So finally the letter from Penn State arrived today! It says that my status is ‘ON HOLD’ right now. I guess this is how they call their waitlist. The letter does not say a lot about the procedure to accept people from this list. I’m going to give them a call tomorrow and ask how it works.
Does anybody know how Penn State’s waitlist works?
I’ll post more after I talk to them tomorrow.
Kasia
I recieved a similar letter from Penn, but I didnt interview there? The “hold” status that my application is under is different from the waitlist, they want to compare you against the rest of the applicants before making up their minds.
So I called Penn State and the ‘Hold List’ is really their name for wait list. It’s not called the ‘wait list’ until after May 15th.
And Former Artist - “hold” status people who haven’t been interviewed yet, fall into different category than ‘hold list’ people who have been interviewed.
Anway - nothing I can do at this point other than wait. I cannot do any changes to my file. All the further decisions will be based on what’s in my file already, with the only exception being latest transcripts.
It is a little bit disappointing, but I could have received a straight rejection letter as well. I’m not counting on any radical changes to my Penn State application status as an out-of-stater. Hopefully when EVMS notice arrives in a couple of weeks, I’ll be in a better mood.
Kasia
Ah, Kasia, the wait list is a hard place to be. Having spent several months there, I can commiserate: yes, it is certainly better than getting rejected outright, but that feels like VERY small consolation when people around you are celebrating their acceptances. I know I felt very envious of those people - and then would feel bad when someone would say, “At least you have a chance.”
It is REALLY hard to wait for May 15. I hope that you have some very good news in the meantime so that the date loses its significance! But if you do want to keep Penn State on your list, I suggest that you send them a brief note saying how much you liked it, how much you’d enjoy going there, and how glad you are to remain in consideration for a place in the class. I know they said that you can’t “add anything” to your file but that sort of thing can’t hurt and could help.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you!
Mary