colleges often put people on waitlists that they know they'll never admit

<p>I'm sorry I just don't see much sense in waitlisting someone who could bring the rank of that college down..</p>

<p>And if they do, so what. If you get in, you get in. </p>

<p>Saying, "I was put on [insert prestigious college here]'s waitlist" is a lot better than saying that you were flat out rejected. It also gives you hope and an idea of what the college is looking for.</p>

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I'm sorry I just don't see much sense in waitlisting someone who could bring the rank of that college down..

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<p>Again, it depends on the school, but at some places, the students on the waitlist aren't all that different than the ones who were admitted. There were just way more applicants than spaces. </p>

<p>Even if your waitlisted students aren't as good, any admitted-off-the-waitlist freshmen are going to be a pretty small proportion of the enrolling class. They're not going to hurt the ranking.</p>

<p>They might not hurt the ranking, but they won't do as well as the other students, right??</p>

<p>I was more directing my comments towards the "Waitlisting gives the message "We don't really want you, but we'll be happy to take your tuition money and use you to fill our class IF we can't get anybody better, because you are not the absolute worst applicant this year"." said by august.</p>