NYU Admissions 2026: What California Families Actually Need to Know
NYU is one of the most applied-to universities in the country, and one of the most misunderstood. Families think about the New York City location and the prestige. They often do not think carefully about the acceptance rate, the cost, or whether the specific program their student wants is actually strong at NYU. Here is the honest picture.
New York University receives more applications than almost any university in the country, typically more than 100,000 per year. Its overall admit rate has dropped to approximately 8 percent. That makes NYU one of the most selective universities in the United States, more selective than many schools California families consider more prestigious. The combination of high application volume and low admit rates means NYU is a reach for almost every student, not a safety or even a target.
NYU has genuine strengths in specific fields: film and television production through Tisch School of the Arts, business through Stern, performing arts, media studies, and global affairs. In those areas, an NYU degree opens specific doors that other schools, including many Ivies, do not open. Outside those areas, the case for NYU over other comparably priced options is weaker.
The NYU Schools: Which One Matters for Your Student
NYU is not one school. It is a collection of schools and colleges, each with its own culture, admission process, and program strengths. Students apply to a specific school within NYU.
Tisch School of the Arts is among the most prestigious film, television, theater, and performance programs in the world. The alumni list for Tisch includes an enormous percentage of working professionals in Hollywood, on Broadway, and in the broader entertainment industry. For a student with serious creative ambitions in those fields, Tisch is a genuine destination school. The acceptance rate to Tisch is lower than NYU overall and includes a portfolio or audition component.
Stern School of Business is highly regarded for undergraduate business, with particular strength in finance and accounting. Wall Street recruiting from Stern is strong. For a student who is certain they want to pursue finance or investment banking and is choosing between Stern and a UC school, Stern’s New York proximity and alumni network in finance are genuine advantages.
The College of Arts and Science at NYU, often called CAS, is the liberal arts core. It is solid but not distinctive in the way that Tisch or Stern are. For a student applying to CAS without a specific NYU program as a pull factor, the cost-to-value comparison against strong public university options deserves careful thought.
The Cost Reality of NYU
NYU’s sticker price is among the highest of any private university in the country. Total cost of attendance including housing in New York City consistently exceeds $90,000 per year. NYU is also known in the higher education world for giving relatively modest grant aid compared to peer institutions of similar endowment and selectivity.
Unlike schools such as Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt, or the Ivies, which meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need, NYU historically has not met full need. This means families at almost every income level should expect to have a gap between demonstrated need and the actual aid offered. For many California families, the net cost of NYU after any aid offered is significantly higher than a UC or a comparable private school that meets full need.
Run NYU’s net price calculator before your student falls in love with the idea of NYU. The number may change the conversation. If the net price is manageable for your family and the specific program is genuinely among the best in the country for your student’s goals, it may be worth the cost. If the program is not a specific NYU strength and the cost is high, the case for NYU becomes very hard to make.
NYU vs UCLA vs USC: How California Families Should Think About It
For California students, the comparison that comes up most often is NYU versus UCLA or NYU versus USC. These are genuinely different schools in different cities with different strengths.
UCLA for a California resident costs roughly $35,000 to $40,000 per year total, with financial aid reducing that number significantly for eligible families. NYU costs more than twice that for most families. If your student is choosing between UCLA and NYU in a field where both have solid programs, the cost difference is real and significant.
USC is a private school with higher costs than UCLA but with strong financial aid for admitted students and specific program strengths in film, communications, and business that overlap with NYU’s strengths. The comparison between USC and NYU for a student in entertainment or media is legitimately competitive and comes down to campus culture, location preference, and specific program details.
New York City itself is not for everyone. The cost of living in Manhattan adds to the already high tuition and housing costs. Students who thrive at NYU are genuinely excited about urban life, about the energy of New York as a backdrop for their education, and about the specific program quality that brings them there. Students who are applying to NYU because it sounds impressive but have not actually thought through the city reality tend to have a harder time.
What a Strong NYU Application Looks Like
Apply to the specific NYU school that aligns with your student’s goals. Do not apply to CAS as a generic fallback if your student’s real interest is Tisch or Stern. The essays should reflect genuine knowledge of the specific program, why it is the best place for your student’s goals, and what your student brings to that community.
Tisch applications require portfolio or audition components. Start those materials early and get them reviewed. Tisch is making a creative bet on a student with a specific set of demonstrated abilities. The portfolio is the essay. Put the time in there.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is NYU hard to get into?
Yes. NYU’s overall acceptance rate has dropped to approximately 8 percent, making it one of the most selective universities in the country. Students applying to specific programs like Tisch School of the Arts or Stern School of Business face additional selectivity. NYU should be treated as a reach for the vast majority of applicants, including strong students with excellent academic profiles.
Does NYU give good financial aid?
NYU’s financial aid is generally considered less generous than peer institutions of similar selectivity. Unlike schools that meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need, NYU historically has not met full need for most families. The total cost of attendance including housing in New York City consistently exceeds $90,000 per year. Families should run the NYU net price calculator carefully and compare the actual net cost number to other schools before making NYU a priority.
What is NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts known for?
Tisch is one of the most respected film, television, theater, and performance programs in the world. The alumni network in Hollywood, on Broadway, and across the entertainment industry is among the strongest of any program. For a student with serious creative ambitions in film production, acting, writing for screen or stage, or related fields, Tisch is a legitimate destination school. Admission requires a portfolio or audition component in addition to the standard application.
How does NYU compare to UCLA for California students?
UCLA for a California resident costs roughly $35,000 to $40,000 per year total, with financial aid reducing that further. NYU costs more than twice that for most families. If your student is considering both schools in overlapping fields, the cost difference is enormous and significant. UCLA also has strong programs in film, communications, and business. The NYU advantage is program-specific and city-specific: choose NYU because of what it does distinctively, not as a name brand.
Should my student apply to NYU if they are not sure which program they want?
No. NYU is expensive, highly selective, and most compelling when a student has a specific program as the pull factor. If your student is still exploring and does not have a clear connection to a specific NYU school, the cost-to-value comparison is hard to justify against strong public university options. Wait until there is a genuine program fit before building an application around NYU.
Tony Le is a former UC Berkeley Admissions Reader and UCLA Outreach Director with 15+ years of college admissions coaching experience. A full-ride scholarship recipient to UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UCI, Tony has helped 500+ students gain admission to top universities including Stanford, Harvard, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Columbia. Featured in the Wall Street Journal. Official TikTok College Admissions Educational Partner. Founder of egelloC.
Tony works with a focused group of families each year. Book a free strategy call to see if it is the right fit.
AP Exam Burnout Is Real: How to Keep Your Student Going Through May
AP exams start May 4 and run through May 15. That is 28 days from today. For juniors and seniors taking multiple APs while managing senior deadlines, deposit decisions, and end-of-year exhaustion, this stretch is genuinely hard. As a parent, what you do and do not say in the next four weeks matters more than most people realize.
April is a pressure point for high school students that most parents underestimate. Seniors are finalizing college decisions and processing outcomes. Juniors are finishing the most academically intense year of high school while also thinking about what comes next. Both groups are preparing for AP exams that require real effort to score well on, in a season that is emotionally heavy in ways that do not always surface until a student stops being able to hold it together.
AP exam burnout is not laziness. It is a real physiological and psychological response to sustained high-stress performance demands. Students who hit burnout in late April lose momentum at exactly the moment they need it most. The parents who understand what burnout looks like, and what helps versus what makes it worse, keep their students going through May in much better shape.
What AP Exam Burnout Actually Looks Like
Burnout in a high-achieving student does not always look like falling apart. Sometimes it looks like a student who is still going through the motions, attending school, doing homework, but has stopped being able to actually absorb new information or do their best work. The grades may not drop immediately. The energy is gone before the performance drops.
Signs to watch for in the next four weeks: your student is studying but not retaining anything they review. They are sleeping longer than usual or having trouble sleeping. They are irritable in ways that are out of proportion to normal stress. They have stopped caring about something they previously cared about. They are talking about exams in a nihilistic way, saying that none of this matters anyway.
These are not signs that your student is weak or unprepared. They are signals that the nervous system is overloaded and needs deliberate management. The students who get through May well are not the ones who work hardest. They are the ones whose parents understood that the work only lands when the recovery is built in.
What Helps: The Evidence-Based Short List
Sleep is the most powerful cognitive performance tool available and the most commonly sacrificed by ambitious high school students in exam season. The research on pre-exam sleep is consistent: students who sleep 8 hours the night before a high-stakes test score better than students who study until midnight and sleep 5 hours. Your student’s brain consolidates what it learned during sleep. Cutting sleep to study more is a net negative for exam performance, not a trade-off.
Exercise is the second most powerful intervention. Even 20 to 30 minutes of physical activity per day during exam prep improves working memory, reduces stress hormones, and improves the quality of study time. A student who runs for 25 minutes before sitting down to review AP Biology for two hours is likely to absorb more than a student who sits at a desk for three hours without movement.
Scheduled breaks that are actually enforced. Not take a break when you feel like it, because a burned-out student will either never take breaks or disappear into a screen for hours and feel worse. Scheduled, timed breaks where the student does something genuinely restorative improve sustained study performance more than continuous cramming sessions.
What Makes Burnout Worse: What Parents Should Avoid
Asking about exam prep every day does not help. It signals to your student that you are also anxious, which adds to their stress load rather than reducing it. If your student needs to study, they know it. If they are avoiding studying, daily reminders do not solve the underlying problem.
Comparing your student to siblings, friends, or neighbors who seem to be handling exam season more smoothly is harmful. You are usually comparing your student’s inside to someone else’s outside. You do not know how those other students are actually doing. And the comparison communicates to your student that they are falling short of a standard, which does not create motivation. It creates shame.
Suggesting your student should have prepared better weeks ago is not useful now. What happened in February is not actionable in April. Focus on what can be done well in the 28 days ahead.
How to Actually Support Your Student Through May
The most useful thing most parents can do is handle the logistics around your student without adding to the conversation about exams. Make sure they have food they like. Make sure the house is calm during study blocks. Make sure exam dates and materials are handled logistically so they do not have to think about that. Show up as a steady, low-anxiety presence in the background.
When your student does want to talk, listen without immediately problem-solving. Sometimes a student who says I am stressed about AP Chemistry wants you to listen and reflect back what they said, not immediately offer a study strategy. Ask: What would help most right now? Let them tell you. That question does more to preserve the relationship and the student’s autonomy than a solution they did not ask for.
After the last exam on May 15, let your student decompress without immediately turning the conversation to next steps. The college process will continue. The summer planning will happen. But a student who gets a few days to actually exhale after May re-engages with what comes next from a much better place than a student whose parents filled the post-exam gap with the next checklist before the exhaustion even lifted.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the signs of AP exam burnout in high school students?
Signs include studying without retaining information, disrupted sleep, irritability out of proportion to normal stress, loss of interest in things the student previously cared about, and nihilistic statements about exams not mattering. Burnout in high-achieving students does not always look like falling apart. It often looks like a student still going through the motions but no longer able to do their best work. The performance drop may follow the energy loss by days or weeks.
How can parents help reduce AP exam stress?
Handle logistics without adding to the conversation about exams. Make sure your student has good food, a calm environment, and all exam materials sorted. Show up as a low-anxiety presence. When your student wants to talk, listen before problem-solving. Ask what would help most and let them tell you. Avoid asking about prep daily, making comparisons to other students, or reviewing what should have been done differently weeks ago.
Should students study the night before AP exams?
Light review of key formulas or concepts the evening before is fine. Intense studying until midnight is not. The research is consistent: sleep the night before a high-stakes test has a larger positive effect on performance than additional study time. A student who sleeps 8 hours and reviews notes for 30 minutes in the morning is better positioned than a student who studied until 1 AM and slept 5 hours.
Do AP exam scores still matter if my student is already admitted to college?
Yes, in two specific ways. First, many colleges award course credit or placement for AP scores of 3, 4, or 5, which can reduce required courses and save on tuition. Second, some colleges can rescind admission for a significant drop in academic performance in senior year. If your student is a senior, continuing to take school seriously through the end of the year matters regardless of AP exam outcomes.
What is the best study schedule for AP exams in April?
A structured four-week plan works best: week one for diagnosis and targeted content review based on where the most points are being lost; week two for continued content review and free-response practice; week three for at least one full timed practice exam under real conditions; week four for refinement and exam-day logistics. No new content in the final week. Protect sleep throughout. The College Board releases prior-year practice materials at no cost for every AP exam.
Tony Le is a former UC Berkeley Admissions Reader and UCLA Outreach Director with 15+ years of college admissions coaching experience. A full-ride scholarship recipient to UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UCI, Tony has helped 500+ students gain admission to top universities including Stanford, Harvard, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Columbia. Featured in the Wall Street Journal. Official TikTok College Admissions Educational Partner. Founder of egelloC.
Tony works with a focused group of families each year. Book a free strategy call to see if it is the right fit.
Inside the Admissions Office: How a Reader Reviews Your Student’s Application
I was an admissions reader at UC Berkeley. I read hundreds of applications. Most parents picture something very different from what actually happens in that room. Let me tell you exactly what I was looking for and why some applications stayed with me long after I closed the folder.
When families ask me what admissions officers care about, I always say the same thing: stop guessing and start understanding how the process actually works. Because the gap between what most families imagine is happening and what is actually happening in the admissions office is large, and it changes everything about how you should prepare your student’s application.
An admissions reader at a highly selective university typically spends eight to twelve minutes on an application during first read. That is it. Eight minutes. Your student’s four years of effort, reduced to twelve minutes of attention. Understanding what happens in those twelve minutes is the single most important thing a family can know about this process.
The First 90 Seconds: Grades and Course Rigor
The first thing I look at is the transcript. Not the GPA in isolation, the full transcript in context. I want to see the pattern of courses and how grades moved over time. A student who takes 6 AP courses and earns mostly Bs has a different academic profile than a student who takes 8 AP courses and earns mostly As. Both might have the same GPA. The courses tell me more about ambition and intellectual courage.
School context matters enormously. A 4.1 GPA from a school that offers 8 AP courses means something different than a 4.1 GPA from a school that offers 25 AP courses and where a significant percentage of students earn 4.5 or above. Admissions offices have school profiles for most high schools in their applicant pool. We know what is available at your student’s school. We read the transcript in that context.
What I want to see in the first 90 seconds: a challenging curriculum, strong grades in that curriculum, and an upward or consistently strong trend. What concerns me: grades that drop significantly in 10th or 11th grade without explanation, a course load that softens in senior year, or grades that suggest a student stopped trying once they thought their college applications were complete.
Minutes Two Through Four: Activities and Context
After the transcript, I move to the activities section. I am not counting activities. I am reading them for coherence, depth, and evidence of genuine investment.
The student who has done 12 activities for one year each reads as scattered. The student who has done 4 activities for 3 to 4 years each, with increasing responsibility, reads as focused and committed. Depth over breadth is not a cliche. It is what every experienced admissions reader is actually looking for.
I also look at activities in context of the essays. If a student says they are passionate about environmental justice and their activities list has nothing related to environmental work, that disconnect is noticeable. Consistency between what students say they care about and what they have actually done with their time is one of the strongest signals in an application.
At UC Berkeley, I was reading Personal Insight Questions, not Common App essays. The PIQ that worked best was not the one with the most dramatic story. It was the one where I felt like I understood something real about how this student thinks. The voice needed to feel genuine. When I read an essay and thought, ‘this sounds like every other application,’ that was a problem. When I read an essay and thought, ‘I know exactly who this person is,’ that file stayed with me in committee.
Minutes Five Through Eight: Essays as the Tiebreaker
By the time I reach the essays in a competitive applicant pool, I often have a working hypothesis about this student. The grades and activities have told me something. The essays either confirm, deepen, or complicate that picture.
The essays I remember are not the ones with the most dramatic stories. A student who climbed Kilimanjaro is not more interesting than a student who wrote brilliantly about their grandmother’s kitchen and what cooking taught them about failure. The quality of the writing and the quality of the thinking matter far more than the prestige or drama of the topic.
Three things kill an otherwise strong essay. First, telling me what to think instead of showing me the experience and letting me conclude. Second, writing about a challenge and then pivoting immediately to how it was resolved and made them stronger, without spending any real time in the difficulty. Third, writing in a voice that clearly belongs to a consultant or a parent rather than to the student. I have read thousands of essays. An overly polished, voice-scrubbed essay reads differently than a genuine one. Authenticity is not a vague quality. It is a specific thing that experienced readers recognize immediately.
What Happens in Committee
At competitive schools, applications go to committee after initial reads. A reader who is enthusiastic about an application will advocate for it. A reader who is neutral will not. Your goal with every part of the application is to give the person reading it a reason to be your student’s advocate in that room.
What makes a reader advocate for an application: a specific, memorable quality that makes the student feel real. Not generic excellence. Not just great grades and lots of activities. Something that makes a reader think, ‘This student will bring something particular to this campus that we do not currently have.’ That is the bar. Meet it anywhere in the application and the whole file looks different.
The recommendation letters are the final piece I read. A generic recommendation from an impressive teacher does almost nothing. A specific recommendation from a teacher who clearly knows the student deeply and can describe specific moments and intellectual growth adds real texture. When the recommendation matches and deepens what I already know from the transcript and essays, the application coheres. That coherence is what gets applications admitted.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do admissions officers spend on each application?
At most selective universities, a first-read typically takes eight to twelve minutes. At highly selective schools with very large applicant pools, some first reads are shorter. Applications that survive first read and go to committee receive more time. The implication for applicants is that every element of the application must be clear, specific, and easy to understand quickly. Long, complex essays that require multiple reads to appreciate are not working for you.
What do admissions officers look at first?
The transcript is almost always the first stop. Grades and course rigor in context of what was available at the student’s school. After the transcript, activities and the application as a whole. Essays are typically read after the academic and activity picture is established, because they either confirm or complicate the profile the reader has already formed.
What makes a college essay memorable to an admissions reader?
Specificity and genuine voice. Not the drama of the topic but the quality of the thinking on the page. Readers who have reviewed thousands of essays know immediately when an essay sounds like the student and when it has been over-edited by an adult. The essay that makes a reader feel they know exactly who this person is, based purely on how they think and write, is the essay that gets remembered in committee.
Do recommendation letters matter in the admissions process?
Yes, especially at schools that use holistic review. A generic recommendation from a notable teacher does almost nothing. A specific recommendation from a teacher who can describe particular moments, intellectual growth, and the student’s specific impact adds real texture to the file. When the recommendation matches and deepens what is already clear from the transcript and essays, the application coheres in a way that is genuinely hard to replicate.
What is the biggest mistake students make on their college applications?
Telling rather than showing. Students who write about how hard they work, how much they love learning, or how passionate they are about their interest are making a claim without evidence. Readers are looking for the specific detail that demonstrates those qualities without the student having to assert them. Show me one specific moment, one particular problem, one concrete decision. That is infinitely more compelling than three paragraphs of self-description.
Tony Le is a former UC Berkeley Admissions Reader and UCLA Outreach Director with 15+ years of college admissions coaching experience. A full-ride scholarship recipient to UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UCI, Tony has helped 500+ students gain admission to top universities including Stanford, Harvard, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Columbia. Featured in the Wall Street Journal. Official TikTok College Admissions Educational Partner. Founder of egelloC.
Tony works with a focused group of families each year. Book a free strategy call to see if it is the right fit.
How to Write a Letter of Continued Interest After Being Waitlisted
Getting waitlisted is not a rejection. But how you respond to it can make the difference between getting off that waitlist or not. The letter of continued interest is one of the few moments in college admissions where a student has full control over what comes next. Here is how to write one that actually works.
Your student got waitlisted. Maybe at their first-choice school, maybe at a school they really wanted. The initial sting fades quickly once you realize the waitlist is not a closed door. Colleges do take students off waitlists, and a well-written letter of continued interest, often called a LOCI, is one of the most powerful tools a student has to improve their chances of being one of them.
I have seen students move off waitlists at highly selective schools after sending thoughtful, specific LOCI letters. I have also seen students send form letters that accomplish nothing. The difference is almost always specificity. The generic letter signals low interest. The specific letter signals real commitment.
What Is a Letter of Continued Interest and Why Does It Matter
A letter of continued interest is a short message you send to the admissions office after being waitlisted, expressing that you still want to attend, that the school is a genuine priority, and ideally providing meaningful updates since you submitted your application.
Most colleges that waitlist students will tell you explicitly whether they accept LOCI letters. Check the waitlist notification email or the admissions portal for instructions. Some schools say ‘respond here to join the waitlist.’ Some have a portal form. Some say you may send a letter to a specific email address. A small number say nothing beyond accepting or declining the waitlist spot. Follow whatever instructions they give you.
The LOCI does two things in the admissions office. First, it signals that if the school offers admission from the waitlist, the student will actually enroll. Yield rate matters enormously to admissions offices. A waitlisted student who communicates strong interest is more likely to contribute to yield if admitted. Second, it gives the admissions reader new information to attach to the file: a student who has grown, achieved more, or committed more clearly since applying.
When to Send the LOCI
Send it within one week of accepting your spot on the waitlist. Do not wait. The weeks immediately after decisions come out are when admissions offices are reviewing their waitlists most actively. Being early and responsive communicates exactly the kind of initiative colleges are trying to identify.
Some students send a second brief update in mid-April if they have genuinely significant new information to share, such as a major award, a state or national competition result, or a significant project completion. A second message is only worth sending if the update is genuinely meaningful. Do not send a second message just to stay visible. That signals anxiety, not strength.
After May 1, waitlist movement often accelerates as schools see their deposit numbers and identify gaps in their incoming class. Decisions from the waitlist typically come in May and June, sometimes as late as July or August for schools filling very specific spots. Your student should commit to a school they love by May 1 regardless of waitlist status.
The Letter of Continued Interest: What to Include
The LOCI should be short. One page maximum, and most are shorter. It is not a second application essay. It is a professional letter that covers three things: strong interest, meaningful updates, and a clear close.
Strong interest means being specific about why this school. Not ‘I love the culture and academics.’ That tells the reader nothing. Specific means: ‘After visiting in February and sitting in on a seminar in the Cognitive Science department, I am even more certain that the interdisciplinary program structure here is where I want to spend the next four years.’ Name a professor, a program, a course, a research lab, a campus tradition. Show that you have done the research.
Meaningful updates means real news. A new achievement, a completed project, a meaningful leadership development, a grade trend that shows continued growth. The update does not have to be dramatic. It has to be real and specific. ‘I completed my AP Research project and it was selected for our school’s research symposium’ is meaningful. ‘I am still working hard’ is not.
A clear close means one sentence confirming that if admitted, your student will enroll. Colleges call this an ‘intention to enroll’ or a ‘commitment statement.’ It carries real weight. Do not be vague about it. ‘If I am offered admission from the waitlist, I will enroll’ is the right close.
What to Leave Out of the LOCI
Do not explain why you were surprised to be waitlisted. Do not include new test scores unless they are significantly higher than what you submitted and genuinely strengthen your profile. Do not attach a new essay. Do not apologize for anything. Do not mention what schools you have been admitted to, unless one of those schools is a highly competitive school and you are writing to a school that uses demonstrated interest heavily and might infer from the comparison that you are a stronger candidate than your file suggested. Even then, be careful with that framing.
Do not call repeatedly or send multiple emails asking for updates. One LOCI, one optional meaningful update if justified, and then patient waiting. Admissions offices are managing hundreds or thousands of waitlisted students simultaneously. Aggressive follow-up does not help.
A Sample LOCI Structure
Opening paragraph: Express that you are writing to confirm your continued strong interest in the school, and that you were glad to accept your spot on the waitlist.
Second paragraph: Provide one or two specific updates since your application was submitted. Be concrete. Numbers, project names, award titles, quantifiable results.
Third paragraph: Reaffirm why this school specifically. Name something you could not name in another letter. A course, a lab, a professor, a specific program element.
Closing sentence: ‘If I am offered admission from the waitlist, I will commit to [School Name] immediately.’
Total length: 250 to 350 words. No more. Short is stronger. A focused, confident letter beats a long, anxious one every time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do letters of continued interest actually help?
Yes, in many cases. Colleges that use demonstrated interest as an admissions factor pay attention to LOCI letters. Even schools that claim not to track demonstrated interest will note when a waitlisted student confirms strong intent to enroll, because yield matters to every admissions office. A specific, genuine LOCI letter from a student who provides meaningful updates and clearly wants to attend is read differently than a file with no follow-up.
How long should a letter of continued interest be?
Keep it to 250 to 350 words. One page at most. The LOCI is not a second application essay. It is a focused professional letter that communicates strong interest, provides meaningful updates, and closes with a clear enrollment intention. A shorter, more focused letter reads as more confident and controlled than a long, sprawling one.
What should I update in my letter of continued interest?
Share real news from since you submitted your application: a significant award, a completed project, a leadership role you stepped into, a grade trend showing continued growth, or a meaningful recognition. The update does not have to be dramatic, but it must be specific and genuine. Vague references to continuing to work hard add nothing to the letter.
Should my student commit to another school while on the waitlist?
Yes. Your student should commit to a school they genuinely like by May 1 regardless of waitlist status. Waitlist decisions typically come in May and June, sometimes as late as August. Waiting without committing is a mistake. Once a deposit is made at another school, if an offer comes from the waitlist your student can evaluate it and decide. The deposit at the first school is typically non-refundable, but that is the cost of keeping options open.
Is it worth staying on the waitlist at a school my student is not sure about?
Probably not, if the uncertainty is genuine. Staying on the waitlist communicates continued interest to the admissions office. If your student writes a strong LOCI and then does not enroll if admitted, that affects the school’s yield data and wastes a spot that could go to someone who genuinely wants it. If your student is not sure they would actually choose the school over their committed option, declining the waitlist spot is the cleaner choice.
Tony Le is a former UC Berkeley Admissions Reader and UCLA Outreach Director with 15+ years of college admissions coaching experience. A full-ride scholarship recipient to UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UCI, Tony has helped 500+ students gain admission to top universities including Stanford, Harvard, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Columbia. Featured in the Wall Street Journal. Official TikTok College Admissions Educational Partner. Founder of egelloC.
Tony works with a focused group of families each year. Book a free strategy call to see if it is the right fit.