<p>When you are waitlisted for a school does it mean that:
1)if a student accepted chooses not to go to that school, you would take their place?
Would you be informed if you've been accepted before confirmation dates?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Here is my understanding:</p>
<p>If you are waitlisted, you will be accepted should the school’s projected yield not come to fruition (more kids decline admission than they thought would). But here’s the catch…your position on that waiting list. You could be first, in which case you’d be admitted if one student opts out or they have a vacancy for another reason (non-returning student). You could also be 23rd (I’m just making that up)…in which case you’d need to 23 kids to decline/withdraw OR every kid on the list ahead of you to decline/accept somewhere else.</p>
<p>Based on what I’ve read here, acceptances off waitlist can come as soon as the week of March 11th or as late as the summer — with post April 10th being the most common window, as student decisions have to be in by then.</p>
<p>I think it’s a bit more complicated.</p>
<p>To begin with, there are two phases; the initial phase while the school is awaiting the decisions of the kids to fill their class initially, and once they’ve filled the class, how many withdraw before school starts.</p>
<p>I also don’t believe there is a strictly ordered list; the schools are looking to fill a class, so they may very well choose down the list to ensure that the programs they particularly value have a steady flow of students, and/or maintain some balance among the sexes, etc…</p>
<p>The selective schools manage their admissions rates VERY, VERY carefully. Yes, the schools do admit more kids than they expect will actually enroll (# that actually matriculate divided by # admitted = YIELD RATE), but they manage the numbers just as airlines intentionally overbook seats on flights, because airlines expect a historical percentage of passengers that are no-shows.</p>
<p>The AO we spoke to at S’s BS said that in many years ZERO kids come off the WL.</p>