3 Things You Must Do If You’re Waitlisted for a College

What can you do when you're on a college waitlist?

Flickr user Marjan Lazarevski

Receiving a letter saying you are on the college waitlist can put you in a quandary, more so if it is from your first-choice college. Should you wait in the hope that you will get a seat or should you enroll in another college that accepted you? It’s a tough choice to make.

Here are a few things you can do to make a better decision about how to proceed when you’re on a college waitlist:

1: Call the admissions office and ask them what your odds are of getting admission.

The admissions office will have a pretty good idea of what percentage of waitlisted candidates manage to get a seat at their school. Knowing the numbers will give you a better estimate of your chances.

2: Also ask the admissions office for a date by which they would let you know about their college waitlist decisions.

This helps you make a decision if you have received acceptance letters from other colleges. You won’t have forever to make your final choice, after all.

3: Send a formal letter to the college informing them that you are very interested in enrolling in their program and are waiting to hear back about their decision.

In your letter include details about any recent accomplishments that may help give your application a boost.

While you are waiting to hear back from the college, it is a good idea to re-assess the other colleges that sent you acceptance letters and keep track of their deadlines for letting them know your decision.

Use College Raptor to discover personalized college matches, cost estimates, acceptance odds, and potential financial aid for schools around the US—for FREE!