Decisions Decisions: Waitlist Edition
Admit It! This is not the decision you hoped for. You probably feel a myriad of emotions right now. Some of you may be pleasantly surprised. Others of you might be confused or upset or some combination thereof. We understand that you’re disappointed and while we know little can soften the blow of receiving any decision other than admit we hope you can come to see a waitlist as a positive decision. Rest assured that your application was reviewed, in its entirety, at least twice, by two different members of our staff and that it was looked at in the context of the entire applicant pool.
This year’s pool had a record number of applicants most of whom exhibited incredibly strong credentials. W&M’s small size often makes it very attractive to the nation’s best and brightest high school seniors. Our small size also compels us to be highly selective in making admission decisions and unfortunately we cannot admit all of the students who would be successful at W&M. A waitlist offer means that you were an incredibly competitive applicant, and that if our entering class was bigger, the decision easily could have been more positive. Unfortunately that is simply not the reality of our pool or our enrollment objectives.
We know that you are a incredibly strong and involved student. Chances are you are one of the best students at your high school. You’ve taken great courses, you’re near the top of your class, you have strong standardized test scores, you’re involved in extracurricular organizations and you’re likely a leader within your community. You may be grappling to understand why you were not admitted. Believe me, it’s not you, it’s us. The decision was made not because you did anything wrong but because so many of our applicants do everything right. Imagine all of the top students at your high school. They are likely all incredibly smart, responsible, hardworking young men and women all of whom have worked their butts off to earn admission to great colleges. Chances are some of them are sports captains while others are student government officers. Still others are incredibly talented musicians while others have lived all around the world. They’re a pretty compelling group right? Now take that group of students and multiply them by 1000 and that’s our applicant pool. It’s the best and most visible students from high schools across the country and across the globe. So we make some pretty difficult and nuanced decisions in an effort to build the most diverse, dynamic, talented and interesting incoming class possible.
The email you received provides a link where you can indicate to us whether or not you intend to remain on the waitlist. Please complete the form either way. If you do not complete the waitlist response form online your application will be withdrawn come May 1. Aside from completing the online form, there is nothing else you need to do. You do not need to send any additional materials for consideration; the original materials you sent provide us more than enough information on which to re-evaluate your application should we be able to admit students from the waitlist this summer. The email also provides a link to frequently asked questions regarding the waitlist for you to review. We know that the last thing you likely want to do at this point is wait some more but unfortunately this is part of the college admission process. In the meantime we encourage you to explore the colleges and universities to which you have been offered admission and to pursue those opportunities with enthusiasm, and of course, make sure you submit an enrollment deposit to another institution by May 1. If after May 1 you remain sincerely interested in attending William & Mary, you can then update our office with any new academic information, and you are welcome to communicate your continued interest in W&M to the Admission Committee.
Wendy Livingston, ’03. M.Ed. ‘09
Senior Assistant Dean of Admission
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.
I received my email about my waitlist decision, but the links to the waitlist FAQ’s and the link to remain on the waitlist were not working. Is there anyone I can contact?
Emma, certainly. We do not want to make those links public on a forum such as this but you are welcome to call our office (757-221-4223) and we will provide you with the links over the phone or you can email me directly and I can email the URLs to you
How many students were admitted off the waitlist last year? (I realize that it won’t be the same, but it would just give me a better idea of my chances.) Also, how many students were placed on the waitlist this year? Thank you.
Sarah,
Last year we took a number of students off the waitlist (likely around 120) but the year before we took 10 so there is no rhyme or reason to whether or not we will use the waistlist. It just isn’t predictable.
Generally 1000-1500 students remain on the waitlist
How many people received acceptances this year compared to last year? As there were so many people taken off last year’s waitlist, did you try to counteract this by extending admission to more prospective students this year?
Casey,
This year we admitted a few more students than last year because we are growing the size of our incoming class however the admit rate (percent of applicants admitted) was fairly steady.
Each year we do our best to evaluate how many students we think we must admit in order to enroll the right number of incoming students. It’s not an exact science by any stretch so that’s why the use of a waitlist is so unpredictable. We wish we could give those on the waitlist more concrete informaton up front but it’s just information we don’t have. We have to wait to see how those who were offered admission respond.
I am a student who was waitlisted. I wanted to take this moment to thank the admissions board for reviewing my application. I sincerely hope that I will be able to take a position in the William and Mary class of 2015 next year. If not, I still am glad to have had the opportunity to fall in love with such a beautiful school.
As for now, I have sent in my deposit to my large state university which is non-binding. If I receive the notification that I am accepted into William and Mary, I am planning on attending. If not, well, I believe that things happen for a reason and that everything will work out in the end.
Wait listing students is just plain cruel and should not be allowed
Nina, we certainly understand that you might feel frustrated by being waitlisted but waitlisting is a necessary part of the process.
Admission Offices have to fill their incoming class and there’s no way to scientifically and accurately predict how many admitted students will choose to enroll. The waitlist allows an admission office to work to fill the incoming class if initial yield (number of admitted students who enroll) falls short.
Additionally, waitlisting allows us to recognize students whose applications were very competitive and who deserved a decision more positive than deny. Without waitlisting, we’re left to deny students whose credentials warrant a decision far more positive than that.
Jessie,
Thank you for your continued interest in W&M. We appreciate your gratitude.
If you wish, come May 1, you can send us any udpates as well as a continued statement of interest if you so desire.
Thanks, Wendy. While I’m obviously disappointed that I was waitlisted, I’m proud to even be waitlisted at such a competitive and prestigious school. I plan on enrolling at another school, but if I get that call over the summer that I’ve been accepted, you can be sure I’ll do everything in my power to attend. I absolutely fell in love with W&M the first time I visited, and knew that this school was the place that I belonged. However, I know everything happens for a reason, so for now, I wait.
Emma,
Sounds like a good plan. If, come May 1, you still feel the same way, we encourage you to send a statement like the one you posted to your regional dean for consideration should we be able to admit students from the waitlist.
Were you able to access the links you were asking about in your earlier post?
Emma,
I am in the exact same boat as you. I absolutely love William and Mary and I hope to attend. I hope it works out for both of us.
Wendy,
Where should I send the information come May 1st?
Jessie, you can just email it to your regional dean (you can find out who your regional dean is and his/her email at http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/meetthecommittee/index.php
Wendy,
You are actually my regional dean. Thank you so much for this blog in the past couple of months, it has really been helpful in my college application and wait.
My pleasure Jessie. Please feel free to send me the email when you’re ready
Yes, I was Wendy,
Thanks so much!
Great Emma. Best of luck to you!
I just wanted to thank everyone at the admissions office at W&M for their time and careful consideration. While the waitlist isn’t where I would like to be, I understand the competitive nature of the process and appreciate the chance that has been given to all of us. I look forward to hearing the final decision.
Stefany,
Thank you for your comment. We certainly understand that you wish the news were better but we appreciate the thoughtful and mature attitude you demonstrate regarding your waitlist offer.
I am wondering, does W&M still send Fin Aid information out to waitlisted students? If not, and the student clears the waitlist, do they then receive the info before having to give final decision of acceptance? Or do they have to accept ‘blind’?
I am in quite an unfortunate position. Of the schools I’ve applied to I was rejected by all of them, excluding William & Mary, to which I was waitlisted. So I have a few questions. If i choose to remain on the waitlist and am accepted I must attend William & Mary, correct? If I wait to make a decision about my waitlist status until the later part of the month, will that affect my chances of being accepted? In addition to those questions, could you send me information or links about transfer students? Thank you
Alexa, unfortunately we do not send financial aid info to waitlisted students at this time. We can only provide financial aid packages to admitted students. If you are offered admission off the waitlist we will be able to provide you financial aid information before you have to make a decision about whether to enroll but the aid may be limited for those admitted off the waistlist.
Rob, sorry that not receiving more positive admission decisions. If you are admitted to W&M you do not have to attend. That will be up to you. The order in which people elect to remain on the waitlist has nothing to do with whether or not they’re admitted. However we do ask people to respond to the waitlist offer within two weeks.
You can find info on transferring on our website (wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/applicationprocess
Wendy,
My college counselor suggested that I send another letter or recommendation. I was wondering if that would help the decision or just add more paperwork?
Thank you,
Jessie
Jessie, there’s no need to send another letter of recommendation unless it adds substantive new information that we didn’t have when we originally reviewed your application. While we sincerely appreciate waitlisted students’ desire to demonstrate their interest, we don’t want you to spend April working on college applications when you should be on spring break, going to prom, etc. The only information we find helpful should we be able to admit students from the waitlist is new academic information and a short statement of continued interest.
I am an out of state applicant and I have heard that it is much more difficult for out of state student to be admitted at William an Mary. Do you know what the admissions rate is for in state students compared to out of state?
Also thank you for the position on your waitlist I am honered to be among such fantastic students.
Tori,
Correct. The admission process is more competitive for out-of-state students because W&M is a public university and thus owes deference to its VA residents. 65% of our student body will be VA residents and 35% non-VA residents (which is actually a pretty high percentage of out-of-state students for a public university).
Generally the admit rate for in-state students is about 37% and the out-of-state admit rate is 27% (we have a 32-33% admit rate overall).
As for admission from the waitlist, that totally depends on where our class falls short. If we are able to admit students from the waitilist but we hit our target for out-of-state students, we’ll only admit in-state students from the waitlist or vice versa if we hit our target of in-state student.
We wish you all the best.
When do you start taking people off the waitlist and notifying them of acceptance?
Alice, if we are able to admit students from the waitlist, which is not a definite, we would notify those students by June 15. Sometimes we are able to start notifying students a bit earlier but there is no exact date.
I was wondering if you send an email after we confirm our spot on the waitlist because I got a message saying thank you for your continued interest on the same page as the waitlist form after I filled it out. Thank you for guiding us through the admissions process at William and Mary. I hope I get off the waitlist because it is my first choice still!
Tom, we do not have an automated email to let you know that you elected to remain on the waitlist. However, if we remove someone from the waitlist (because either they checked that they wanted to be removed or because they never respond to the offer) we do send an email letting you know that. If for any reason you get that email in error you can just contact us.
I was just curious how you decide who gets off the waitlist. Do you rank kids or do you look through all of the waitlisted kids’ applications again and then make decisions?
Ellen, no one on the waitlist is ranked. If our class comes in short we’ll see if there are any cohorts that we’re light on (for example maybe enough out-of-state students didn’t enroll and then we’ll look primarily at out-of-state students on the waitlist). Then we’ll review all the specific cohort(s) of students who remained on the waitlist and decide who is the most competitive of that group and that’s who we’ll offer admission to. It can be an ongoing process based on the responses we get to our offers of admission to those on the waitlist.
William and Mary is probably the most beautiful school I have ever been to and if I am taken from the waitlist I will accept right away. I was very disappointed to be waitlisted but I still have hope for the future. It says above my comment that you want us to send academic information. I will do that, but can I also send new information regarding extracurriculars and service? Also, can I send this information to the admission office’s email before May 1st?
Caroline, the only information we recommend any student send is new substantive information so if there’s new academic information (such as third quarter grades) or something like a new award you can certainly send that via email when you’d like.
I absolutely fell in love with William and Mary when I visited over thanksgiving this past year. Colonial Williamsburg was my favorite place as a child and I knew that William and Mary would be a wonderful school. I didn’t realize how much I loved everything about it until I visited other schools and just didn’t feel the spark I felt with W&M. As an out of state student I know that being waitlisted means I was so close! So I just want to clarify what is necessary to show my continued interest in William and Mary. I should send an email of continued interest to my regional dean and in that I should state the new awards I have received since my application in january. Also it does not have to be a paper form of intent but it can just be an email? I want to lastly thank the admissions office for all their help in their reviews. Where I am from acceptance to state schools is from pure numbers and the fact that William and Mary dedicates such time to thoroughly review applications is refreshing. Thank you for giving me a place to fall in love with.
Maggie,
Thanks for your continued interest in W&M. We’re glad the blogs are helpful and that you have such a fondness for the College.
You are correct. You are welcome to send an email to your regional dean stating your continued interest and providing any new substantive information.
One of my friends was waitlisted and accepted the offer to remain on the waitlist. Last week, she received a letter saying she had been taken off of the waitlist. I’m confused about this – I thought everyone found out mid June? Why did she find out earlier?
We have not yet made any decisions about whether or not to go to the waitlist and won’t do so until mid-to-late May. All students on the waitlist will hear from us one way or the other by June 15 but possibly not before then.
There are rare instances where circumstances might lead us to make exceptions to general policy but at this point, no decisions have been made regarding the waitlist.
If you have open spots in the class of 2015, how would you notify the people who are lucky enough to get accepted off the waitlist? I was just curious if it would be email (like the original decision), normal mail, or a phone call.
Thanks!
If we are able to admit students from the waitlist we will attempt to reach them first via cell phone, then home phone and then email.
I also just received my waitlist email and my links aren’t working. I called undergrad admissions but they’re not open on weekends. What should I do?
Katin, yes unfortunately we are not open on weekends. I assume you are a transfer applicant and have just received your decision. If that’s the case you can email me directly (wcbegl@wm.edu) and I can provide you the URL for the online waitlist reponse form for transfer applicants or you can call us Monday morning.
Should I include the fact that I will definitely enroll if offered admission in my brief email to the regional dean?
Also, should I expect a reply back from the regional dean when I send her my short statement of continued interest?
Thank you for this blog! You’ve been such a big help!
Beejal, you should include a statement that indicates that W&M is your top choice and that you would enroll if admitted which of course conveys your strong interest. You should hear back from your regional dean. Please note: if your regional dean is Kia Hardy she has since left W&M for another job and thus you should email admission@wm.edu
Thank you for the prompt reply – as it turns out, Kia Hardy was my regional dean and I was just about to email her!
Should I expect a reply back if I sent it to admission@wm.edu?
Beejal, likely you will receive a reply from admission@wm.edu or from another dean within a few business days.
Will you inform students if they have not been accepted off of the waitlist as well as if they are accepted?
Yes Natasha. All students will hear from us one way or the other, whether freshman or transfer applicants, by June 15
Hi! I was waitlisted at William and Mary and I haven’t heard back from them. It is past June 15th. Did I miss something? Or have you still not reached your decision?
Katie, we emailed all students on the waitlist in early June letting them know that we were not able to admit any additional students but that if they wanted to remain on a waitlist until August 1 they could. We do not anticipate taking any students but students do have the option to remain in consideration.
You’re welcome to contact us to ensure that we had you on the initial waitlist if you’d like or if you wish to remain on the waitlist until August 1
Okay, thank you!
Hi, I was just looking over the deans of admission and I could not find one that fits into my region… Northern Virginia/ Loudoun County? Does Jennifer Scott, the dean for Arlington and Alexandria, also consider applications from northern Virginia?
Thank you!
@Mariana, we apologize but your comment got caught in our spam filters and was just now released. The regional dean for Loudoun County is Tish Lyte.