Ivy League Waiting Lists

Doing nothing is not the key to getting off Ivy League waiting lists (photo credit: Chensiyuan).

Stuck on Ivy League waiting lists? Or perhaps you’re stuck on the waitlist of another highly selective college. While it would have been ideal if you already submitted a letter of enthusiasm, for example, to the college that waitlisted you, it’s still not too late. It never ceases to amaze us how many parents and students think that their letters of enthusiasm will do the trick. Unfortunately, your letter in which you write, “Yale’s strong liberal arts education and beautiful campus will be an excellent foundation for me” is absolutely not going to do the trick. Yuck. What does that even mean? Consider this: If this same sentence can be applied to Penn, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Duke, scratch it from your letter. Do you really think admissions officers aren’t bright enough to realize you could have submitted this very letter to another school? Each letter must be specific to each college. Each letter must be powerfully written. Each letter must show your deep intellectual curiosity. Each letter must provide a window into your world. Each letter must express how you are going to contribute to the talented and diverse incoming class.

If you are interested in our assistance in helping you try to get off a highly selective college waitlist (or two or three), contact us today to get started. Today is the most important word in that sentence because waiting and doing nothing is not the answer. You know how it’s always good to play it cool after dates? Maybe wait a couple of days to make contact with a frivolous text like, “Hey, what’s up,” that is not the case in highly selective college admissions. Playing it cool is as unlikely a strategy as any to work your way off the waitlist and into the incoming class of a highly selective college.

And there are some more things that can or should be done after your letter of enthusiasm is submitted to the school that has waitlisted you. We don’t share all of our tips on our blog for, at the end of the day, we are a business and we always keep our best secrets…secret. If you’re someone who reads our blog every day religiously, you’re certainly a more educated college applicant (or parent of a college applicant). You certainly understand much of the process better. But know that we keep — and have always kept — the secret sauce a secret for the clients of Ivy Coach.