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Waitlisted by my safety school?
I recently got into George Washington Univeristy and Northeastern University (both which were kind of targets/safetys) and got an 80k and 40k scholarship with each, respectively...I also got into UMASS (major safety, obviously, but I got into the honors program and have a full ride scholarship.) And today I got a letter saying I was waitlisted by American University....they wanted me to go to this website to accept a place on the waitlist and fill out a form saying why I want to go there. American University was the least rigorous school I applied to besides UMASS...this might be presumptuous of me but is it possible that AU waitlisted me because I was overqualified and they didn't think I was going to attend (they KNEW it was my safety school?) My SATs and GPA were all way above AUs average...but at the same time, I also got into UMASS....I probably would rather go to GW or Northeastern over AU, but I still haven't heard back from any of the schools I REALLY want to go to (Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins) so this has got me kind of worried....it would make me feel better to know I got waitlisted because I was overqualified, instead of there being something they really hated about me.... :/
So, for anyone who is knowledgeable about this kind of stuff, is it possible that I was waitlisted because I was overqualified for the school? Or perhaps there was just some strange reason they didn't accept me? (I looked over my AU supplements and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with them...haha....)
Thank you!
I was also thinking that I possibly didn't show a sufficient level of interest...I visited it once but that was it, and they have "level of interest" listed as one of their most important factors....so may that's why I didn't "distinguish myself?" (although I never visited Northeastern either, and that's harder to get into.)
2 Answers
- RoaringMiceLv 78 years agoFavorite Answer
It is possible that a school could waitlist you, or even reject you, because they don't believe you'd attend if they let you in. Yes, absolutely. They do this to help manage their yield. So AU didn't believe you'd accept them if they accepted you.
On the other hand, UMass knows that, in today's economy, there is a very real chance that you would accept their offer, for financial reasons. Many, many students choose to go to UMass and schools like it, for these reasons.
If you are offered scholarships and grants, make sure you find out if the award is renewable from year to year, and what the conditions are of its renewal. It's very nice to get $40k from Northeastern, but if that's only for your first year, that's not quite as nice.
Are you sure the scholarship at GWU is $80k? Is that per year? That exceeds their cost of attendance, which is why I'm asking.
- Anonymous8 years ago
Waitlisted because you are over-qualified? No, I don't think so. If you truly distinguish yourself to an admissions committee, you get an acceptance offer.
(The only exception that comes to mind is if the admissions committee looks at your financial need before making admissions decisions.)
GPA and SATs are only small parts of the application. You probably didn't make as compelling a case to the AU as students who were admitted.
Good luck with your favorite schools. Hope you hear good news soon.
Source(s): I work in higher education and am familiar with admissions processes
