Waitlisting is a way for colleges to manage their enrollment numbers, since the number of admitted students who decide to attend is always nebulous. Some students are admitted off the waitlist; we’ve written before about what you should do once you get put on the waitlist to increase your chances of being one of these select students.
In this article, however, we’re going to cover what you need to do in the meantime, and then what you should do if you get accepted off of the waitlist. We’ll cover deposits at another school, and how to break them, the mechanics of getting off the waitlist, and what your next steps should be. Let’s get started!
Enrolling at Another College
There is no guarantee of getting into a college off of a waitlist, so while you wait for good news, you will need to enroll at another college. This requires the following steps:
- Formally accept an offer of admission from a school that accepted you.
- Put down a deposit with that school.
- Withdraw your application from other schools who admitted you (optional, but recommended).
If you are waiting on waitlist decisions, then you probably didn’t get into your top choice university. That doesn’t mean you need to put off college entirely however, and securing your spot at another school in the meantime is an important step to take in ensuring your educational future.
To enroll at another college, you must follow the steps prescribed in their offer of admission, generally through an online portal, and pay your deposit. A deposit is an initial payment towards your tuition, and usually costs between $300 and $1,000 (with the exact amount determined by each college). At most colleges, the deposit is non-refundable.
The purpose of the deposit is to ensure your commitment to the school once you have enrolled. Colleges work carefully to ensure that they keep their incoming class within certain set numbers, and they want to be sure of how many students are committed to attend before they begin admitting students off the waitlist. Thus they make the deposit non-refundable in most cases, to make sure that once you have committed, you are actually going to attend.
Unfortunately, colleges generally do not respond to those on their waitlist until after the May 1st deadline to enroll at another college. This means that if you want to attend a college after getting off of a waitlist, you will inevitably have to break your agreement with another college.
There are no legal penalties for doing this, though in almost all cases you will not get your deposit back. Colleges want to disincentivize this behavior, but cannot actually stop you from going to another school even after you have committed.
A select number of colleges will refund your deposit in certain circumstances, though usually not if you are doing so to attend another college. Instead, they will refund your deposit if you are unable to attend college at all for some reason, due to extenuating circumstances. Colleges may also waive your deposit if you are receiving a full-ride scholarship, since deposit funds count towards your tuition payments.
Withdrawing From Other Schools
This is not something you are required to do, but is something we suggest all students do once they have decided which program they will join. You are only able to attend one of the colleges who admitted you, and letting all of the others know that you will not be gracing their halls helps both them, and your fellow students.
First, it’s simply polite to the colleges, who are trying to manage enrollment, and want to be sure how many students to expect to arrive next fall. The more clear answers they get from students, and the sooner those answers come in, the less of a headache over paperwork they will have overall.
Second, it helps your fellow students also desperately hoping to get in off the waitlist. The only reason students are admitted off the waitlist is so colleges can fill out their incoming class, and ensure they have the proper number of students. The sooner you remove your name from that pool, the earlier someone on that school’s waitlist may hear the good news they’ve been hoping for.
Getting Off the Waitlist
There is no set time to hear back about getting off the waitlist, but in most cases it happens in early May. At some schools these can keep being sent out on a rolling basis through June, and even later, though this is less common. Once you have received a notice of acceptance off the waitlist, you have a short turnaround to accept it, generally 2 weeks, though this varies by school. We recommend accepting as quickly as possible, since you have a lot of planning left to do.
Once this happens, you must contact the other school at which you are enrolled, and let them know you are no longer planning on attending. You must place a deposit with your new school, and then undertake all of the same steps you have taken before; signing up for housing, getting a meal plan, registering for classes, and joining admitted student communities to meet your future classmates.
You should know that your chances for housing will be limited if you are admitted off the waitlist. Housing is generally allotted on a first come-first served basis (though this does vary by school), so you may have more limited options arriving to the process late.
Final Thoughts
Getting waitlisted is a tumultuous experience. While rejection is painful, it is a finished thing, something to be dealt with and moved on from, while waitlisting can prolong the stress and waiting that plagues many students during the admissions process. We hope that this article has explained the steps required to participate in an often opaque process, and given you the clarity you need to make the best choices for you.
If you are looking for strategic advice on how to maximize your chances of getting accepted off the waitlist, we recommend checking out our article on the subject, which contains our best advice, from how to write a letter of continued interest to making sure you’ve done everything you can to ensure your long-term success.
If you want a more personalized approach and advice for your own situation, or want to hear how we can help you with your own waitlist appeals, schedule a free consultation today. We have a depth of experience with every aspect of college admissions, and are always happy to hear from you.
