will waitlist be notified of offer?

[hejduk]

I've been waitlisted, and put into a pool of three unranked applicants. If an admit declines the admission offer, will the ad comm meet soon thereafter and advise the waitlist applicant of their choice promptly?

Or no matter the amount of admission offers that applicants reject, they'll still wait until after April 15th to offer offers to those on the waitlist?

I'm inclined to ask the program's grad coordinator, but I've bothered the guy too much to this point. I think my emails show that I'm truly interested, but I'd hate to become a nuisance the guy.

Edited March 1, 2011 by hedjuk

[newms]

I guess it depends on the school. In general, schools would like to hear back from admitted people before April 15 so that they could make an offer to someone on a waitlist and give them time before April 15 to accept. If someone does go somewhere else before April 15, then I'd imagine that they would let you know before April 15. In the mean time, if I were you, I'd make myself as attractive to the adcomm as possible, so that if a spot does open up, the first person that would come to their minds would be me. Good luck!

Edited March 1, 2011 by newms

[hejduk]

I guess it depends on the school. In general, schools would like to hear back from admitted people before April 15 so that they could make an offer to someone on a waitlist and give them time before April 15 to accept. If someone does go somewhere else before April 15, then I'd imagine that they would let you know before April 15. In the mean time, if I were you, I'd make myself as attractive to the adcomm as possible, so that if a spot does open up, the first person that would come to their minds would be me. Good luck!

Any thoughts on upping my "wow" factor? Flowers? Candy?

[jaxzwolf]

Any thoughts on upping my "wow" factor? Flowers? Candy?

Beer, money.

[XOwlfan]

My guess would be that whether or not someone in your situation would be selected from the waitlist would be determined by the research interest of the people who decline the offer. My sense is that if someone with very similar research interests to yours declines their specific offer, you would be next in line for it (if the other two people on the waitlist are interested in a slightly different area within your concentration). Or...it could be POI specific...so, if the admit that your POI initially selected declines, you could be the next one on the list. Or am I just making things more confusing?

[hejduk]

My guess would be that whether or not someone in your situation would be selected from the waitlist would be determined by the research interest of the people who decline the offer. My sense is that if someone with very similar research interests to yours declines their specific offer, you would be next in line for it (if the other two people on the waitlist are interested in a slightly different area within your concentration). Or...it could be POI specific...so, if the admit that your POI initially selected declines, you could be the next one on the list. Or am I just making things more confusing?

Nope, I'm totally with you. I asked my program in question what they'd do in the my original scenario (admit rejects offer before 4/15, would adcomm meet about waitlisters before 4/15), and he said they'd move ahead immediately "case-by-case".

Am I pushing to ask how they make their waitlist decisions, by asking him the scenario you presented about research fits, etc? Last thing I want to do is alienate myself.

[hejduk]

Just emailed the grad coordinator again. I hope I'm not annoying the poor guy, but rather showing my sincere interest in the program. Arg!

[The Dudester]

I'm worried about contacting adcoms. I think that if I haven't been rejected yet, contacting them will only draw attention to my application and get me cut. Otherwise, I might slide in with the rest.

[garibaldi]

<br />I'm worried about contacting adcoms. I think that if I haven't been rejected yet, contacting them will only draw attention to my application and get me cut. Otherwise, I might slide in with the rest.<br />

<br />

Nobody 'slides' in though I know what you mean.

I'd say if you havent asked the ad com till date, and this would be your first query (roughly 1-2 months after you submitted your app) then its fine to contact them. I highly doubt they'll reject you just for asking. But you might get some color on where you stand (review still underway, POI away, etc)