Acceptance and Waitlists!

Sure, occasionally, there will be movement from a wait list, but I will repeat from a previous post. No one can chance anyone for getting off a WL because 1) No one knows why you were wait listed and 2) WLs are used to fill holes left by those who choose not to matriculate. So, if a hole is for a female dancer, no males stand a chance. If a hole is for a male soccer player, the female dancer doesn’t stand a chance. If all FA has been allocated, then no student requiring FA has a shot unless an FA admit declines and returns adequate funds to the pool. See how this works?

Also, wait lists can be deep (even more than the number of admitted students), are not ranked, and one student declining an offer of admission ≠ one student pulled from the waitlist. For example, if a school wants to enroll 100 students and typically has an annual yield of 70%, they will send admission letters to 142 applicants. Only after the 43th person declines will they be underenrolled and need to consider going to their waitlist.

The waitlist operates as a safety net for the school and, in a good year, it will never be used. The schools plan on a certain percentage of their offers being declined. If and only if the actual number exceeds that figure will there be movement on the waitlist due to inadequate enrollment, so to get off the WL, a school will have to have over-estimated its yield. Then, when a school does go to the WL, it is to replace the profile of a student who declined. I know this can be hard to hear when you are waiting, but it does help to explain why a school may not go to its WL even if you know kids who have declined spots or, due to a profile match, why one kid gets off the WL over another.

We have a pinned thread that runs the gamut on how to deal with wait lists. You might start with this classic response which pretty much covers it.

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