By Jessica Brondo of The Edge
Mid-April is here, and while most of the adult world is dreading the due date for their taxes, the majority of high school seniors are anxiously awaiting what used to be fat
envelopes in the mail (now admissions decisions are more often than not conveyed in the form of an e-mail)—seniors.
The waiting game can be extremely stressful, but it’s important to remember that you’re down to the home stretch of the process. At this point, you’ll either receive an acceptance letter, a rejection letter, or a notification that you’ve been waitlisted. Obviously the ideal situation is to have been accepted to several schools at which you
could see yourself attend. If this is the case for you, you’ll definitely want to take this time to visit all of the schools to which you’ve been accepted so you can make an accurate decision about where you’d ideally want to attend. Most schools will have “admit weekends” for prospective freshman and they normally will pull out all the stops to lure students to enroll. Try to attend as many of these as possible as the students, faculty, and staff are all on hand to show you the best time imaginable and answer any questions you might have about the school. You’ll quickly realize that the tables have surely turned and that you are no longer trying to woo the school to admit you, but instead the school is trying to attract you now (it’s certainly a much better feeling).
If you’ve been placed on the waitlist at your ideal school, but have been admitted to other schools on your list, you’re definitely in a tough spot because you really do not want to miss the deadline to enroll at a school while waiting to hear back from the waitlist. What you’ll want to do is select your fallback school and enroll to ensure that you’ll have a place at a university come the fall. However, if you do have your heart set on the school at which you’ve been waitlisted, there are definitely things you should be doing to increase your chances of acceptance. It’s really important to realize that only an extremely small number of students get accepted off the waitlist, but it can happen. You really want to convey to them just how eager you are to attend their school. Last year, one of my students was accepted off the waitlist at UGA, but she truly worked for that acceptance. Below are some ideas for things you can do to get off the waitlist:
Ace Your Exams
A lot of high school seniors will allow senioritis to set during the spring of their senior years and will sometimes slack off a bit in their classes. While this is not recommended for anyone, it’s less of a big deal for students who have already been accepted to their
choice schools. If you’re trying to get off a waitlist, it’s imperative to maintain a solid GPA, if not exceed your previous semester’s GPA to show the school your continued commitment to academic excellence.
Apply for Awards
Most high schools and communities will offer scholarships and awards for exceptional students to reward them for their hard work throughout their high school careers. While the applications usually take some work as you’ll most likely have to write one or more essays, it can make a huge difference in your application and the extra work will usually pay off.
Plan for the Summer
While most students take the summer after their senior years to relax, travel, or spend time with friends, it is a really good idea to take the opportunity to do something worthwhile to add to your activity sheet. Community service is always a good option, but if you can find an internship or even a summer job, those would be good ideas as well.
Contact the School
I know you’re probably thinking that you’ll seem like a pest if you continuously contact the school, but it is really important to make a personal connection with someone in the admissions office to let them know just how badly you want to go there. Write a letter and/or an e-mail expressing your continued commitment and update them on your activities, grades, and summer plans. Definitely have your guidance counselor get in
touch with the admissions office as well to let them know your conviction. I wouldn’t normally recommend having parents get involved, but in the case of getting off the
waitlist, a call or e-mail from a parent is definitely appropriate. Lastly, you also might want to consider sending additional letters of recommendation. If you know an alumna from the school who would be willing to write a letter on your behalf, definitely approach him to do so as those will carry more weight with the school.
Most importantly, this is an extremely exciting time of your life, so enjoy it and really learn as much as possible about the school before committing to it. As always, for more advice on the admissions process and standardized testing issues, contact us at www.edgeincollegeprep.com or by phone at 877.499EDGE.
