Wait listed from top choice. What can I do to push my application over the edge?

[moonchild1093]

Wait listed from my top choice Neuroscience PhD program. They said that the wait list is short, and in past years many people have been accepted off of it, but you can be sure that I'm not just going to leave it up to chance!

 

What are some things I can do to boost my odds of acceptance? I have emailed some PIs from the institution, and asked if they'd feel comfortable sending a short email to the program director on my behalf. Good idea or bad? What else can I do? Should I have a professor from my home school send an additional mini-letter of recommendation?

[geographyrocks]

I'm in a different field, but all of that sounds like a great way to get yourself rejected rather than accepted.  They've already decided that you're good enough to attend or they wouldn't have wait-listed you.  If you keep sending emails or having emails sent, they may decide that you're needy and desperate. 

And unless you had previous contact with those PIs and they said they'd help you get in, they may see that as arrogant.  They are part of the admission process after all, so they had their chance to fight for you while decisions were being made. 

 

I don't think there is anything that you could do at this point to increase your chances of being accepted. 

[maelduin]

I'm going to agree with Geographyrocks that that sounds like a pretty surefire way to get yourself off the shortlist and into the reject bin. The adcoms likely reviews hundreds of applicants and appreciate patience. 

 

Stop sending e-mails. Hope that those PIs ignored your entreaties, and definitely do NOT send additional information. 9 times out of 10 they'll throw it out, or as geographyrocks said regard it as desperate. This is a game of chance. You've no choice but to leave it up to that.

[PsycD]

Geo and Mael are dead on. The only thing you can do at this point is hurt your chances, which hopefully you have not already done with all of your emails.

If you really want to get in to this school...just stop.

[sweetpearl16]

I'm also going to agree to what everyone else said. If they did not think you would make a good addition to the program, they would have rejected you rather than waitlisted you. Right now you just have to be patient. Have you asked how the waitlist works? Is it ranked or not? If it is, can they tell you your ranking? Moreover, regardless of how the waitlist works, it will not be used until after admitted students turn decline their offers, which means at this point in the application season nothing you do can really increase your odds of getting in. The only additional email you should send out at this point are ones to let the program know about other offers, ones to let the program know if you win any awards, and possibly one in April reiterating your interest in the program and letting them know it is your top choice. Other than that, it is a matter of chance. 

 

Last year I was wait-listed at my top school and also told that my program historically used its waitlist. When I found out that I was waitlisted, I emailed my POI to let him know I was still interested. I emailed him again in mid-March to let him know I was still interested in the program after he asked if I wanted to remain on the waitlist  and if I had any other offers. Finally I emailed him once again at the beginning of April to let him know that I still had not accepted any offers, that this program was my top choice, and if offered admission I would accept. I was offered admission shortly after that last email. I know being waitlisted at your top school is incredibly difficult and anxiety inducing. I felt stuck in some perpetual limbo. I was constantly afraid that I would open my email and find that I had been rejected. I just wanted to get in so badly and was there was nothing I could do to ensure that I would be admitted. I know you are really eager to get in to this program, but unfortunately for the most part your admission from the waitlist is a game of chance and there is little you can do but try to be patient. 

[PhDerp]

I'm also going to agree to what everyone else said. If they did not think you would make a good addition to the program, they would have rejected you rather than waitlisted you. Right now you just have to be patient. Have you asked how the waitlist works? Is it ranked or not? If it is, can they tell you your ranking? Moreover, regardless of how the waitlist works, it will not be used until after admitted students turn decline their offers, which means at this point in the application season nothing you do can really increase your odds of getting in. The only additional email you should send out at this point are ones to let the program know about other offers, ones to let the program know if you win any awards, and possibly one in April reiterating your interest in the program and letting them know it is your top choice. Other than that, it is a matter of chance. 

 

Last year I was wait-listed at my top school and also told that my program historically used its waitlist. When I found out that I was waitlisted, I emailed my POI to let him know I was still interested. I emailed him again in mid-March to let him know I was still interested in the program after he asked if I wanted to remain on the waitlist  and if I had any other offers. Finally I emailed him once again at the beginning of April to let him know that I still had not accepted any offers, that this program was my top choice, and if offered admission I would accept. I was offered admission shortly after that last email. I know being waitlisted at your top school is incredibly difficult and anxiety inducing. I felt stuck in some perpetual limbo. I was constantly afraid that I would open my email and find that I had been rejected. I just wanted to get in so badly and was there was nothing I could do to ensure that I would be admitted. I know you are really eager to get in to this program, but unfortunately for the most part your admission from the waitlist is a game of chance and there is little you can do but try to be patient. 

 

Remind me to upvote this when I'm not out of uses for the day!

[mdiv2014]

I have heard of a few incidences in which individuals were admitted straight from the wait list by all were in undergraduate programs. In almost all these cases they were compelling cases with an advocate to push for them inside the university usually at the highest levels. For example, back in the day Bryn Mawr waitlisted a top Asian young lady misreading her application and deeming her not forthright ("competitive") enough. Her advocate countered that as a practicing Buddhist she was egoless even in the face of her many accomplishments. She was vaulted out of the bottom of the waitlist and offered admission. 

At the PhD level and in today's climate, you would need a truly compelling reason and discrete advocate. 

[moonchild1093]

Thanks for the input, everyone. The thing is that this program is a little differently structured than most in terms of admissions. Only one of the PIs that I emailed was part of the admissions process. She interviewed me during my interview weekend. We really hit it off and connected during the interview. (We even hugged at the end of it!) The other PIs had no part of the admissions process at all; the adcom had no idea that I was in contact with them, other than that I had requested to meet with them during my visit, but they were unavailable. I think one of the reasons I was placed on the waitlist was because I wasn't able to meet with very many faculty members that shared my research interests during my visit, and thus, it could appear that I'm not the best "fit," although I certainly am. The faculty I requested were simply unavailable to meet with me. 

 

Two of the faculty I emailed are not "core" Neuroscience department faculty, are therefore not on the admissions committee, and almost certainly didn't discuss me with the adcom. Only one remaining PI had a small possibility of doing so. 
 

By emailing these PIs and asking them to write a short email to the adcom, I was hoping to provide more evidence of my fit in the program. I hope that I haven't, as you guys have suggested, hurt my chances by doing so. 

[moonchild1093]

Also, I did ask for my position on the wait list, and they told me that it was very short, and that they haven't ranked it yet. You are all correct, though. I won't know anything until their top tier candidates accept and reject offers.