<p>How do colleges determine which students get off the waitlist? Is there a ranking system, or is it just a lottery and whoever gets lucky gets in?</p>
<p>It likely varies by school, but in general I assume they fill in spots to round out their fr class for various factors; eg. financial, demographic, talent, etc.</p>
<p>I have heard the exactly the same as entomom. </p>
<p>While I have have heard of several students being admitted off the waitllists this year from my son’s public hs here in suburban Philly and 1 HS in suburban NJ and another private HS in Tampa (best friends kids)–overall the chances of getting plucked off a waitlist seem incredibly slim.</p>
<p>Last month, we went to that roadshow “Exploring College Options” for Stanford/Harvard/Duke/Penn/Georgetown. One of the crowd questions was, “What if I really, really, really, really love your university and I am on the waitlist. What are my chances?” They CLEARLY told this student to pick from one of the many fine schools he likely was accepted at and plan to go there. (Of course, if Harvard did call you on August 15, mostly everyone would likely be ready to ditch a deposit elsewhere and travel to Cambridge the next day.)</p>
<p>Some colleges have a ranking system. Duke, for example, unless their admissions policies changed, give students either waitlist 1, waitlisted 2, and waitlist 3, with WL 1 bring the most likely to get in.</p>
<p>All the above is probably correct, but I also suspect it’s possible to influence whether you are given a serious second look or not: Waitlisted students who follow up with an update are showing a level of enthusiasm that I, as an admissions officer, would want to see. A call from a guidance counselor might also influence me depending on what they say. Certainly, I would want to know that my school was your first choice and that if offered admission, you will definitely come (assuming you can afford it.)</p>
<p>My HYP alma mater follows Entomom’s broad outline. Once the # of open slots is det’d, they review which sub-groups seem to be less representative. </p>
<p>Allow me this crude hypotheictal example: let’s say the college expected a mix of 2 athletes, 3 super scientists, 4 super humanities and 1 music prodigy. After the first round of accepts, 1 athlete and the music spot remain unfilled. In the WL pool are 3 athletes, 5 scientists, 5 humanities, and 2 remaining musicians. </p>
<p>The college then goes to their favorite athlete and favorite musician and offers them a slot. Even if the top WL science person is “better” than the musician, the overall mix of students is the eventual goal by the school – not any single individual’s outcome. Good fortune for the athlete and the musician. That’s all.</p>