“For the third consecutive year, interest in Colby College from the most talented college applicants has surged. Colby received 11,190 applications for one of the 500 spots in the Class of 2021, up 14 percent from last year and 117 percent from 2014.” …
http://www.colby.edu/news/2017/03/01/applications-to-colby-surge-for-third-straight-year/
I wish they’d reinstate the “Why Colby” essay.
sucks for those of us who were deferred
^Not necessarily! The admissions office may have been more conservative in their ED applicants in anticipation of a surge. Who knows? I know last year they also received a huge surge in applications but some students still were accepted after being deferred. Remain hopeful and express interest!
In combination with its dramatic increase in applications, Colby may need to consider its admission yield, recently ~29%.
Given limited options for housing “extra” students, I think their biggest concern will be making sure they don’t over-enroll. Schools typically plan to go to their WL to match students and beds precisely. I have no inside information on this, but am guessing that will be the case based on current housing.
when do you guys think we’ll hear back?
No telling. I’ve googled and found nothing.
@rangersfan800 i was deferred too, but hey! we still have a chance 
In my opinion the “application surge” was because they cold-call emailed students a free app w/no supp essay. This alone prompted why son to apply. He was not considering Colby before then, and applied to diversify his college app portfolio (hey, why not?). He was WL (3.7uw,4.0wtd, 1390 SAT). I fully believe that in order to strengthen its rankings in dubious lists like USNWR, Colby has increased its denominator to make its overall acceptance rate incredibly small. (WL kids do not count in the admitted column). This has also caused a huge surge in WL kids, as Colby (& other schools who did the same thing), is now uncertain of its yield. It has no real way to separate the truly interested applicants from those who apply on a lark (like my son – who, to be honest, would have taken a hard look at Colby if he had gotten in). So, you are left with a WL that is larger than the actual # of admittees! Crazy. My son will give up his WL spot so that someone who truly wants to go to Colby has a slightly greater chance of getting in off the WL. Best wishes to all of you – remember it’s not the college you go to, but the things you do once you get to college that make a difference!