Decisions, Decisions – 2015 Regular Decision Waitlist Edition

Admit It!  You were hoping to see better news in your inbox.  We Admit It!  We wish we could send more good news.  William & Mary’s smaller size is what attracts thousands of students to apply.  That compels us to make some tough decisions among lots of very qualified applicants.  As a result, we’re not able to admit all of the students who are competitive for admission.  While it may not feel like it, a waitlist decision is a positive one.  To us it means we wish we had more spaces in the incoming class; if we did we would have offered one of them to you.

It’s tough being on a waitlist.  Just when you hoped you’d have a resolution to this process you’re told the resolution is still undetermined.  That can feel confusing, frustrating, defeating.  But we hope it also leaves the door open for you to continue to think about W&M.  We of course encourage you to fully explore the universities that have offered you admission and submit an enrollment deposit to one by the May 1 deadline.  But, if you remain sincerely interested, in W&M, you can accept your spot on our waitlist by completing the online form linked in your decision email.

So then what?  Well, again, we encourage you to focus your immediate attention on exploring those schools that have offered you admission.  No doubt you have many great options.  If, after doing that, W&M remains in serious consideration, you can email your regional dean with any updates and a note of continued interest in mid-to-late April.  Should we determine that we are able to admit additional students, we will consider that information as well as your original application materials in making decisions about whom to admit from the waitlist.  If you are no longer interested in W&M, just complete the online form withdrawing your name from our waitlist.

There’s no way for us to predict whether or not we will go to the waitlist, and if so for whom and to what degree.  Generally, we are able to determine whether or not we will be admitting students from the waitlist in early-to-mid May.  If we are able to admit additional students, we will determine where our class fell short (in-state or out-of-state for example), and then consider those students who elected to remain on the waitlist.  Should we get to that point, we will provide updates via this blog.  All students remaining on the waitlist will get an update from us via email by June 15.  Our Waitlist FAQ page is also a great source of information in the interim.

While we do wish the news could have been more positive, we did think incredibly highly of your application.  We are often saddened by the students who we are not able to admit (aka those who are waitlisted) because they are so incredible.  We know that all you’ve accomplished will provide you with great options for next year.  If W&M remains in serious consideration, we encourage you to accept your spot on the waitlist, keep in touch and stay tuned.  Whether the conclusion of your college search ends up being Williamsburg or elsewhere, we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Associate Dean of Admission

Categories: Admission, Faculty & Staff Blogs Tags: , , , ,
38 Comments
  1. Waitlisted
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  2. Miriam
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  3. Ruab
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      • Ruab
  4. Waitlisted
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      • Waitlisted
  5. Brittany
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  6. Ryan
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  8. Patrick
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  9. Confused
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  10. Kellianne Denison
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      • Kellianne Denison
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          • Kellianne Denison
  11. Cathy
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  12. Love W&M
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  14. Miriam
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      • Miriam
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  15. Cathy
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  16. lover of w&m
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Comments are closed on posts older than one year, but we still want to hear from you. If you have a comment or question for us, please email admission@wm.edu.