Understanding the Role of Waitlists in College Admissions: A Conversation with Teege Mettille

The college admissions process is fraught with uncertainty, particularly for students who find themselves placed on the waitlist.  Teege Mettille provides essential insights and strategies for students and families to navigate this complex situation effectively. 

East Coast Admissions
The #1 College Admissions Counseling Service for the East Coast

Chapters

• 0:50 Improving College Waitlist Strategies
• 10:36 Navigating the College Waitlist Process

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:50

Hello and welcome to the East Coast College Admissions Podcast. I'm your host, cleopatra, and I'm so excited about this episode. The college admissions process is full of twists and turns and, for many students, landing on the waitlist is one of the most confusing and stressful parts of the journey. But what if I told you there are strategies to improve your chances of getting off the waitlist while staying true to ethical and innovative admissions practices. Today, we are joined by Teej Mittal, an admissions expert and author of the Admissions Counselor Malik's, a thought-provoking guide to addressing systematic issues in admissions. Teej has worked extensively with admissions teams to improve processes, including waitlist strategies, and is here to share his insights with us. Teej, welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you here.

Speaker 2: 1:45

Well, thank you so much, Kloopatra. I am thrilled to be here and to your audience. Thank you for taking time to listen to our conversation today. I am looking forward to it.

Speaker 1: 1:53

Looking forward to it as well. Teej, before we dive into today's topic, can you tell us a little bit about your background and what inspired you to write? The admissions counselor Malik.

Speaker 2: 2:01

Sure, absolutely so. My background is almost entirely college admissions. Professionally I started as an admissions counselor and kind of worked my way up. I became assistant director, associate director, then a director, dean, vice president of enrollment, etc. At a number of institutions all small private liberal arts institutions where I saw a wide range of selectivity approaches and admissions strategies. So that's my background. What inspired me to write the book the Admissions Counselor Malaise and I think it can touch back to weightless strategies rather well is the college admissions profession has been having a pretty significant and serious staff morale. I call it a crisis for quite some time and I think the malaise the admissions counselor malaise reflects a growing sense from admissions counselors that their work is not having the meaning and value it once had, and I propose a series of strategies on how to help them get that back in the book.

Speaker 1: 2:58

Your work shares light on many critical issues in admissions. I know our listeners students and families also admissions professionals alike will benefit from your perspective. So I wanted to start with the basics. For students who may not fully understand the waitlist process, can you explain what it means to be waitlisted and what colleges use waitlists for?

Speaker 2: 3:17

Yeah, and it can be so distressing for students and I understand that, for, yeah, and it can be so distressing for students and I understand that. And if you're a student or you're a parent of a student who's on the wait list, I just want to express my sympathies and understanding.

Speaker 1: 3:28

It's confusing and it's difficult?

Speaker 2: 3:31

Yeah, because in some ways, students would just prefer to like just tell me no and let me move on, right?

Speaker 1: 3:37

Exactly.

Speaker 2: 3:38

Yeah, and what we do find when colleges put students on the waitlist is most students do move on. Even when students are offered a spot on the waitlist at many institutions, usually they find that they have fallen in love with another college in the meantime and they kind of move on. So the reason colleges are using waitlist is they are trying to ensure that they start the year with the number of students that the institution can manage and needs. Right, you want to be careful not to over-enroll a class. If we have too many students, everything from your freshman seminar class to the line at the cafeteria is longer and not the student experience we intend. Okay, there are also, maybe housing issues and in some cases when I've seen colleges over-enroll, they start putting student beds in, you know, common areas of the residence hall to just try and make it work. So colleges have a general sense of how many students that they admit will end up enrolling that's called their yield rate and try and admit enough students to meet their enrollment targets, but not too many so as to over-enroll. But because students are humans, right, they behave like humans and are sometimes unpredictable and the wait list is the institutional insurance policy against that. So if they admit, say I'll just use round numbers If they admit 100 students hoping to enroll 50, but only 45 enroll, well, they can turn to the waitlist to try and find those five remaining students. So that's what they're using the waitlist for.

Speaker 2: 5:11

Now, the good sign for a student who is on the waitlist is if a college didn't think you were capable of doing the work at that college, they would have denied you. So that's the one thing. It's not that the college doesn't think you're admissible. It's just that, for whatever reason usually related to institutional priorities they weren't able to offer you a spot yet. But they may soon. Did that answer your question, cleopatra?

Speaker 1: 5:36

Yeah, it does, you know. It's helpful to understand the logic behind it. So now for students and families, the waitlist can feel like a limbo. What should they keep in mind, emotionally and practically, when they receive a waitlist notification?

Speaker 2: 5:51

Right? Well, the first thing to note and it's tricky right is students have to determine or decide, or come to a conclusion how much they want to remain in limbo If they are waitlisted at the college of their dreams and that college of their dreams is financially viable for them. I always say don't forget that aspect. They may choose to want to hang in there and hold out hope, and then we'll discuss some strategies on how to maximize your chances there. Yes, but if it's not the college of their dreams and they got admitted to another college that they'd be just as excited to attend. Usually, most families, most students will, even if they don't formally kind of withdraw from the process, will emotionally check out and move on to, you know, the college you're going to end up enrolling at.

Speaker 1: 6:38

So why don't we talk strategy? What can students do to improve their chances of being moved off the way list, especially as selective East Coast colleges?

Speaker 2: 6:47

Correct, correct.

Speaker 2: 6:48

Yes, and I'm aware of the niche of this podcast with East Coast Admissions. So the way to improve it right is, what you want to do is find a way to get an admissions counselor advocating for you, and in that way it can feel tricky because in part, you know that's out of your hands. You don't. You don't control the admissions counselor. So you want to reach out and one be sure to clearly demonstrate that you remain interested despite being on the wait list. And that's going to come not just from accepting your position on the wait list Most students will accept the position on the wait list but it's going to come from continuing to provide additional materials and information to the college to kind of bolster your application as a student for that institution. Now, it is possible to overdo this, right. So you don't want to be calling every day or even every week, right, but having a conversation with the counselor asking if there's anything in specific at that institution that they turn to when removing students from the waitlist or elevating them to admit status is a good idea.

Speaker 1: 8:00

And then following through with that right.

Speaker 2: 8:02

So if they say you know well, we really wanted to see your final grades after you graduate high school, or you know, maybe it's an art portfolio or just some writing samples, you know, whatever, if the college is open to getting some of that information, go ahead and provide it for the college. That will matter a lot. When colleges are pulling students from the waitlist or admitting students from the waitlist, I should say they usually are not pulling 250 students from the waitlist. Right, if that's the case, they've badly miscalculated, which can happen. But what is more often the case is the scenario I said they need to find a discrete number of students, so internally, their admissions office is going to discuss all the students on the wait list. Who should we consider moving up?

Speaker 2: 8:50

And one of the key questions is are they going to accept their position from? Are they going to accept the offer of admission? Is are they going to accept their position from? Are they going to accept the offer of admission? Because one of the things to remember is you won't have necessarily months to decide if you're going to accept the spot on the wait list. You might hear on a Monday, they might give you a week. Sometimes that's even a generous timeframe right, they might give you two days, and so one of the questions that they're going to be trying to sort out because they want to fill their class and move on is if we admit the student from the waitlist, will they accept their spot and will that have filled one of the seats on campus? So that's why providing the materials demonstrating the interest, making sure the counselor knows that you are engaged and would accept if offered a position, will help a lot except if offered a position, will help a lot.

Speaker 1: 9:37

So those are great tips, but then there are a lot of conflicting advice online about additional materials like recommendation letters, updated essays. Do you think those help at all?

Speaker 2: 9:51

It's tricky right and there's conflicting advice because different institutions handle things differently, and so that's part of it. It's why one of the first things I said was call the admissions counselor at that institution and ask if there's anything in particular they look at and if there is be sure to provide that Adding additional materials to your application. Again, as long as it's not done in a way that is going overboard or kind of in a way that feels harassing to the admissions counselor, right, like you shouldn't be calling every week as long as it's not going overboard isn't going to hurt you. It's just going to demonstrate I'm here, I'm interested, and if you needed to see something else from me, here it is.

Speaker 1: 10:34

Okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 10:36

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:36

So your take on that is that, in as much as it really doesn't make that much of an impact, because schools have a percentage that they pull off every year, but then it doesn't hit your chances as well Is that what you're trying to tell the audience?

Speaker 2: 10:52

I know I would. I would change a few things there. I don't think school colleges don't have a set number of students. They admit from the wait list. Every year they admit their class. They wait and see how many students that were admitted end up enrolling.

Speaker 2: 11:06

And if they still need or have space for more students, then they turn to the waitlist, and usually very discreet, targeted ways. Right Again, it could be as simple as we need to find 24 more students and we need to find them quickly. Right, Because usually this is happening after May 1, when most students have made their college decision, including you who's on the wait list? Right, including the students on the wait list have enrolled somewhere in the college. If they came up a little short and they want to fill the spots, we'll turn to the wait list again in very targeted ways.

Speaker 1: 11:39

We'll turn to the waitlist again in very targeted ways. So, Teej, one of the things you've written about is the importance of ethical practices in admissions.

Speaker 2: 11:47

Yes.

Speaker 1: 11:47

So how can admissions teams improve their waitlist processes whilst maintaining the fairness and transparency yes, I have a.

Speaker 2: 11:56

you know my book is loaded with a lot of tough love for the admissions profession, because I think there's a number of things that we do that are focused on what we as institutions need, not on what students need, and I think we've gone too far in one direction on that.

Speaker 2: 12:11

And one of one of the ways that I think we've gone too far in that is related to the waitlist. I think colleges over index how likely it is for a student to be admitted off of the waitlist. I think colleges over index how likely it is for a student to be admitted off of the waitlist. They give students more hope than is likely to be the case and the reason they're doing that is because they want to be sure that if they need to admit students from the waitlist, there's going to be enough still there waiting. I think colleges should be expected in the waitlist letter to say in the last three years, five years, whatever, here's how many students we've admitted from the waitlist, and that will help families and students decide do I need to keep holding out hope here or do I really need to think of this as virtually a deny letter and move on to other options?

Speaker 1: 12:58

Okay, so I imagine that clearer communication would also help reduce the stress and uncertainty that so many students feel during this process, because a lot of them really don't know what's happening and how's that going to end. Some people end up not hearing from any college at all, and that can really be burdensome.

Speaker 2: 13:16

Yes, clear communication all around. I think you know one of the things, one of the ways that helps colleges enroll their class is there is a perception of scarcity that I that I think is not usually correct now. With some of the very selective institutions it is. But most students get admitted to most of their colleges because most colleges admit most of their applicants Right. So students, I think, don't have to be concerned about not getting admitted anywhere.

Speaker 2: 13:44

Where most of the heartache usually comes from is when students really want to be admitted to one specific place or a specific type of institution, and the more selective that institution, the more stress that goes on to the student, the student. If colleges I think colleges when they review an applicant, you know, I think especially of the very, very highly selective colleges that are admitting less than 10% of their students, I think the majority of their applicants they can know when they read it that we're never going to admit the students and I think they should tell the student right away, right. The sooner we can get the students moving on and exploring what is going to be the best available option for them, the better it is for the student.

Speaker 1: 14:23

I agree. I agree, teej. This has been an incredible, insightful conversation, but before we wrap up, what are your top three pieces of advice for students navigating the waitlist process?

Speaker 2: 14:36

Yes, navigating the waitlist process. First piece of advice do a gut check and determine if you still want to be holding out hope for this institution. If the answer is no, then move on. Find your next college. I'm sure there's a great option for you and then you're fine, and then you've got nothing to stress about If it is the college you want to keep holding out for. The next bit of advice is follow up, intentionally and professionally, with the admissions counselor, demonstrating your interest and asking if there's any information they need or would want or would accept from you to bolster your application when they go through the waitlist process. And then the third bit of advice is while you're waiting to find out if you get admitted from the waitlist, do find yourself another option that you're going to be excited about so that, if you get admitted from the waitlist, do find yourself another option that you're going to be excited about, so that, if you don't get admitted from the waitlist, you still are looking forward to your next step.

Speaker 1: 15:29

Okay, and for your admissions teams, what's one thing that they can do right now to improve their waitlist processes? Besides communication, what do you think they can do to improve it?

Speaker 2: 15:43

Oh well, besides communication, that's a curveball. I think this is what I would say Waitlist far less students than you do. I think we waitlist anyone who could be admissible, even if we know we're only likely to pull off a small number of students. I think we should drastically reduce the number of students we leave on a wait list.

Speaker 1: 16:01

Oh wow, Fantastic advice for both students and professionals. Teej, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your expertise. Where can our listeners learn more about your work and get a copy?

Speaker 2: 16:15

of the Admissions Counselor Malaise. Oh sure, Thank you so much, Chloe Patrick. Well, the Admissions Counselor Malaise is available exclusively on Amazon, so you can just search for it. But if you want to hear more about my work, I have my own podcast, the Admissions Directors Lunchcast, where we really take topics that are specific to admissions directors and talk through it from a professional lens. I don't think most of your listeners would be into it, but if there's someone that really wants to get behind the scenes in an admissions office, you can check that out.

Speaker 1: 16:42

To everyone listening. Thank you for tuning into the East Coast College Admissions Podcast. If you are navigating the college waitlist process or just want to understand admissions better, I hope today's episode gave you the tools and insights you need. If you enjoyed today's conversation, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share this episode with someone who might find it helpful. For more resources, visit us at wwwe-schoolsadmissionscom. Until next time, I'm Cleopatra, wishing you clarity and confidence on your college admissions journey. Take care.