Life in 'wait list' limbo - what student hopefuls can do

Acceptance letters have been sent, deposits have been paid, but that doesn't mean that Daniel Kenny's college-hunting season is over. The high school senior from Oradell, N.J., was accepted at Georgetown and wait-listed at two Ivy League schools - Princeton and Harvard.

"I sent in my enrollment at Georgetown, and I've convinced myself that I'll be there for now," Daniel says. While he stresses how much he likes Georgetown, "Princeton is definitely the first choice. I'm still hoping against hope for them."

Most college-bound students stop worrying about which school to attend by April 1, the traditional date for receipt of acceptance or rejection letters. But for those whose letters read "wait list," closure can be difficult.

"Wait-listing allows a school to hedge its bets," says Barmak Nassirian, deputy director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers. Most colleges have wait lists, but their size, order, and philosophy vary too broadly from school to school to yield any clear trends, he says.

At Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., the wait list is small: Only 263 students were placed on it last year. In the end, 18 people from that list got a spot in the Class of 2009.

Macalester uses its wait list to create a community, says Lorne Robinson, the dean of admissions. "If it turns out we need boys from Arkansas who are interested in Latin and play the bagpipes, that's who we take," he says.

The University of Vermont, on the other hand, ranks the nearly 2,500 applicants in its waiting pool. That pool is then divided into two lists: one for Vermonters and one for out-of-state residents. This year, all 25 offers of admission were given to in-state students, says Dean of Admissions Don Honeman.

Though the odds seem bleak, experts say wait-listed students don't have to simply wait; there are ways to improve one's chances.

Experts suggest contacting admissions officers by phone or e-mail, and following up by sending transcripts, résumés, and additional letters of recommendation.

"We always invite applicants to keep us posted if there's new information that we should be aware of," says Marlyn McGrath Lewis, director of undergraduate admissions at Harvard College.

But it is possible to go overboard. "We see people who decide that the way to get our attention is to send something every day on the idea that we'll always be watching," Ms. Lewis says. Her office regularly receives pastries, cookies, and brownies, and keeps a special area of the office reserved for oversize materials.

At the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., wait-listed students are given the name and e-mail address of a regional admissions officer and encouraged to get in touch. "Being appropriately active is good," says Rick Bischoff, director of admissions. "But if it's merely showing us how desperate they are, that's not particularly helpful."

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