someone posted this below in the waitlist statistics post. I was curious too how this works.
You have to notify your college that you’re either going or not by May 1st
but don’t the waitlist admit decisions come out sometime after that? in fact sometime in June?
<p>The waitlist is there to prevent underenrollment in case an unusually large number of people decide not to attend via the May 1 deadline.</p>
<p>So yes: you notify the college you're accepting that has accepted you that you're attending by May 1. Once they tally that information, they determine if they're underenrolled. If they are, then they go to the waitlist and do a mini-approval of the applications they have there, notifying the admitted in June. </p>
<p>Yes, that means if you get in off the waitlist you have to forfeit your deposit to your May 1st school. They allow you to do this.</p>
<p>My waitlist letter said that as vacancies occur between NOW and registration, they would check back to the waiting list.</p>
<p>Guess it depends on what the letter says and what the admissions officer tells you.</p>