Got into a T15, which is great - but unfortunately I've been waitlisted at THREE other schools. I would consider any of my 3 waitlisted schools a significant upgrade over my current school.
I'm in an okay spot, but my current concern is how to manage multiple waitlists. Obviously you want to write a letter, talk to people/get an additional rec, etc. But it feels dirty saying "you're my first choice school - I would immediately enroll if accepted!" to multiple schools. I also don't want to expend the social capital to get in somewhere, when I could very well receive another offer down the line.
With waitlist acceptances hovering around 10%, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself in assuming I'll have this problem. But is this the classic "prisoner's dilemma"?
Would love to hear from people who are currently or have previously been in similar situations.
First of all, congrats on getting into a T15 school!
Don't worry about playing "dirty" with your waitlists, the chances that all 3 will accept you from waitlist is extremely low (if not impossible). As such, do the best that you can to at least get into one of them. You'll forget in a few weeks/months what you had to do, but if at least one of these schools accepts you, it sounds like it could be a life changing event/opportunity.
You 100% need to say "you're my first choice school - I would immediately enroll if accepted!" to multiple schools.
Ride out those lists, let them know they remain your "first" choice. If the schools' yield is low enough anything can happen. I saw people joining classes from other schools even in late August.
As everyone said, you should try your hardest to get into any of those schools and you definitely shouldn't care about feeling dirty or anything like that.
On the other hand, different schools have different strategy when it comes to yield and waitlist management and as a result, I would try to focus on those that historically have had more movement on their waitlist. For example, Booth has been trying to improve the quality of its students and will happily accept candidates that seem likely to get in a better school (and will often offer them $$$). As expected, a large % of admired candidate end up with another offer they prefered so Booth's yield is very low (56%) and they generally offer a lot of seats to people on the waitlist. CBS on the other hand really want incoming students to show that CBS is their first choice which translate into a lower acceptance rate than its peers, but a yield (74%) that is 10%+ higher than its peers and bettered only by HBS (91%) and GSB (84%). Obviously, CBS sees less movement on its waitlist.
Obviously, there are other factors than acceptance rate and yield to take into consideration, but I think looking at these metrics is pretty helpful in thinking about where your chances are best. Good luck!!
https://poetsandquants.com/2016/04/13/business-schools-get-students-wan…
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