Wait-Listed for Grad School Admission, Now What?

After waiting for a seemingly interminable time, you get the word about your graduate school application. You're wait-listed. What does that mean?

Being Wait-Listed

In short, it is exactly as it sounds. Just as you might wait behind velvet ropes before entering a popular restaurant or theater, wait-listed applicants stand behind a metaphorical velvet rope hoping to be admitted. While you have not been rejected, you also have not been accepted. Essentially, as a wait-list member, you are in the department's second choice of applicants. In programs that receive dozens and even hundreds of applications for several slots, that's actually not so bad. 

What Being Wait-Listed Doesn't Mean

Now, let's look at what being wait-listed is not. It does not mean that you are rejected. But it does not mean that you are accepted either. You're in limbo, just as you were after submitting your application. Recently someone told us that he had not received a formal response from the admissions committee but was told that the committee is waiting to review applicants in light of delays caused by a faculty member. "Does that mean that I am wait-listed?" he asked. No. In this case, the applicant is waiting for the admissions committee's decision. Being wait-listed is the result of the admissions committee's decision.

Why Wait-Listing Happens

Graduate admissions committees realize that not all candidates who are accepted will utilize their offer of admission. Sometimes, admissions committees don't even notify the alternate candidates they've selected. Instead, they wait and notify them of acceptance if a slot opens rather than telling candidates that they've been wait-listed. More frequently, however, applicants who are alternates are sent letters indicating their alternate or wait-list status. If you're wait-listed, then you're waiting to see if a slot opens if another candidate who has been offered admission declines.

If You're Wait-Listed...

What do you do if you're an alternate? Sounds cliché and terrible, but: Wait. Take the time to consider whether the program is still of interest to you. If you've been accepted elsewhere and plan to attend, notify the admissions committee to be withdrawn from the waitlist. If you receive an offer from another program but you're more interested in the program to which you're an alternative, it's permissible to follow up and inquire if any more information is available. Understand that the program staff may not have more information, but, like you, they want to end the process as quickly as possible. If you're down to the wire and have an offer of admission, sometimes you'll have to make a decision to withdraw your alternate status or run the risk of declining a solid offer of admission for something that may never materialize (forcing you to start the graduate admissions process all over again).

Sometimes a wait-list status ends with rejection. In this case, don't beat yourself up. Your application caught the admissions committee's eye. You have the qualities they seek but there were too many other qualified applicants. If you think graduate school is for you and plan to apply again, learn from this experience and improve your credentials for the next time.