A Waitlist Story to Inspire Your Monday

Quentin had been waitlisted. Sort of.

I met Quentin in my very first year as an admission counselor. He was friendly, social, inquisitive, and eager to attend Pepperdine University. Everything you hope for!

But when it came to his application, he just didn’t have the academic accomplishments to make him a competitive applicant. Lots of potential, though. So I offered him admission for the following Spring. He accepted, but was unsatisfied. Quentin wanted to come in the Fall. 

He emailed me every week that summer. Sometimes more. I actually had to start a file. “Here’s an update on what I’ve been doing,” he would say. “My bags are packed; just say the word,” he would say. 

“I heard you offered Fall spots to students on the waitlist. Will you do it again?” he asked one week. Unfortunately, he was right. We had sent out Fall acceptances to 2 rounds of our waitlisted students. I know it felt like a blow to not be one of them. But he just kept on emailing. All through May, June, and July.

This is the good part. 

We had a rare opportunity: a third chance to admit a handful of waitlisted students all the way at the end of July. And this time, Quentin was offered Fall admission. I called him personally. And you can imagine the sound of his voice when he heard. When I saw him on freshman move-in day, he already felt at home. 

Quentin did 3 things to make the impossible possible: 

1.  He demonstrated his interest early, letting his admission counselor know this school was his top choice.

2.  When waitlisted, he enrolled somewhere by May 1. It’s important to be realistic & ensure you have somewhere to attend in the Fall.

3.  He never stopped advocating for himself. Even when it was increasingly improbable to be admitted, he kept emailing. In this case, it made the difference.

If you’re on the waitlist, you can do the same thing. If you’d like some help balancing self-advocacy with realistic optimism, I can help. Contact form is here. See you next week.

Peace, Peter