Of course this is anecdotal and I don’t want to debate TO policies. Am more curious as to whether or not this phenomenon was widely seen (more WL etc) or is it just limited to a few schools.
From the different stuff I have seen, it is only the case for a small number of very popular colleges, and not even all of those. I think that the increased number of wait listed applicants is because those colleges which have had a huge increase in applications are ones which are “correlated”, i.e., students who are accepted to one are likely to be accepted to others on the list. That can make the yields of these colleges less predictable, increasing the benefits to that college of having a wait list.
That’s a good point. Anecdotally, I’ve heard a few friends mention the # of waitlists their child was put on this year (found it to be surprising). Will be interesting how it all shakes out over time. I have junior and wonder about the impact next year (although he most likely won’t be applying to many, if any, super selective schools so may be a moot point for him).