Waitlist Update

Posted by Kylie on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 in Waitlist.

Wow.  A few months ago April 1 seemed like the magic date when everything would settle down, but here we are at the end of April and admission work is still full steam ahead!  I’m busy and I know you and your family are busy so let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

Yesterday we emailed all waitlist active students to confirm interest in remaining on the waitlist.  We know that many of your accepted our spots on the waitlist back in the beginning of April, but now that a few weeks have gone by we want to know are you still interested in waiting it out with us.  If you did not receive this email check your junk box, your trash, and perhaps your other email accounts.  As a last resort you may email your admissions counselor here, but as I mentioned we are swamped right now and it may take several days until you hear back.

I was on-call yesterday and many of the callers I assisted sought information on how we select students off the waitlist.  If there’s no ranking system, how do we chose who gets the offers?  First, read my previous post on the matter.  Secondly, I will review the basics:

• On March 23 we mailed offers to students for spots in each of our four undergraduate colleges.  The College of Arts and Science offers general admission and does not admit by major or program whereas Peabody College, the Blair School of Music, and the School of Engineering typically admit by specific majors.
• All students with offers to enroll here at Vanderbilt must notify us by May 1 if they intend to do so.
• The week following May 1, we will review who said yes and who said no.  These reviews will highlight particular colleges and majors were deficits exist.  Do we need more general students in the College of Arts and Science?  More mechanical engineering majors?  How about students interested in teaching majors?
• Once we know which colleges and/or majors need more students, we will mine through the waitlist to find the most qualified students.  Our waitlist review is nearly identical to our admissions process: we’re looking for the students with the best curriculum, the best grades, and top testing.  We also consider intangible factors such as exemplary leadership and unusual talents.
• We’ll identify students on the waitlist to receive offers of admission and we’ll call each individual student to notify them of their admission.  That same day an official letter of acceptance will go out in the mail as well as a financial aid package (if the student already completed all required forms).
• A student will have seven days from the day of the phone call to either deposit or say no to our offer of admission.
• Once we hear back from everyone offered admission from our waitlist we will once again review our institutional needs and we will go out with another wave of waitlist offers.  We will continue waves of offers until the class is full.

Last year we began waitlist offers on May 5 and we officially filled the class on August 9.  Yes, it could take the entire summer until you have an answer one way or another.  This is stressful and we understand that.  As such, we will do our best to provide regular updates on the blog.  Furthermore, we know some students and families simply do not want to wait that long and will ultimately decide not to wait any longer.  That’s okay!  That’s why we send out our emails to check on your status.  You are also welcome to email us at any point if you decide to no longer remain on the waitlist.

There is only one thing you need to do to demonstrate your continued interest in our waitlist: respond to our emails.  That’s it!  If you wish you may send your admissions counselor an email with updates, but please email only once unless something dramatic changes.

I hope everyone is wrapping up a fantastic senior year!  Best wishes to you and your family as you move towards summer.

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