Dealing with waitlisting

[Marisari]

Hello all,

 

I currently have two wait-list situations, and based on my conversations with the department admissions coordinators it seems I have a reasonably decent chance of getting off one (which is great!).  Unfortunately, I didn't get an interview with a POI in either case, so I never had the opportunity to ask them questions and get a sense of what they and the department are like directly.  I'm working on communicating with graduate students via email, but it's really not the same level of detail and information as I've gotten with the places where I had a phone, skype or in-person POI interview (and waaay less informative then recruitment weekends).

 

Has anyone gotten experience (firsthand or otherwise) with getting off a waitlist?  Do they normally try catch you up and fill you in to the same degree that they did regular-accepted students, or are you left to make a decision relatively in the dark about their program?  I am worried that if I am lucky enough to get off a waitlist, that I won't be able to make the most of it because I will have to make a last-minute decision with little or no information to go on (obviously not an ideal position to be in).

 

Thanks in advance!

[uromastyx]

Unfortunately there is nothing that we can say here. It (as with most things here) really depends. Depends on where you are on the list. Depends when the person you'd be replacing declines their offer. There should, however, be a deadline by which accepted candidates must notify their respective departments. For my programs that tends to be the middle of April.

If you are, in fact, interested in these programs, be sure to contact the department to express your excitement about the possibility to be part of their program and your desire to remain on the waiting list.

[Marisari]

Unfortunately there is nothing that we can say here. It (as with most things here) really depends. Depends on where you are on the list. Depends when the person you'd be replacing declines their offer. There should, however, be a deadline by which accepted candidates must notify their respective departments. For my programs that tends to be the middle of April.

If you are, in fact, interested in these programs, be sure to contact the department to express your excitement about the possibility to be part of their program and your desire to remain on the waiting list.

 

 

That's too bad, though I'd figured as much.  I'll definitely be keeping in regular contact with them, so hopefully I'll hear from them soon enough to get informed and be able to make a good decision.  Thanks for getting back to me!

[sr0304]

i've been on unofficial and official waitlists before. it does depend on many factors but it's certainly a possibility that you will be given an invitation for admission.

 

my personal opinion on waitlists?

if you have a choice between attending your number 3 choice that gave you an immediate acceptance and your number 2 choice that waitlisted you and then gave you an admission, choose the former. You want to be a program top choice if possible, not a back up choice. I started a different PhD program off a waitlist and everyone seemed to know about it, and the faculty was always skeptical as to whether or not I should actually be there. Bad feeling.

[Marisari]

i've been on unofficial and official waitlists before. it does depend on many factors but it's certainly a possibility that you will be given an invitation for admission.

 

my personal opinion on waitlists?

if you have a choice between attending your number 3 choice that gave you an immediate acceptance and your number 2 choice that waitlisted you and then gave you an admission, choose the former. You want to be a program top choice if possible, not a back up choice. I started a different PhD program off a waitlist and everyone seemed to know about it, and the faculty was always skeptical as to whether or not I should actually be there. Bad feeling.

 

Thanks, that's of course something to keep in mind as well!  However, because the process of wait-listing is so murky and depends on both POI and admissions committees input, it's hard to really know for sure who had the final say in putting you on the waitlist. For example, I know a professor I used to work with has, in the past, had a top choice of hers on the waitlist because the committee felt more strongly about another person she liked slightly less (not that she wouldn't have been happy with either as a student).  So theoretically I would be fine with choosing a department for who I was a backup choice as long as at the end the POI had been pleased to have me work with them.  But there's no real way to know that.

 

I'm also not sure I've ranked these programs as clearly in my head as that.  I don't really have #1-8 choices, because I haven't had the chance to learn about the inner workings of the department or meet and speak with some POIs.  I'm very resistant to the idea of deciding which ones I like better just based on papers, department websites and rumors.

 

Anyhow, at the end of the day I am still very grateful to even be wait-listed at these places.  Hopefully I'll get accepted and feel like I have more options to choose from, but if that doesn't happen, I'm lucky that I could see myself happy and productive at the places I've been accepted at.

[Lamantin]

How do you determine if you've been put on an unofficial waitlist?

[sr0304]

How do you determine if you've been put on an unofficial waitlist?

 

if you know you haven't been sent an acceptance with the first round, but you haven't been rejected with the first round of rejections.

[Lamantin]

if you know you haven't been sent an acceptance with the first round, but you haven't been rejected with the first round of rejections.

 

Well, that would certainly make sense.