<p>Can anyone clarify how waitlists work? Say you are admitted by schools X and Y and offered a waitlist option by school Z. School Z is your first choice. School X is second. Comes May 1. Should you notify school X that you are waitlisted in Z? Can school X refuse to wait for you? Does being waitlisted allow you to move your decision beyond the deadline?
And how does it hapen that some people are waitlisted till August? Is it true that most of waitlist game should take place right after May 1 deadline - the school sees who accepted their offer and either says NO to everyone on the waitlist (if the class fills up) or takes a lot of people from the waitlist. Where do lat summer options come from? Just rare cancellations?</p>
<p>In your scenario, School X doesn't care that you're waitlisted somewhere else, and will not extend any deadline for you. What you do is tell School X that you're going there and send in any required (generally non-refundable) deposits. You tell School Z that you accept your spot on the waitlist.</p>
<p>If School Z tells you that you're getting in off the waitlist, and you still want to go to School Z, you send in your acceptance to School Z and notify School X that you have accepted a spot off a waitlist and will not be attending. You'll lose your deposit, but that's it.</p>
<p>The summer options come from this kind of "cascading effect." Student A has told School X that she's coming, but is on the waitlist at School Z. School Z takes Student A from the waitlist. Student A has a few days to decide whether to go to School Z. She says yes and notifies School X. A few days later, and assuming there's room, School X decides to offer Student B a spot from the waitlist. Student B now has several days (maybe up to 2 weeks) to decide whether to stick with School Y or go to School X from the waitlist. B decides that he's gotten excited enough and has psychologically already enrolled in School Y, so he says no to School X. School X now has to review its waitlist again and offers Student K a spot. Now Student K says yes, but it's already about a month after May 1. Student K's enrollment at School X opens up a spot at K's school J.</p>
<p>These decisions are not instantaneous, so they can go on for several months.</p>
<p>Thank you, I now understand the cascade effect thing. Is it still correct to assume that most of movement on waitlists takes place in May? I thought that it is similar to RD admissions: offer spots to more students assuming that a certain % will reject them.
Another question: since I am under contract with school X does it mean that I can/should be "punished" in some way? Or being on waitlist is a legitimate reason to break the contract obligation?
I understand that many people do not agree to go on waitlists. What are the reasons?</p>
<p>The only way for you to be "punished" by school X is that they keep your deposit.</p>
<p>People don't agree to go on waitlists because of a multitude of reasons, but mostly because they got into school X, where they want to go, so don't care if they get accepted at school Y, who is offering them a waitlist option.</p>
<p>Getting in off a waitlist is a legitimate reason for deciding not to go to a college even if you've already committed. All colleges use them and all expect to lose some students to another school via the waitlist, particularly at really selective schools.</p>
<p>One thing to be aware of with waitlists is to find out how many folks are on them. For example, my son was waitlisted at his #1 school. The number of students offered a spot on the waitlist was about the same number of students who were admitted! Given the fact that 1/3 of the class had been admitted through ED, that meant that the wait list was actually longer than the number of people admitted throught the RD round. This kind of waitlisting is often referred to as "courtesy waitlisting". In other words, you met the qualifications to be admitted and we didn't want to insult you by denying you but you didn't make the cut.</p>
<p>So if you get waitlisted, find out how long the actual list is and if the school historically goes to the waitlist very much before you figure it into your overall strategy. Essentially, the smaller the school and the longer the waitlist, the less likely you will get admitted.</p>
<p>are waitlists like deferrals where you can send in updated info? like stanford i think has a more info sheet for ppl who were deferred</p>
<p>Shennie:
Do you have experience with waitlists? Is it usually possible to ask a college about the length of their waitlist and get a clear answer? Will they tell you if it is a courtesy waitlisting? Will they tell you how close you are to the top of the list? Or it's all just to be guessed and you cannot figure out your chance?
I am just trying to understand whether we should factor in this waitlisting game in our plans for summer? What % of kids in a high school class is usually not settled by May 1 and what % really waits for waitlist results till mid-summer? Is it 1 in 50 or more like 1 in 5? [consider competitive high school with tons of top 20 hopefuls]</p>
<p>Some colleges will tell about the length of their waitlist, some won't.</p>
<p>I'm fairly sure that among the detailed info that one can get by paying $15 to fully access the U.S. News college guide on-line site until Aug., one can find out how many people were put on the waitlist the previous year, and how many were offered admission from the waitlist.</p>
<p>Tarheel, yes, you can send in supplemental information, but it's not quite like deferral. If you're deferred, you are considered again in the RD round. If you're waitlisted, you very well may not be considered again.</p>
<p>citymom, I wouldn't factor in the waitlist at all. The way I've seen it work, for students who have saved their sanity, is that they accept their place on the waitlist, contact the schools to let them know they're still interested, and then move on to the school that they've sent their deposit to. They assume that they will not get in off the waitlist, forget about the waitlist, and turn their sights on enjoying the experience of their second choice school. Then if they get in off the waitlist, they can rejoice and decide if they still want to go. If they don't, they're not crushed, and they have already psychologically prepared themselves to go to their second choice (which by then may have become their first choice).</p>
<p>The kids who hang onto the hope of the waitlist make themselves miserable, and deprive themselves of the ability to anticipate college.</p>
<p>I agree with Chedva, if your child takes a place on the wait list, send a deposit and a commitment to school number #2 and move on. Don't hold out hope that your child will get called as in most cases only a small number of people are called off the waitlist. If per chance your child gets called great, the only thing you lose is your deposit at the other school.</p>
<p>Also the sad thing about waitlist was last year a number of selective schools were over enrolled so no one was called from the waitlist.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that by the time you get called off the waitlist, with the exception of schools with really deep pockets, most of the financial aid has already been allocated so you will definitely need to have the $$ talk.</p>
<p>Thank you!
I think we should really forget about the waitlist possibility for now and let DD plan her summer assuming that everything clarifies in late April. My feeling is that top Ivies will get over-enrolled this year and waitlists will not help there. Hopefully DD will get into her favorite match.
I just got concerned reading how waitlisting seems to become another round of application process and how someone was waitlisted in two or three schools, which could really complicate the situation.</p>
<p>Here is a different side. My daughter was waitliste at two schools, through her GC's help, she got off both of those waitlist. Another girl we knew also got off waitlist at Northwestern, Duke and Cornell. Both of these cases were done through sending in additional info, phone calls from parents or GC. The other girl went to a public school in Westchester. The parents asked their GC for help after our daughter got off the waitlist, their GC refused and the parents contacted those schools directly. Our GC was able to get many kids from our school off the waitlist after May.</p>
<p>citysmom: When my son was waitlisted, I got the admission info and waitlist info from another poster here who was quite knowledgable about the school. Essentially, to get off the waitlist at a highly selective school, the student is going to have to do extra work - send in supplemental materials if available, write a great letter explaining to admissions why they should be admitted, contacting the admissions dept., etc. You do all that work for a small shot at being admitted. My son decided that, as much as he loved the school, he didn't have the time or the energy to apply all over again, and he moved on. I think it was important for him at that time to start making an emotional committment to another school. </p>
<p>Personally, I would recommend that students not go with a waitlist unless they feel that their acceptances are well below the caliber of schools to which they have been waitlisted. If a student has made good choices in the application, they should have several excellent choices in terms of acceptances. At this point, take a couple of days to mourn the loss of the schools that waitlisted you, and then move on.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, how much are deposits typically anyways?</p>
<p>I remember a couple of years ago the deposit for Tufts was $600. </p>
<p>At many schools it is about $200-300. </p>
<p>Harvard and Dartmouth do not require a deposit.</p>
<p>Now it looks that kids with good stats and reach-heavy lists aplying to 10+ schools are most likely to end up on several waitlists.<br>
As for supplemental materials, how signifcant should the achievements be to tak you off the waitlist? Something major or just another acdemic award and good grades?
Another question: till what point you keep updating colleges about your achievements in winter? Early February? Mid-March? Will they return to your app if you just won another essay contest or once th review started such small things are not going to help?</p>
<p>Citymom - you would only update the ED school that you got deferred in the winter. You would only send in one supplement. Your GC could help you put the packet together. Most of the time, it would be one letter from the applicant stating the school is still his/her first choice. GC would submit additional recommendation letter and mid-semester grades.</p>
<p>If you are waitlisted, then you would submit additional information in April. At that point your GC should keep in close contact with adcoms to find out if/when the waitlist would open. I actually found out before our GC did on the College Confidential. Once the school goes to waitlist, adcoms have great interest to close it as soon as possible (they want to move on). They will offer those spots to kids that will accept right away, or in some cases without financial issues. If you or your GC has been in contact with the school and state the applicant will absolutely go, then that applicant has a much greater chance than other students. Our GC actually said to my daughter, "If you know for sure you would go, I would represent it as such, and it would be a very strong statement coming from us."</p>
<p>Like other people have said, it is not easy to get off the waitlist. It takes a lot of work and emotional stress. You would only do it if you do not love other schools. But the point is that it can be done, at least from our own experience.</p>
<p>Would I need to send my final grades for senior year if I get waitlisted or just a letter saying that the school is my top choice?</p>
<p>Yes, you will have to send your final grades.</p>