<p>Colleges</a> grow their waitlists, leaving more students in limbo - chicagotribune.com</p>
<p>The number of schools using waitlists is on the rise, according to the National Association for College Admissions Counseling. In 2010, 48 percent of colleges reported using a waitlist, up from 39 percent in 2009 and 35 percent in 2008. At the same time, the number of students plucked from standby decreased, from 34 percent to 28 percent.</p>
<p>I understand that the overall admissions and decisions process is becoming more unpredictable, but it’s not like these colleges don’t calculate approximate yield rates beforehand. I think it’s quite ridiculous to wait list thousands of kids if, realistically, at most around 200 (most I’ve heard of any school) will be taken off. Even taking into account the people that choose to turn down their spots on the wait list, there seems to be a surplus of candidates. At this point I’ve come to view spots on wait lists as commendations for “good effort” (not that I should be complaining, I still can’t believe I got into UChicago and some other great places)…</p>
<p>Yeah, I also suspect that sometimes waitlisting a student may be used as a quick way to resolve an admissions committee stalemate and move on.</p>
<p>The problem is that colleges need a large waitlist pool to draw on because they want to maintain a balanced class. If a disproportionate number of Asian flutists, for example, turn down their offers of admission at UChicago/etc, they’ll want to be able to pick more such students off their waitlist. Etc. So they can’t just offer waitlist spots to the number of kids they might actually end up taking off.</p>
<p>Glassesarechic:</p>
<p>If that’s the case, why have colleges just recently begun growing their waitlists? Wouldn’t your such policy encourage larger waitlists consistently? This article points to a change in the size of a waitlist, and I’m not sure if schools are more concerned with having enough “Asian flutists” now than they were in 2004.</p>
<p>I think the admissions arms race with kids putting in apps to a dozen or more schools throws off any previous yield algorhythm used by the schools. Compounding this is UChicago’s not having ED; potential yield cannot be predicted, ergo the enormous lists…</p>
<p>“And despite the daunting odds, some with this indeterminate status do get the nod. Evan Cudworth of the U. of C.'s admissions office said 15 wait-listed students had their ticket punched this month to Hyde Park.”</p>
<p>WHAT?</p>
<p>I am sorry if I am mis-reading this, but to my understanding, this means 1. only 15 people are getting off the wait-list, or 2. there are already 15 that got off the waitlist.</p>
<p>Am I doing it right?</p>
<p>could be both. They already took off 15, but that may be all they’re taking off…or maybe not.</p>
<p>If they’re only taking those 15 students from the WL, then they should have the decency to tell everybody else they won’t be accepting anybody else.</p>
<p>well, the problem is that May 1st is still not here yet. What will likely happen is that if most people reject UChi by then then they’ll have more spots open, but if most people accept then 15 is all they’ll take</p>
<p>UC does not even know how many firm acceptances it is getting until May 1, and typically the wait list process extends into early July. So, it appears that UC is likely having yield issues with its initial batch of acceptances to have already taken15 names off the wait list prior to May 1.</p>
<p>muckdogs: As it’s only 15 people, I don’t know if it’s yield issues as much as perhaps a few specifically sought admits declining (i.e. maybe some athletes).</p>
<p>Cue7 maybe right. Rumor saying UC has seen a good number of people accepting already.</p>
<p>where are these rumors you speak of?</p>
<p>Further rumor has it that they are already close to over-enrolled… or rather, even more over-enrolled that the class of 2015 was. Basically, no one else is getting off the wait list. I have no idea where they’re going to house everyone.</p>
<p>May have to do with the USNWR rankings too. More likely to choose the higher-ranked school. Very unreliable evidence, but I’ve seen a ton of people choose Chicago over peers that maybe before would have gone elsewhere.</p>
<p>I chose UChicago over Brown, Stanford, and Berkeley. The strong academic presence in what I want to major in really sealed it for me.</p>
<p>@UChicago3 is this inside info? i thought the increase in applications this year would make yield a lot less, and so they’d be compelled to use the wait list.</p>
<p>Chaldo:</p>
<p>The general trend for UChicago is that the application numbers go up, and the yield goes up as well.</p>
<p>How does that work? UChicago is over enrolled, yet they still accepted 15 kids off of the waiting list. Why would they take students from the wait list if they’re over enrolled? Don’t they generally accept students from the wait list once they realize many students won’t be attending?</p>