Denied or Waitlisted College Applications

It’s the season of celebration or commiseration, as high school seniors began receiving notification of admission to the University of California, California State University, Stanford, USC, Ivy League schools and other institutions across the country. With it comes the thrill of goals achieved, or the heartbreak of devastated dreams.

To further impact the admission status of applicants, the University of California, along with some of the CSUs have adapted a Wait List admission policy, similar to what the Ivy League schools have used for years. This is another form of admission denial, that just seems to prolong the agony of rejection, and often doesn’t provide an answer until well into summer, and long after student intent to enroll deadlines.  Waitlisted admits regularly miss housing deadlines, orientation and incoming freshmen events.

When a student is denied admission, the first question is, “why?” With many top tier colleges turning down as much as 90 percent of their applicant pool, there are thousands of highly qualified, denied students asking the same question. And while it hurts to be denied, it’s not personal; nor is it an indicator of the applicant’s potential to succeed at college. It’s simply the result of a process that requires admissions evaluators to find the best fit for their campuses. Overall, I think they do a good job of matching incoming students with their current student body. Occasionally, I think they miss out on amazing students.

A common reason high achieving students are denied admission is failure to thoroughly follow the admissions process or simply missing a deadline. Nearly all communication is completed through a college website portal, where students are advised of tasks or items needed to complete or verify their applications. Frequently, I encounter students who did not open their portal accounts. Equally common are students who did open the portal account, but failed to check it or follow through with tasks or requested items. It is highly unlikely that a top tier university will admit a student by appeal, for failing to follow basic admission procedures.

So what option does a student have if he receives a denial of admission to his first choice college? Is there any hope of appeal? What if the reply is “Waitlist?”

Most universities discourage appeals, and grant few, if any. But the University of California undergraduate admission website does give information on what will be reviewed if a student does appeal. “New and compelling information” is the only hope a student has. This is good advice for an appeal to any university. UC How to Appeal

To determine if a student has new or compelling information, he needs to first look at the original application. Is everything there that he submitted? Frequently I find students who don’t have a printed copy of the application. They honestly don’t know what was on the application they sent to impress admissions reviewers. 

Students can access their applications on the college application website. Print a copy and confirm that all courses are listed, that all the awards, activities, volunteer hours, employment, etc. are there. Verify that the student directed the College Board or the ACT to send the test scores to the college. If the college required letters of recommendation, contact the admissions office to be certain that those letters arrived and are in the student’s application file.  Review the essays or personal statements. Try to determine if the student left something important out of the application that he had intended to send, or should have sent.

Then the student should evaluate what new information he has to tell the college that is germane to admission. Being named a National Merit Scholar or class valedictorian might be considered new information, but keep in mind that at a highly selective university, these kinds of honors will be common, so that alone won’t be helpful. New information might include a new, higher SAT score or a community college course you forgot to list. Achieving some kind of talent recognition such as being named to an Olympic team, a Regional Ballet Company or winning a national level speech contest, would be considered new information, if it happened since you submitted the application.

Compelling information is the other option for students to submit an appeal. Each year I find myself astounded at what a high school senior thinks is compelling information. The fact that you will be a fourth generation to attend the highly selective college is not compelling. Compelling information must be just that – compelling the admissions office to reevaluate your application because of this information.

Compelling information is that you are homeless, but you’re still getting straight A’s; and you just found out that you have free housing a few blocks from their campus. Compelling information is that you didn't report that your lower grades from sophomore year were the result of living in an abusive household and that you were too embarrassed to reveal it on the original application. Compelling must be serious, related to your application or college plans, and above all it must be something truthful, that you can document.

As students struggle with college dreams shattering with the click of an opened an email, I believe it’s important to deal with the feelings of disappointment… for 24 hours.  

I think students (and often parents) need to take those 24 hours to mourn for the loss of their dreams. After grieving for a day or so, everyone needs to “get over it,” and move forward. Students must begin to focus on the college admission offers they have received and begin a successful college experience that is just a little different than they had imagined.

An appeal is the first thing a student considers when being told “no.”  But appealing is risky and usually results in a second denied offer of admission, so it’s imperative that college-bound students who appeal, make plans to attend a college where they have been admitted, while they wait for the appeal answer.

For more information on how to appeal and a sample appeal letter, visit our website 

WSCA How to Appeal  .