<p>Do you know anyone who got accepted at both Haverford and Swarthmore??? My daughter got accepted at Haverford and waitlisted at Swarthmore. I saw someone's post that was just the opposite - accepted at Swarthmore and waitlisted at Haverford. Just wondering if these colleges compare lists since they're in the tri-college consortium together.</p>
<p>I doubt that the colleges can actually compare lists of admits. That might be a violation of anti-trust laws. (Colleges got into trouble in the past for working together on financial aid offers). There is enough random noise in the process that when combined with the different essay questions each college uses can produce different results. This is not a perfectly predictable process. Which is why CC is so popular.</p>
<p>Thornhurst:</p>
<p>It's really tough to draw generalizations from specific cases. The Haverford waitlist/Swat acceptance had an athletic recruiting component. The student had expressed a strong first-choice preference (ED deferral), visited campus twice, met with professors, hit it off with the coach, etc. In other words, he had "worked the application" hard at Swarthmore and had caught a break with where he must have fallen on the recruiting pecking order. Situations like that appear "random" on the surface, but sometimes aren't always as random as they look. So much depends on the specific slots each college needs to fill, which can vary from year to year.</p>
<p>I don't think colleges trade lists. However, seasoned pros in the admissions' offices and coaching staffs probably have a pretty good sixth sense.</p>
<p>I don't think it is uncommon for a student to be accepted by both Haverford and Swarthmore, waitlisted by both Haverford and Swarthmore, or accepted by one but not the other. The admissions criteria at the two schools are so close that I don't think you would see clearcut predictable trends.</p>