In this article, we’ll be covering how to write the NYU waitlist essay.

The NYU waitlist response form is quite simple. But, of course, it’s going to be crucial that you write your waitlist essay in a manner that stands out from the rest of the highly-capable students who were also waitlisted.

Remember, students at NYU were accepted with significantly high stats. Even those who were granted a waitlist are more than capable of overshadowing most students with perfect marks and extracurriculars.

So, having a unique element to your waitlist essay and writing it to stand out amongst everyone else is vital. This isn’t particularly easy, especially if you feel like you have nothing to write about in the NYU waitlist essay. But, we’ll show you step by step how to approach it.

Table of Contents.

1. What You’re Not Allowed to Write About in the NYU Waitlist Response Form.
2. What You’re Allowed to Write About in the NYU Waitlist Response Form.
3. Writing About Accomplishments.
4. Writing About Your Continued Interest.
5. What if I Don’t Have Any Updates?

What You’re Not Allowed to Write About in the NYU Waitlist Response Form.

Here’s what NYU has to say about what not to add to their waitlist response form.

“You should not submit any new letters of recommendation, writing samples, resumes, certificates, DVDs, CDs, photos, or additional information. Please do not ask anyone to write you an additional letter of recommendation or ask that anyone calls to advocate on your behalf.”

NYU Official Website

There are no exceptions to this.

Because these rules are part of the application process, going against them can still jeopardize your acceptance rate.

Note that the admissions office puts forth these rules not just to avoid having to do an unnecessary amount of extra paperwork. At the same time, they’re already so busy, but also to see who can follow instructions.

If you choose to send materials to NYU regardless of their instructions, they may see that as a demonstration of your unwillingness to comply with proper school rules.

It should also be noted that you should not add any additional information to the NYU waitlist essay. This can be a bit odd… especially since the next part explicitly says that you may add new accomplishments or demonstrated interest in the NYU waitlist response form.

Additional information would count as any extra elements or info that is not related to accomplishments. So, new materials like portfolios or links to websites are not allowed. However, writing about having created said portfolios or new websites are allowed since they are accomplishments.

So, as a general rule: write about the accomplishments; but, don’t send materials or links to them.

What You’re Allowed to Write About in the NYU Waitlist Response Form.

“You can update us on any new accomplishments and/or relay your level of interest in NYU by way of our Waitlist Response Form online, but you should not submit any new materials whatsoever. Please also understand that given the volume of our applicant pool, we do not interview any candidates for admission and we will be unable to meet with you in person about your status on the waitlist. While you are welcome to visit NYU at any time, please do not make a special visit to campus to discuss your status on the waitlist.”

NYU Official Website

Now, here is what NYU says you may include in their waitlist response form.

You may write about the accomplishments you’ve made since your original application submission, and you may write about your interest in attending NYU.

Sometimes, students don’t really know how to tackle writing about their new accomplishments because they don’t know how to phrase it in a manner that shows the best side of them. In addition, they don’t know how to write their accomplishments in a way that stands out from the rest of the admissions pool.

The same principle applies to demonstrating continued interest in your NYU waitlist response form. When you show that you are still interested in the school, you’ll be competing against other students who also uphold NYU as their top school. So, getting accepted by showing your interest is going to be difficult when everyone else is also vying for a spot.

There are also rules for students who don’t have any accomplishments to update on; and, we’ll be covering that in the sections below.

Writing About Accomplishments.

So, you’ve got some accomplishments to share in the NYU waitlist essay. Good for you!

One of the biggest concerns students have is whether they’re going to sound cliche when they’re writing about their accomplishments. If you take a second to think about it, most students are inevitably going to sound at least a bit cliche.

Yup, that’s correct. No matter who you are, you have a high chance of sounding at least a little bit cliche when filling out the NYU waitlist response form.

Why? Well, that’s because most students actually don’t have significant opportunities to explore outside of the academic sphere at this age. They’re not building businesses or successfully becoming top influencers on social media, although some do, at the ages of 18-22. Most students don’t have the opportunities and luxury of pursuing such unique endeavors.

Thus, most student accomplishments will be limited to things within academic boundaries, competitions, and clubs.

However, here’s the catch: admissions officers know this.

The admissions office at NYU isn’t going to demand that you learn how to do underwater basketweaving and earn 1st place in Mongolian throat singing just to stand out from the crowd. There’s a limitation in what students can do within reason.

So, the key to standing out is not trying to have a unique topic or accomplishment to write about. The way to write about your accomplishments to stand out in the NYU waitlist essay is to write about the details and supplementary information pertaining to said accomplishments in a meaningful way.

1. What did you learn about this accomplishment?
2. How did it make you grow?
3. Why does it make you a great candidate?
4. What was the lesson to be learned after having achieved this accomplishment?

These are all valuable examples of supplementary information to be tacking onto your accomplishments when describing them in the NYU waitlist essay.

Writing About Your Continued Interest.

Everyone wants to attend NYU.

Though, perhaps the ones who want to attend most are the ones who are waitlisted. Victory is so close, and the chance to join the NYU community is just an inch away.

If you want to get accepted off the waitlist and write something on the NYU waitlist response form that will genuinely stun the admissions officers, you’ll need to demonstrate your continued interest in a unique and powerful way.

Typically, the biggest challenge of demonstrating continued interest in a school like NYU is in ensuring the school is capable of trusting you.

You may tell admissions officers that you really want to get in and that the school is really a dream school for you since you were little; but, how do admissions officers truly know that you’re telling the truth and not just feeding them what they want to hear so you can secure an acceptance?

It’s common, perhaps too much so, for students to claim that their intended school is their #1 school. It’s also common for such students to later reject their acceptance offer despite having told them that they would “certainly attend.”

So, how can admissions officers even determine if you’re telling the truth?

One of the best ways we recommend approaching this is to convince admissions officers that rejecting an offer from NYU would be particularly stupid for your career and intended field of study.

Let’s say for instance that you sort of knew what you wanted to do with your career when you were applying for colleges. However, it was not until a few months ago that you genuinely decided that your career path was 100% right for you and you know that you would therefore NEED the resources at NYU to truly make the most out of your future career. That is, attending another school instead of NYU would essentially be career suicide.

This along with convincing admissions officers that NYU is ultimately a smart move for your intended purposes is one of the best ways to show admissions officers that you would certainly attend and not bail at the last minute. It does not try to sneak in an acceptance with appeals to emotion, and it is honest and forthright to the admissions committee about your career intent.

What if I Don’t Have Any Updates?

This is the hard part.

If you’re writing your NYU waitlist essay and they ask you about your accomplishments, what if you don’t have any? What if you can’t update them with anything?

Well, the first step is not to panic.

The second step is to recognize and come to accept that you’ll be filling out the NYU waitlist essay with a disadvantage.

Why? Well, most students applying to top schools including NYU already know that they need to upkeep their clubs, extracurriculars, and personal projects while they’re in their senior year. Their hard work does not end once the application season is over, especially since they never know if they’ll be waitlisted and need to provide updates since their last application.

So, if you have quite literally nothing to demonstrate as an accomplishment, we recommend trying the following.

1. Really, seriously, comb through your experiences before your waitlist to see if you’ve missed any accomplishments.
2. Write about your personality and character development accomplishments.

Let’s cover the first point.

It’s often the case that students forget that accomplishments don’t have to be limited to official mentions, awards, notable honors, and titles. You don’t need an official institution backing up your accomplishment and you don’t need to have some plaque on the wall to show for it. Your accomplishment can be an increase in growth in your club or general improvements in engagement with your extracurricular.

Remember, you should not forget to write about how those experiences and accomplishments actually make you a strong candidate for NYU and why the admissions office should care. It’s not as impressive as having some new award or honorable mention; but, you should not denigrate the value of your own accomplishments since the admissions office at NYU can see the value in it. (especially if you write it well.)

The second point is on writing about your personality and character growth since your last application.

A lot of things can happen in a few months. This is especially the case for anyone between the ages of 18-22. These are sacred years: special years when any small changes can mean significant growth over time.

Thus, you should not underestimate the value of having a strong few months of soul searching, character growth, and maturity. This increase in maturity can occur in multiple ways. Perhaps you started to take some time after the application season to truly connect more with your parents outside of academic stress. Or, you decided to stand up for yourself in cases when you realized you’d otherwise be too weak to do so.

Everyone comes across moments of personal growth, and they don’t have to manifest in the form of academic performance or cool trophies. The true value in writing about personal growth, though, is demonstrating to admissions officers just how difficult and monumental a task it is to go through personal growth.

Here’s an example. Perhaps you’re too shy and self-conscious to work out and exercise at the gym. You can’t do so without letting crippling anxiety wash over you and overthrow your progress. So, you’ve taken the last few weeks to expose yourself to the gym and become more capable of working on your physical endurance despite the fear and anxiety that comes with it.

This personal development shows admissions officers a layer of growth that they may otherwise not have seen in your original application. So, this can be quite a powerful topic to write about when you have no other academic or award-winning accomplishments to display. They don’t require fancy institutions to award trophies, and they’re just as valuable to attain.

If you have any other burning questions on how to write the NYU waitlist essay, or you simply need help filling out the NYU waitlist response form, feel free to contact us for a free consultation. Here at PenningPapers, our college admissions consultants and expert essay editors have helped our clients get accepted into some of the best schools in the nation.