What should I do about waitlists?

[MrAnonymous]

How does the waitlist actually work because I have talked with different schools and they seem to do things differently. Some schools wait until ALL interviews are done before ranking the waitlists. Some schools say that they supposedly accept waitlisted applicant as the committee occasionally meets. I asked the secretary at the admissions office about sending additional materials to strengthen my application such as sending additional letters of recommendation. However, they were less than enthusiastic about the idea but didn't discourage it either. They didn't have any information on how waitlisted applicants are reviewed for admissions. One person had even said that the committee may or may not review my file during the admissions process for waitlisted applicants. Well, it got me wondering, for if I had sent in an additional letter of recommendation and they didn't look at my file then it would be a fruitless attempt. So what should I do about being waitlisted?

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[drfermin]

It sounds like you've already called several schools; I suggest setting up another phone interview with each school to specifically discuss your position/situation on the waitlist. The admissions director should be happy to tell you what, if anything, you can do at this point to further your position on the waitlist.

For example, I called one school at which I was waitlisted, and they said once you are on the waitlist, your file is not reviewed further and your position is fixed. I would have to write a formal "appeal" to have my application re-reviewed if I wanted to have a better chance.