The following artcile has been excerpted from Fiske Guide to Getting Into the Right College By:  Edward B. Fiske and Bruce Hammond  A quick glance is all you need to tell whether an admissions office letter carries tidings of joy or cause for depression.  Meaty envelopes have cordial letters of acceptance and information about enrollment and housing.  Skinny envelops hold nothing more than a “Dear John” letter or notification that you have been placed on a waitlist.  Many of today’s applicants don’t bother to wait for the mailman.  Colleges still send decision letters, but most also allows students to learn their fate online the day those letters are mailed.

Either way, the build-up to decision day can be excruciating.  Your high school buzzes with gossip of who was accepted or rejected.  Your relatives call to see if you’ve heard any news yet.  The tension mounts.  Your nerves become frazzled.  You begin to believe your destiny is hanging in the balance.  And you’re certain that if the “best” school rejects you, your life will never be the same.

Before you fling yourself off the Golden Gate Bridge, get a grip.  If you’ve followed the advice of this book, you haven’t put all your hopes and dreams into one admissions basket.  There is no such thing as the perfect college, but there are dozens—probably hundreds—of schools where you will fit in and get a good education.  After a few weeks at your new alma mater, you’ll probably forget that you ever applied anywhere else.

Can I Appeal a Denial?

In most cases, the answer is no.  But if you are genuinely shocked at being denied admission, ask your counselor to call and inquire as to why.  Occasionally, high school transcripts can be misinterpreted, scores lost, and so on.  If the phone call yields a glimmer of hope or if you still can’t put the matter to rest, ask your counselor for the name of the admissions representative assigned to your school.  Write him or her a letter expressing your sincere disappointment and outlining why you still believe that this is the right choice school for your.  Your appeal will have a better chance if you can include new information about your accomplishments or motivation.  About a week after mailing the letter, call the admissions officer yourself to make your case.  No matter what his reaction, be polite.  Ranting and raving from either you or your parents are guaranteed to do no good.

Though the odds of a successful appeal are about the same as winning the lottery, there are occasional success stories, such as the applicant to Wabash College who was denied admission because of his less-than-impressive academic record.  This young man reapplied and asked that he be interviewed by several faculty as well as members of the admissions committee.  Against all odds, he sold them in person and was admitted.

Handling the Waitlist

Prospects for students on the waitlist are brighter, though far from sunny.  Along with all the acceptances and denials, most colleges put at least several hundred students on the waitlist every year.  Why?  Because they are not sure how many of the ones they accept will actually enroll.  As more and more students submit multiple applications, colleges’ yields have become more unpredictable.  The waitlist is their margin of safety.  The number of these who are ultimately accepted can vary widely.  One year, a few hundred might ultimately get in; the next year, none at all.  The odds of any individual student being accepted from a waitlist are less than fifty/fifty, but by no means minuscule.

If you find yourself on a waitlist, your first move should be to send a deposit to your first choice among the colleges that accepted you.  You don’t need to tell this college that you are pursuing the waitlist somewhere else; all of them know that a percentage of those who say yes in April will end up elsewhere in September.

Next, think hard about whether pursuing the waitlist is worth the time, effort, and agony.  Though most waitlist activity occurs by the end of May, sometimes applicants are left dangling throughout the summer.  Even if you hang in there and do everything right, success if far from assured.

The waitlist is an all-or-nothing proposition.  To give yourself a chance, you’ll need to mount a well-orchestrated campaign, enlisting the support of your teachers and counselors.  “Calculated persistence and repeated statements of interest can pay off,” says David Erdmann of Rollins College.  “Don’t be afraid to should your stuff.”

To begin, fill out the postcard to express interest in pursuing the waitlist and send it in.  Next, consider doing some of all of the following:

-Send a letter ASAP to the admissions director emphasizing your unyielding desire to attend.  State specifically why you think the match is a good one and highlight new information.
-Call to see if you can arrange a campus interview.  “Students who have been offered regular admission waitlist status are well advised to pay a visit by mid-April, perhaps with a set of recent grades in hand!” says Peter Van Buskirk, former Dean of Admissions at Franklin and Marshall.
-Send examples of impressive work.  This is particularly relevant if you have an area of special talent or if you have produced new work of which you are especially proud.
-Ask a current teacher to write a recommendation high-lighting your recent achievements.  Ask teachers who wrote letters for you previously to send updates.
-Ask your guidance counselor to write or call and see that the admissions office is kept up to date with your grades and other achievements.

Unfortunately, ability to pay also intrudes into the waitlist process.  Most colleges have little or no financial aid remaining when they get to the waitlist, and as a result, high-need students rarely make it.  Those with little or no need have the best chance and your odds will improve if you can assure the college that you plan to attend with or without aid.

Through it all, be a model of politeness.  If you get testy or try to use pressure tactics, the game is over.  Colleges use spots on the waitlist to make dreams come true for a lucky handful who have clearly communicated their wishes.

Onward and Upward

If you’re agonizing over a waitlist decision that is still dangling—or maybe down in the dumps because First Choice U. didn’t come through with an acceptance—take a moment to remind yourself of the big picture.  The college selection process has a lot in common with finding a boyfriend or girlfriend: it is easy to fall in love and a rejection can seem like the end of the world.  But soon enough, the reality dawns that there are other who could be just as good a match as the one that got away.

If you’ve experienced a disappointment, think again about the college where you did get in.  Chance are, they’ll offer just as many interesting courses and top professors and their student bodies will include just as many bright and interesting new people to meet.  A world of opportunity will unfold no matter where you attend and your ultimate success may hinge less on which college you choose than on what you make of it once you are there.

The real value of college lies in what it does for you as a person—in expanding your horizons, challenging your beliefs, honing your skills, and exposing you to the broadest possible cross section of people and ideas.  You’ve got four of the most invigorating and rewarding years of your life just ahead.  Make the most of them.

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