Waiting for the Waitlist
Admit It! If you’re on a waitlist, whether at W&M or elsewhere, you anxiously await the May 1 date almost as much as you awaited April 1. Yet May 1 is here and you still don’t have any answers from William & Mary. This blog is intended to explain why the waitlist involves so much waiting, both for students and for our office.
So the national deposit deadline is May 1. So why on May 2 do we not know whether or not we will use the waitlist? Well, May 1 is a postmark deadline; we need to wait several business days to collect all of the deposits that were postmarked by May 1 so we have an accurate idea of where our class is numbers-wise.
Okay, so now it’s the second week of May. At that point, we need to assess where we are. If our class is short, how short is it and how many students will we need to consider to fill the class (remember, just like regular admission, not all those on the waitlist will accept our offer of admission so we may need to admit more students than we actually need to fill the class)? Additionally, where did the class fall short (did we reach the required 65% in-state/35% out-of-state ratio for example)? Okay, so now we’ve got that figured out.
So now we’re into the third week of May. The deans must now review all of the students remaining on the waitlist and prepare for another round of Committee deliberations. This can take several days because we do not rank our waitlist and therefore need to review the files of all students on the waiting list to determine who we believe to be the most competitive for admission.
The Committee meets, decides who to admit and then the calls begin. Here’s where there’s a bit of disconnect. When admitting students, we first attempt to call the student’s cell phone. However you’re often in school when we’re at work so we can have a difficult time reaching you. We’ve often found that when we leave voicemails (or when we follow up with an email) we get no response. We get it; texting and Facebook are many times your preferred means of communication but the professional world hasn’t yet totally caught up with the rapid pace of today’s communication. So there’s some lag time between the initial phone call and receiving a response from that student. If the student says no, then we need to call another student, wait for them to return our call, and so on.
So now we’re into late May/early June. At this time we’ll also have had to time to observe whether or not other schools are using their waitlists and whether or not that’s affecting the students who already chose to enroll at W&M. If other schools are using their waitlists extensively and our class is taking a hard hit we may need to reconvene the Committee again and admit additional students. Furthermore, if initially we felt we wouldn’t need to go to the waitlist but find our class is taking a bigger hit than anticipated as other schools use their waitlist we may decide to admit students from the waitlist in early June.
Before you know it, it’s June 15th. At that time we’ll either close or waitlist or notify students that while they are not admitted as of yet, we may still admit more students in the coming weeks. We admit, it might feel like you’re in some Beckett-ian absurdist play waiting for some guy named Godot who never arrives (or in this case a thick envelope that never appears in your mailbox) but this process does have a conclusion it’s just getting to that conclusion takes some time. The waitlist is aptly named, it’s a process of waiting, on both your end and ours. To help the process go more smoothly there are a few things waitlisted students can do. 1) If you are no longer interested in attending W&M, email admission@wm.edu and withdraw your application from the waitlist. 2) Check your email and voicemail regularly so that you do not miss any important communication from us. 3) Wait patiently. We will all move through this process as efficiently as possible.
The wait is on but almost over.
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 can’t wait to find out about my results!!! Either way, I want to thank the Admissions Committee for the great job that they’re doing and I hope to join the William and Mary Class of 2015.
Jessie, thanks for your continued interest in W&M.
for transfers on the waitlist, to what address should we send our final transcipt? Or should we send it electronically?
Transfers can send their final transcript to the Admission Office
Office of Undergraduate Admission
PO Box 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187
Thanks for this blog! It’s a lifesaver! It makes the waiting process so much easier. I’m still hoping for that phone call!
Beejal, glad you found the blog helpful. Should we go to the waitlist there will likely be another blog to provide additional information.
When will we know how many positions will open up from the waitlist?
Marie, not sure if you’re asking about the freshman or transfer waitlist. We should likely know in the next week or so whether or not we’re going to either waitlist. The number of additional students we’re looking to enroll is often approximated and a bit variable because of course some students will withdraw when they get off other waitlists so the number is always hard to pin down precisely. As soon as we have more information we’ll provide it.
When will you announce if you are going to use the waitlist or not?
Beejal, unfortunately it’s not an exact science and it’s just not something we know at this point. We continue to monitor our class daily and are currently trying to get a sense of whether waitlist activity at other schools will impact us and if so how. That will help us determine whether or not we will use the waitlist.
All students will hear from us one way or the other by June 15
Thanks for doing wonderful job. Myself and my daughter eagerly waiiting for the walilist result. I really hope and wish my daughter get into this wonderful school.
We’re happy to keep students and families updated. We know this is a nerve-wracking process for those on the waitlist and we appreciate the anxiety they feel. No decisions have been made as of yet and we do promise to let everyone know by June 15 at the latest
Just wanted to clarify something from this blog. All of the dates/weeks are estimates. The waitlist is such a variable entity and no two years are ever the same. There are years when we’ve been able to make decisions about going to the waitlist in early May and decisions when we haven’t made any decisions until the June 15 deadline (the date we ensure that all students will hear from us one way or the other). Unfortunately there are so many moving parts to the waitlist that it’s impossible to predict exactly when any of the steps mentioned above will happen.
We are now in the third week of May but this year we are still not at the point where we can make any definitive decisions about the waitlist. We continue to monitor our class numbers every day in order to make the most informed decisions. All we can ensure is that every student will hear from us by June 15.
Thanks and appreciate you quick response. I am looking forward hear from you soon. 🙂
From your comments, I am inferring the need to go to the waitlist this year will be driven by whether already admitted students change their minds due to getting called off another school’s waitlist. In other words, you have the number of acceptances you need to fill the class from the May 1st decisions. If this is the case, I assume the number you expect to pull will be small. Is that a good read of the situation? Thanks all the hard work and consideration that you put into this process. We are cautiously optimistic about getting that phone call that will make Kara a member of the Tribe.
How is the transfer waitlist looking? Any sign that you will go to it yet?
Kara’s Mom,
We truly have not made any decisions about the waitlist at this point. Yes, monitoring if and how waitlist activity at other schools impacts W&M is an important part of this decision process but it’s not the only factor. We would encourage students not to infer anything at this point however we would always tell any waitlisted students not to get their hopes up about being admitted off any waitlisted and we would encourage students and families to follow that advice.
Alicia, no word on the transfer waitlist either. The deadline was just this past Monday and that’s a postmark deadline.
Thanks. We’ll remain cautiously optimistic and continue to follow your blog for updates. Love the blog, by the way!
Kara, glad you love the blog and find it helpful. I enjoy writing it. Best of luck to Kara, regardless of the outcome with W&M’s waitlist
Thanks so much for the blog—it’s really helpful. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for that phone call!
Cassidy, glad the blog is helpful. We remind all students on any waitlist (W&M’s or any other’s) to be cautiously optimistic about being admitted from any waitlist. We just don’t want to encourage any student to get their hopes up when it comes to admission but we appreciate the continued interest in W&M
While we still are evaluating whether or not we will be going to the freshman waitlist we have been able to decide that we will not be able to admit students from the transfer waitlist and all students on the transfer waitlist were emailed this information. We are sorry that we are unable to admit additional quaified students at this time to our incoming transfer class and we wish all those on the transfer waitlist all the best with their future endeavors.
I just hope soon waiting period get over for all wait lists students including my daughter so they can find out the
outcome of their favorite school. Thanks for all your hard work.:)
Mom, we will be in touch with all students on the waitlist by June 15 at the latest. So not too much longer before students know where they stand with W&M
Thanks for the quick response. I am very impressed and love the W&M staff professionalism and care toward the students & family. 🙂
That’s what we’re here for; to help students and families.
June 15 can’t come soon enough!
For you and us both Mary
Just heard…didn’t get in…soooo disappointed!
All students on the freshman waitlist were emailed last night. Our class is full and unfortunately we do not anticipate admitting additional students. Student can elect to remain on the waitlist until August 1 by following the link included in the email should anything change but we encourage students to look towards the school at which they’ve enrolled.
I didn’t get the e-mail! Who should I contact?
Deborah, first check your spam and junk folders to see if the email landed there. If it didn’t, just contact our office tomorrow so that we can see if there’s a reason you didn’t receive the email.
My daughter opted to stay on the waitlist with the final decision date of Aug. 1. She has deposited at her 2nd choice school. Is there any way to find out where she might be on the WM waitlist?
Barbara,
We do not rank the waitlist so students don’t currently sit anywhere on the waitlist. If we are able to admit additional students, we will review all of the students on the waitlist and decide who is the most competitive.
At this point, we do not anticipate admitting any additional students to W&M for the fall semester so students on the W&M waitlist should really focus on the school at which they have deposited.
Cont’d from July 6th…admissions office told me she would hear either way today but we haven’t heard. She is focused on the school she deposited at but we’d still like an answer.
Barbara, we will not be admitting any additional students to the incoming class (this goes for both transfer and freshmen students). We apologize if there was any confusion but those who remained on the waitlist until August 1 would be contacted only if admitted but would not be contacted otherwise.