I’m just asking in advance. I’m applying to all of the top 5 Ivies, but since Ivies are a bit of a crapshoot, I’m trying to be realistic. If I get waitlisted at Columbia (my preferred one of the 5) or UPenn, should I wait it out? Obviously the majority of people who get accepted to HYP(S) also apply to Columbia, UPenn, even Brown, get accepted and don’t attend. Therefore, I assume that it would be smart to bide your time before sending out a deposit to any school. Right?
No way to really tell how many they will take but yield is the most important factor. If yield is high then waitlisted admittances will be low. You can always put your deposit in at another college that you were accepted to and then wait to see if you get accepted off the waitlist (of course you will lose your deposit at the other college)
It is perfectly fine to accept a spot on the waitlist, but you should proceed as if you will not get off the wait-list. Get excited about your top the college that has accepted you, buy the t-shirt, send in the deposit, and fully embrace being a [insert school nickname here]. If you do this and are one of the few people to get in off the wait-list at one of the Ivy League schools, it will be a pleasant surprise. If you hang your hat on getting in off the wait-list and don’t get in, you will be devastated. (We see this happen all of the time here at CC).
Also, I agree with @CU123 above. Yield plays a key role here. If Columbia offers 2000 students and expects 1500 to accept, but 1600 accept, they are not taking anyone off the wait-list. (Note: I chose these #s as an example arbitrarily - I have no idea how many offers they extend or how many students/class.) Additionally, I don’t know that the “majority” of students who apply to HYP also apply to the other Ivies. Additionally you incorrectly assume that students who apply to HYP as well as the other Ivies will choose HYP other the others. Based on area of study, campus life, location, etc a student who gets accepted at HYP may choose a different Ivy.
Alas, I will never understand this fascination with Ivy League schools. Of course these schools are great, but so are many others.
Incorrect. You can accept a spot on the waitlist, but you should do so with the assumption that you will not get off the waitlist. If you do get off, then all the better. But in the interim, love the school that loves you back and send in a deposit.
Additionally, based upon your other posts, you are a transfer student, which puts your chances of acceptance in the 1-2% range, at best.
Sigh. “Top 5 Ivies.” 8-|
People in my high school also use this expression sometimes or they say top 10 ivies, mainly to distinguish Penn/Columbia from Dartmouth/Brown/Cornell. i guess it is not a thing used very widely though. I think most people on CC mostly distinguish between HYP and non-HYP ivies.
There are eight Ivies.
@Middleman68 Of course haha but only 5 of them are consistently in the top 10 of USNews. At least in my high-school people use the term top 10 ivies to mean the ivies that are in the top 10, that is HYP, Columbia, Penn.
Wait and see if you get in or waitlisted at any before you start worrying about this.
Lets be real here. I am a non-HYP ivy alum and a rather fervent one at that, but I will acknowledge that most kids who have been accepted to HYP and other ivies, overwhelmingly choose HYP. Sure there are some who don’t but they are the exception rather than the rule.
@pearlydewdrops Yes it makes sense to stay on the waitlist. The non-HYP ivies have rather low RD yields precisely because most HYPSM cross admits choose HYPSM and also because they lose kids to each other and some other ivy-equivalents (UChicago, Duke etc). So it sure makes sense to stay on the waitlist at these schools.
Okay, I’m not trying to be snobbish with the top 5 ivy things. Undeniably the other 3 are great schools, there’s just a drop off in quality between them and the other 5. I wouldn’t scoff at going to Brown, but it’s just not my first choice. I’d probably sooner go to Berkeley or Northwestern than it.
With undergrad waitlists, the IVY common data sets give you some idea of what your odds are (except at Columbia which doesn’t release it’s CDS, though Barnard - for whatever reason - does). With CDS not including any data on transfer waitlists, there isn’t any way to figure out chances of ultimately being accepted.
Regardless of the actual chances of getting off a waitlist, @skieurope was right on the money: “You can accept a spot on the waitlist, but you should do so with the assumption that you will not get off the waitlist. If you do get off, then all the better. But in the interim, love the school that loves you back and send in a deposit.”
Also, Columbia’s transfer acceptance is >6% and Penn’s transfer acceptance is >9%, which is about the same as their freshman admittance rate. I have read up extensively on the differences between the prospects of freshman applicants and transfer applicants, trust me. I fully expect to be denied from Harvard and Yale but not applying when I get a Common App fee waiver would be stupid on my part. Princeton is trickier because they’re too new to transferring to get any reliable data. I’m applying to U of M as well, where I would get free in-state tuition, and they looove transfers, so if all else fails I’m planning to fall back on that.
No, there is not a drop in quality. I don’t think you even know what that means in the context of an undergraduate education.
Yes, when I say “quality” I pretty much mean “prestige”. Obviously there’s largely no difference between professors or programs from Ivy league college to Ivy league college, but you’re going to pick the most “prestigious” college that you were accepted to because that’s the one with biggest endowments, the most opportunities for professional-social connections, and 9 times out of 10 better prospects for graduates.
@pearlydewdrops I get what you are saying and I agree even though it might sound a bit snobbish. HYP are obviously the top ivies but I think Columbia/Penn are a few notches above Brown/Dartmouth/Cornell. They are more like the middle ivies. At least this is how people view them in my high school and in other similar high schools where I have friends.
YOU might, but logistical concerns like finances mean this is not the case for many people. There are also fields where programs other than the Ivies are more well-known or connected to employers.
Actually – from a previous thread:
Are you talking about transfer admissions on this thread? Because that would have been useful to know.
It’s certainly coming across that way.
Not with a 1.96 HS GPA
Also probably not options based on your stats. You might be forced to a school with less “prestige.”
If you are waitlisted at a place you would like to attend, the only disadvantage to you in waiting things out is that you will probably lose any deposits you pay elsewhere to lock in a space at your second or third choice instititution. Electing to remain on a waitlist does not commit you to attending should you get off that waitlist. It just gives you the right to decide to accept an admission if you are eventually offered one, and still are interested when that offer turns up.
May I also gently suggest to the OP that the world is bigger than your high school, and what your high school classmates have to say about anything is probably not the last word on the subject.