It was wonderful to see this in my inbox today (names/school redacted)
“Thanks so much for your help and for sharing your thoughts! I should mention that I really respect your commitment to add more data and transparency to this process, and your desire to improve the ethics of the current system.
Also, just a little note, that I saw someone’s question posed to you online, “what can I do so late in process to get off the waitlist?” to which you suggested, “why not give them a call.” My experience seemed to confirm that advice. Throughout the waitlist process, I periodically (~once every three weeks) sent updates whenever I hit a new event, such as starting a new job, or facing an upcoming deadline. Each time I was clear to reiterate my level of interest in **(T10 school) **and the reasons for this. I also called the admissions office once in July when I had a housing fee coming up, and once more the first week of August when I was preparing to fill out my federal loan applications. This time, the director called me back that morning saying that the committee was actually just going to meet about my file that afternoon and they were actively considering me, and I was admitted later the same afternoon. It was quite a combination of persistence, timing and luck.” -Happy Person.