Waitlisted – Now what?

When people apply to schools, they typically expect one of two fates: acceptance or rejection. They pray for the best and fantasize all the good imageries associated with becoming a part of their dream school’s entering class. On the other hand, most realistic people also brace themselves for the worst, and try to prepare themselves emotionally for the potential disappointment.

And then the decision arrives – and you are told you are waitlisted. The admissions committee tells you that they recognize your “strong achievements and high qualifications” but they could not offer you a seat just yet. What does this all mean, and what can you do?

First of all, what it means to be waitlisted

As someone who has both experienced the torture of being waitlisted (I was waitlisted by my top choice university when I was a high school senior) and monitored waitlists at Harvard, I can tell you a lot from experience.

When an admissions committee puts an applicant on the waitlist, this is what they are saying: “You are great. We like you. You have most or even all of the things that we are looking for in a candidate. However, we don’t have the space to take everyone that we like, and some applicants are a little stronger/fit our current needs more. At the same time, we don’t want to lose you. Now, we have made XXX number of offers, and not everyone is going to accept our offer. Therefore, if any spaces open up, we will consider you once again.”

The waitlist is admissions’ equivalent to being the runner up in a beauty contest.

Secondly, how does the waitlist work?

Common questions with regard to the waitlist include:

 

How long is it?
Is it ranked?

Is there any guarantee I will be offered a seat off the waitlist?

 

The answers are typically 1) it depends on the school; 2) no; 3) no.

Let me talk about the latter two points.

Admissions committees will almost always tell you that the waitlist is not ranked. However, in my experience, it would be lying to say that there aren’t some people closer to the top of the waitlist than others. Quality is one criterion while other factors will be those beyond your control. Admissions offices at MBA programs admit to using the 3^rd round as a time to “round out” their classes and to look at balance in terms of diversity. The waitlist is another such time.

As for whether or not you will come off the waitlist, and when, there really is no guarantee at all and the admissions officers are being completely honest with you when they say “I don’t know.” I once worked with a student who got off the waitlist 2 weeks before school orientation started!

At the beginning of each season, admissions directors make their projected yields; that is, how many offers they need to make in order to yield their ideal class size. Let’s say that ABC University has 400 seats in its first year class. Traditionally, 55% of their admitted candidates take the offer, while the other 45% choose to attend another school. Thus, ABC University will admit 580 applicants in anticipation that 45% of those applicants will turn down their offers. If more than 45% of the admitted applicants choose to go somewhere else, that is the time that ABC University will go to their waitlist.

Finally, what can you do?

There are a number of things you can do if you are waitlisted:

1. The most important thing you can do is follow the school’s instructions. I believe that the majority of schools welcome communication and updates from waitlisted applicants. However, there are also some schools like Harvard Business School that firmly ask applicants to do nothing. It is imperative to follow the school’s instructions because 1) you want to show them that you can listen to direction and 2) you do not want to annoy them at any cost.
2. If you are waitlisted at a school that does welcome you to update your application, then you may submit a short note or essay that describes anything new and noteworthy that you would like to add to your application. This includes information about a promotion, new responsibilities, new awards, new coursework/grades, and stronger test scores. A brief note or essay that describes this information should suffice.
3. Send another recommendation. Assuming your school does not tell you not to send in additional recommendations, you may consider adding another letter if you believe the new perspective will add value to your application. Related to this, you may also consider having an alum or current student send in a “push” letter for you, confirming your strengths as a candidate, your fit with the school, and your commitment to attending the school.
4. Stay in touch with the school. This is critical, even though I am listing it here as #4. A major factor that influences a school’s decision to admit someone off the waitlist is his/her level of interest in the school. By the time the admissions committee gets to the waitlist, they want to only take people who they know will come if made an offer. They are running out of time so they do not want to make offers to people who need time to decide. Therefore, if you are waitlisted by a school that says it is okay to communicate with them, then stay in touch periodically (i.e., sending a quick note telling them you are still interested in remaining on the waitlist). By this I mean perhaps once a month or at key decision times, like the two weeks preceding their next decision round (if this is an MBA program). It is equally important not to annoy the admissions office; do not call or email every week or demand a meeting with the admissions staff or they may think you are a stalker and worry if you will be this anxious once you are a student there.
5. Analyze your weaknesses. What in your application needed improvement? Could you retake the TOEFL, GMAT or GRE? Do your English skills need improvement? Were your achievements on the weak side? As much as possible, try to tackle these weaknesses and show the admissions committee that you have made improvements since you submitted the application. I sometimes work with students who insist on writing essays every month showing their passion for the school, but they do nothing to improve their test scores, which is the very reason they were put on the waitlist. You do not need to overly reassure the admissions committee of your strengths; you need to reassure them that you can overcome the weaknesses that made them hesitate to admit you in the first place.
6. Continue on with your plans, and your life. Do not put your life on hold for the school that waitlists you. Statistically speaking, your chances of getting admitted off any waitlist is small (and the more competitive the school, the smaller the chances). The safest thing to do is to continue with your plans to attend one of the schools to which you have been admitted. If you do get an offer from the school where you are waitlisted, then at that point you can change your plans. It is a torturous position to place an applicant, but the best protection for yourself is to move forward with your plans.
7. Release your spot if you are no longer interested in waiting. Many candidates prefer not to wait, and begin to lose interest over time. In this case, as a courtesy, let the school know you are no longer interested. This frees up the wait list so that someone else who really wants to attend can have a better chance of getting in.

 

Questions or comments? You may email me!

Common MBA interview question #1

Congratulations to those who applied in the second round! January 15 typically marks the end of the peak MBA application season. However, just because you’ve submitted your applications, your work doesn’t quite end yet as you probably know. Now is a good time to turn your attention to interviews, even if you don’t have one scheduled yet.

Interviews for international applicants are not just about good English; you will also be evaluated in terms of poise and confidence, which take time to develop. Your interviewer will not be recording every grammatical mistake or word you utter; rather, she will try to get an overall sense of your personality and communication ability to see how well you might fit in at your target school.

For the next few weeks, I’ll go over some common interview questions. This week, let’s start with a common interview opener:

Walk me through your resume.

While many Japanese applicants aren’t familiar with this expression, they are able to guess from context what this question means. If you get this question, you are basically asked to take your interviewer through your resume, giving an informative but succinct summary of your career progression. You will focus not on reading the resume or explaining every detail but highlighting the main points in your career growth.

Different people have different advice as to how to approach this question, but my personal preference is to use the outline below, which follows a chronological rather than reverse-chronological sequence as used in your resume. My reasoning is that “Walk me through your resume” is really the same as “Tell me about your career progression” in which case – when you are speaking – it feels more natural to tell your story from past to present than from present to past. If you are afraid this might confuse your interviewer, you can simply say, “Okay, I’d like to start with my university experience.”

Recommended approach:

1)    Start with your university experience. Mention anything you believe is worth highlighting – perhaps you were very active academically, or maybe you were the leader of a sports team or school organization. (e.g., “I graduated from XYZ University in 2003 with a major in political science. I was very interested in international relations and was active in …”)

2)    Proceed with your career, starting with your first position. Mention briefly what your responsibilities were, any significant contributions, and why you moved to your next position. (e.g., I started in the accounting department where I xxx and was able to contribute to xxx. Seeing my efforts, I was promoted to xxxxx in two years…”)

 

Remember that the main point of this question is to give the interviewer an idea of how your career has progressed since university. Highlight the most important points by briefly mentioning them only and save the details for other questions that your interviewer will likely ask you.