I recently wrote about aiming for the stars when it comes to college admissions. The moral of that post was to go for the gold in spite of money worries when applying to schools. What does one do, though, when these schools neither solidly accept or decline one’s application? This dreaded purgatory is also known as: the waiting list.

The College-Acceptance Asymptote Approaches
As students bite off more and more of their nails debating whether or not to attend the schools they’ve definitely gotten in to, they sit on lists for their top-choice schools. If we think about this as a graph, an asymptote emerges: the final deadline. The X axis is time; the Y axis is the number of students confirming their acceptance with the all important deposit.

Jumping the College Tracks
In his novel, Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace’s characters had come up with a game: Le Jeu du Prochain Train or The Game of the Next Train. The contestants stand at remote railway platforms waiting for the next train to come, so that they can jump across the tracks in front of it. The first to jump walks home in shame. The last to jump is the winner, provided that this person actually made it past the speeding train without being struck and killed. The acceptance deadline is a bit like this.

The first students to confirm their acceptance to a school aren’t losers by any means, but they sense the train coming. Rather than holding out for catastrophe, they confirm early and stop worrying. The real daredevils are those still on the platform, which for our purposes is the waiting list. Sure, they could jump across to one of their safety schools, but where’s the glory in that? The further they push that limit; the more likely they are to get off the list because other applicants are jumping to safety all the time. As more confirm, more spots are definite one way or the other, which means the list is getting shorter. Odds for glory increase as the train [deadline] gets closer.

Ways to Avoid an Education Disaster
There are a host of options available for those unwilling to stand on the platform. First and foremost: just because you didn’t get into your dream school on the first go, doesn’t mean you can’t transfer later. If previous academic performance is keeping you out of your dream school, go to another school for a few semesters and show everyone that you mean business. Stellar marks from an accredited school look better to admissions counselors anyway, and they’re more up-to-date, which makes them more relevant to everyone concerned.

Other options: get those GE requirements out of the way at a community college or online school. Again, pulling a 4.0 at another college for a few semesters looks great when you go for the transfer. It can save you some money, too.

If you’re willing to hold out until that last second before the deadline, go ahead; go for the glory. Be sure that you leave enough time to make it past the speeding train, though. Any school is better than none at all.