Just got my 5th and 6th waitlists today, one of them from Columbia. I’m grateful to have an A at a school in my home state of California that I genuinely like, so I know I’m lucky. But the waitlists still suck.

I was really excited about Columbia and almost wish it had just been an R so there wouldn’t be the false hope. For personal life reasons (I’m non-trad and have a family), I can’t wait until May (or later) to find out if I get off a waitlist and then suddenly move to a completely different state or city. Realistically, I need to make plans much earlier than that, so for me a waitlist is basically a closed door, even if it eventually converts to an A.