Hi guys, long story short, I've been admitted by 2 Ivys so far. Very happy with current outcome of my applications.

However, one of my preferred universities in the US (not an Ivy) rejected me. I know that each university has different pool of applicants and assesses applications differently.

But I think my application was not only really strong for that university, but undoubtedly much stronger that some applicants I know. I think that if instead of applying for the general LLM I applied for one of their specialized programs, my chances would've been higher.

So, do you believe it's worth a shot to send them an email elaborating that they are my dream school, that I've prepared myself for this moment so hard, blablabla, and requesting them to at least place me in a waiting list?

I know this is not customary, and chances of success are really low. But...

I am actually kind of in the same boat. There is one ivy league I had actually worked really hard for. I have built my CV around the required profile for 3 years now to include all publications, relevant work experience and other activities. Everyone from my workplace who have applied in previous years got in and mostly with a scholarship. I was pretty sad when I saw the rejection email. I had written back to the same email asking for reasons. But if it is a possibility to write an email for them to consider placing me in the reserved list at least, I would like to give it a shot. Please keep me updated in case you hear about success rates of doing this or otherwise.

thanks for the info 

[Edited by Board Admin on Mar 15, 2024]