Pull the steps out of a college waitlist letter

About this exercise

You were waitlisted at a college and the letter has steps and dates. Get exactly 4 numbered lines in plain text, under 80 words: 1. the deadline to accept a spot on the waitlist, using the corrected date; 2. how to accept; 3. the optional update letter's word limit and due date; 4. when decisions will come. No advice about other schools. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

• Missing the correction. The AI gives April 15 from the letter. Try: Add: "Use the corrected April 8 deadline."
• Summarizing the letter. The AI recaps the applicant numbers and the compliments. Try: Say: "Only the 4 facts, one per line."
• Adding advice. The AI tells you what to do about other colleges. Try: Add: "No advice about other schools."
• Missing the details. The AI says you can send an update but drops the word limit or date. Try: Add: "Line 3: the update letter's word limit and due date."
• Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 80 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part: "each line under 16 words."

What a strong prompt includes

• Uses the correction
• Asks for the update letter details
• Rules out advice
• Sets the number of lines
• Sets a word limit

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