Waitlist Negotiating

[galena]

I’ve received multiple 50-70% T25 scholarship offers but was waitlisted at a school in the upper 40s (which is my first choice, located where I want to work). Is it bad form to negotiate to get off the waitlist using the other offers? Would that come across as combative? I know it’s a standard approach to scholarship negotiations, but I’m wondering if different rules apply to the waitlist. Scratching my head over this outcome.

[Adam Tyson]

I wouldn't say it's bad form, galena, but you would be negotiating from a position of weakness since they haven't offered you a seat yet. Would you be prepared to go to your first choice school with no scholarship money? If so, then you have some leverage and can tell them "I have been accepted to XYZ school and been offered a scholarship, but your school is my first choice. I am considering accepting their offer, but would like to know your decision before I do." Then, if they are on the fence but would like to guarantee that sit gets filled, they might offer it to you. But if you are in need of scholarship money to make it work, you are unlikely to get any offers from the school that has you on the waitlist. Weigh carefully your desire to attend a certain school against the debt with which you will graduate and the odds of getting a job later that will allow you to pay off that debt in a reasonable timeframe.

Don't think of it as combative! Negotiations can be done politely and professionally no matter what your circumstances are, but you have to be realistic about your bargaining position. Remember, too, that admissions folks at the schools aren't just there to keep people out - they are there to recruit students and to ensure the best balance of students to create the learning environment they want to foster. If you can position yourself as someone who will contribute to that balance and that environment, you can improve your chances of an offer and even a scholarship.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!