Clarifications about being Waitlisted

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>I applied to 8 private schools - 7 CommonApp schools and USC. I was accepted to USC and have heard back from three CommonApp schools. I have been waitlisted at all three, and I believe all of them had acceptance rates in the range of 15-20%.</p>

<p>I went to Rice's waitlist information website and they say, "Your application received strong enough support from the Admission Committee to be approved for admission. However, Rice's small size (only 950 new students) prevents us from admitting all such students."</p>

<p>Basically, my question is this: Do colleges mean it when they say that your application was strong enough for acceptance (and the only limiting factor was space), or do they just say that to make you feel better? Could someone with knowledge about this please advise me? I want clarification on what it means to be waitlisted. Thank you so much for any input!</p>

2

<p>bumppp 10char</p>

3

<p>Well… if you’re waitlisted, that means that you’re good enough to attend their school. You’ve met their standards, they just have a lot of other students who seem to meet those standards… better, for lack of a better word.</p>

<p>Waitlisting sucks, I know what you’re going through… I’ve gotten a couple myself. haha. I just see it as semi-flattering that I’m good enough, but it’s disappointing that I’m not admitted. So bittersweet with emphasis on the bitter.</p>