Visiting School Where I Was Waitlisted – Strategies?

[Guest]

Hey Guys,

I am working on getting in at schools to study theology. I'm visiting a fairly competitive school where I have been wait listed. My best estimation indicates that the wait list is short and often utilized so I plan to do my best to get off of the wait list and accepted because this school is my top choice by far.

While there I will be visiting with the admissions committee, sit in on a class, and I will also try to visit with some professors if they let me. Beyond this I am having extra recommendations sent in and will send in an additional essay explaining how I came to be interested in this school in particular and express that it is my top choice, that I would go if accepted, and how my interests mesh with the interests of the faculty. The school is truly the best fit by far because they have nearly 40 faculty members (ridiculously fantastic) that have interests in my area of study. It's also near a prestigious university where my wife can attend the best graduate program in her discipline in the country. Beyond this, the city where these schools are located have the most jobs of any metropolitan area in my wife's discipline, which is strange because the city is only 200,000 people and cities like LA and Chicago don't even make the top ten metropolitan cities. Anyways, for these reasons and more this school is the perfect fit and I think I have a legitimate reason or wanting to actually get in.

Some of my questions are whether I should mention the other universities Ive been accepted into or if that would be bad, how can I give myself the best chance of impressing them, and if you have any suggestions of how I can make this as effective as possible?

Some added considerations: I applied for an MTS but am also willing to do the fairly similar MDiv degree which accepts many more people than the competitive MTS which only accepts 5 more people than they do for their PhD program. Is it a good idea to mention my willingness to pursue that degree as well or would that be bad?