Getting off the waitlist

<p>I got waitlisted by three schools!! OMG!! ahaha. Harvard, Yale, and Columbia decided to postpone my decision. So what size are these waitlists? What are my chances of getting off the waitlist? How can I improve my chance of getting off the waitlist? Any suggestions would help! Thanks!</p>

<p>I have the same question. I'm waitlisted also at Dartmouth and Swarthmore!</p>

<p>Wait... you can waitlist at however many schools you want right? And its non-binding correct? Even if they offer you a spot off the wait list, you dont have to take it do you?</p>

<p>umm...I'm not sure...but if you really don't want to go to Harvard or some other school where you are in the same predicament, you can always opt to remove your name from the waitlist...</p>

<p>how many ppl get waitlisted and how many actually get in?</p>

<p>Yeah I'm waitlisted by Caltech and Harvard. At this point I really wish I wasn't a white male from Massachusetts. Clearly the whole point of accepting minorities, females, and people from the big, empty states has gone too far.</p>

<p>Mhm, clearly too far when you, individually, are passed over. But come on, would you really go to a school where females are rarer than winter days above 45 degrees and where virtually everyone is white and asian? </p>

<p>[I'm an asian male from MA who was waitlisted by Caltech and MIT, by the way :) A little similar to your situation]</p>

<p>I mean it's an honor to be on the waitlist for a school like Harvard, but I'd like to know how many of us there are and how to get off the list.</p>

<p>Granted, Zoogies. Anyways, I just hate how it's like that at every school. If you're not a legacy or from a private feeder school, or a female asian or male/female any other minority, you can't get in straight up.</p>

<p>Waitlisted here, and at Brown, but accepted to Yale. I thought it was pretty funny. It just proves the whole admissions thing is a game of chance, in many cases. What put me over the edge at Yale? I don't know. But I'll be withdrawing from Brown's waitlist, and possibly Harvard's, indeed, probably. Gives me fewer choices to have to make; I've got Yale, Dartmouth, UVA, and W&M. But I do want Princeton now.</p>

<p>Ravenna, I'm sorta similar to you. Waitlisted at Harvard, but accepted at Yale, and nervously awaiting Princeton. It really does seem to be so random, especially when you consider that I demonstrated a TON of interest in Harvard and had an interview there, when Yale didn't get me an interview and I really didn't pay that much attention to them, LOL. At this point, I'm between Yale and Wash. U; I'll see what happens at Harvard, I really want to go there...but it's cool, I've got other good options.</p>

<p>Usually the chances are very slim of getting off Harvard's waitlist. Basically the only people who get off it are the ones who -- after Harvard gets commitments from accepted students -- happen to fulfill any criterion that would create a more well rounded class. Of course, there needs to be room in the class for Harvard to turn to the waitlist.</p>

<p>When it comes to admissions including off the waitlist, Harvard doesn't care about demonstrated interest (other than one's returning the card saying you want to be on the waitlist). With the highest yield in the country, Harvard knows that its most students' first choice.</p>

<p>i'm confused. i got waitlisted and have no idea why since some ppl from my school got in with 1700s-1900s sats. actually like 5 of them. and these ppl are lazy and dont even have good grades or commitment to activities.</p>

<p>I realize getting off one waitlist is highly difficult. But what's the chance of getting off one of three waitlists? Harvard, Yale, and Columbia are all insanely awesome institutions. I have no idea why none of them rejected me or accepted me. Crazy luck.</p>

<p>This is really crazy. I got waitlisted by Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth. Then again, I mentioned a summer program I did at Stanford on my apps to those colleges, and I got accepted to all of my colleges that I didn't mention that program on. Coincidence? I was deferred by Stanford EA though, so if that doesn't work out, I'd really want to get off the Harvard waitlist somehow.</p>

<p>I just really want to know the size of the waitlist. If it's "several hundred" like they say then the chance is better than RD. However if its over a thousand. The chance of getting off the waiting list is practically nonexistant.</p>

<p>If you are accepted off the waitlist, when do you hear?</p>

<p>I think there is a "common" date that a college must notify you of your waitlist status. I think it is August 1, but I may be wrong. Can anyone vouch for me?</p>

<p>I think that last year, Harvard told wait listers in June that no more students would be accepted from it.</p>

<p>As for when one might get accepted off the waitlist, it would probably be sometime after May 1, after Harvard gets acceptance notices from the students who plan to go there.</p>

<p>The number of waitlisted applicants who are admitted can vary substantially from year to year. It is affected by the difference between the projected and actual yield rates.</p>

<p>The number of admits - 2,109 - projects a 78% yield rate in order to achieve the planned class size of 1,650.</p>

<p>To the extent the actual yield rate falls below 78%, the slots thus opened will be filled from the waitlist.</p>

<p>The waitlist is not ranked. </p>

<p>People taken from the list would tend to reflect the strengths/demographics of those "lost" from the admit group.. ie, a North Dakota resident, oboe player, prospective engineering major, etc., although I don't want to pretend it is really as precise as that.</p>

<p>But a lot of thought goes into the diversity and balance of the group originally selected, and if the "losses" are disproportionally in a few areas, they may to rebuild the balance from the waitlisted group.</p>