You crammed for the GMAT for months, painstakingly perfected your resume, agonized over your essays for weeks, and when the interview invitation finally came, you felt like you nailed it. You had the champagne ready, waiting to pop the cork when that long-awaited admission notice arrived. Unfortunately, you were told to wait indefinitely, and the champagne has to stay on the ice.
Every year, many graduate school applicants are placed on the waitlist at one or more of the schools they apply to. This presents a stressful situation for many people, as they may have been waitlisted at their first-choice program and accepted at backup schools. With enrollment confirmation and deposit deadlines looming, it is difficult to decide whether to continue waiting for your first-choice school or accept another offer that you have received.
In this situation, it is good to understand the waitlist game. The waitlist is used because not all accepted applicants will enroll in the program; therefore the waitlist provides a pool of additional applicants that can be drawn upon if spaces become available. Therefore, waitlisted applicants will only be admitted if other accepted applicants reject the school’s offer. The frustrating part is that schools normally do not release information regarding how many people are on the waitlist or when applicants will be notified whether they will be accepted or finally rejected. Waitlists are normally not ranked; instead the waitlist will be drawn upon to fill specific needs and balance the class, perhaps selecting an international finance expert or future entrepreneur.
So what can you do to improve your chances of receiving one of the coveted waitlist offers? To improve their yield (which directly impacts the school’s ranking), schools want to be absolutely sure that when they go to the waitlist the person will accept their offer. Therefore, a waitlisted applicant should send additional materials reiterating their strong desire to attend the program and list recent growth areas and important activities. Be careful though – some schools do not want to receive additional materials, so be sure to read waitlist policies closely.
Here is a summary of appropriate supplemental materials that can be sent to the school:
- An update of your recent growth. About a month after you receive notice of being waitlisted, you can send a follow up message to the school to share some information about any progress you’ve made since submitting your application. You can format this update as an essay or email to the admissions team. The update should talk about actions you have taken to learn more about the program as well as updates regarding any significant career accomplishments, promotions, increased responsibilities, and skills growth. It is crucial to show how these new experiences will help facilitate your career goals. In addition, discuss recent community service and other extra-curricular involvement and why these experiences were meaningful to you. The tone of the update should be upbeat and optimistic, and could be as short as 300 words or as long as two pages.
- An additional letter of recommendation (LOR). The LOR should touch on some new information not discussed in your application package, particularly recent accomplishments, if possible.
- New TOEFL and GMAT/GRE scores.
- Updated academic accomplishments. For example, courses you have taken or certificates you have acquired to supplement deficiencies in your application like weak quantitative ability.
- An updated resume. Most relevant if you have received a promotion or other change of title, new leadership activities, and community involvement.
Taking the time to send this kind of update will make a positive impression and clearly show the admissions committee that you are serious about their school. Getting off the waitlist is difficult, but it can be done. Submitting additional materials highlighting your strengths and enthusiasm and giving the admissions committee a clearer picture of your personality and uniqueness is the best way to improve your chances of receiving the acceptance letter that you have been waiting for. With some strategic actions, you may get a chance to pop that cork after all!