<p>Topic.....</p>
<p>Not necessarily.
Funny story, a couple of years ago a friend of mine got waitlisted at Princeton or Harvard or one of the Big Three schools.
On the very last day before the Rice enrollment deposit was due, she was just about to give up on Princeton/whatever school it was and submit her stuff to Rice.
But then they contacted her and told her she got in.</p>
<p>No. With students applying to so many colleges it becomes a bit difficult for a college to accurately predict their yield. Sometimes there are no spots, sometimes there are many. I was waitlisted several places last year, and found out relatively early I was admitted into the Duke class of 2010 where I currently am. A few people at my school had similar fates as it seemed several of us were on 2-4 waitlists. It's about showing the school you still care and a bit of luck.</p>
<p>You can often find out how colleges use their wait lists by looking up the number who accept spots on the wait list and number admitted from the wait list in the common data sets or USNews Guide. Some schools admit only a few (or none) from the waitlist each year; others fluctuate a bit; still others plan on "going to the waitlist" every year in order to not overshoot enrollment targets (or for other reasons, less noble reasons :)</p>
<p>It also depends on the size of the waitlist. My son was waitlisted at a school. There were as many students on the waitlist as had been admitted to the school. When there are that many students on the WL to begin with, chances of admission is very slim.</p>
<p>Some schools use the waitlist as a 'soft deny' so in some cases, yes. But you may have a chance to be admitted. It's hard to know.</p>
<p>It depends in great part on the choices your admitted peers make. If fewer of them than expected elect to attend the school, then your chances of being admitted from the waitlist are better.</p>
<p>You can use CDS information to make some assumptions about the waitlist, but it can also be misleading. For example, Michigan accepted almost no people off its wailist for three years in a row, and numerous people on the U-M forum claimed this was evidence that one "never" gets in off the waitlist. But for Fall 2006, U-M ended up taking several hundred people off the waitlist.</p>
<p>Depends on the school. Some admit more. Stanford, for instance, admitted only 15 waitlisted students. All in all, chances are slim.</p>
<p>In the movie Commando, Arnold Schwarzenegger said:</p>
<p>"You're a funny man, Sully. I like you. That's why I'm going to kill you last"</p>
<p>Wailtlist is something like that.</p>
<p>^ wow well said</p>
<p>thats awesome man.....reddogarchie!!! two big thumbs up!!!</p>
<p>Although many schools are moving in the direction of getting rid of deferrals as soft rejections. For example, Northwestern really only defers those who they really need to consider again.</p>
<p>Pretty much.... j/k.
Deferred is not automatic rejection but the chances become much slimmer, specially in the ultra-competitive colleges.</p>
<p>I love college admissions! Whenever I think about it, I always remember that I will always remember the place I went to school - either as a FAILURE or a success. And then I get really anxious and remember that my kids are depending on me to provide them with legacy status at top colleges. As a father, I never want to hear the question - well Daddy, why didn't you go to this really prestigious school???</p>
<p>That will probably never happen (the kid question, not the rejection, unfortunately), but then again, it kind of sucks.</p>
<p>Ooop, and I'm anxious again. Great. I love this website. Perfect combination of procrastination and the ability to talk things out, in a calm, professional manner.</p>
<p>**** those <strong><em>ing *</em></strong> a** ****ers! </p>
<p>Just kidding!!! ;-)</p>
<p>Don't worry about the kids asking you about legacy. My H and I both went to really prestigious schools. My d applied to neither of them.</p>
<p>Alright - I just see the statistic of 3.3 million more kids applying to college by the time I have kids... it woudl be a nice gift to give them legacy status.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>