<p>See title?</p>
<p>I don't know whether to congratulate or console, but I'm gonna go ahead and congratulate...it is Harvard. You'll have fun man, and you'll go far with that degree. GL.</p>
<p>please do me a favor and accept your harvard offer and please don't stay on the Swat waitlist...i'm sorry for sounding selfish...</p>
<p>Don't worry, I won't :p. Good luck to all you Swatties; it's a great school! I wish the waitlisters luck as well.</p>
<p>Yup...In at Harvard, Columbia, and Dartmouth but waitlisted at Swat. And yes I'm one of the retarded kids who is actually considering fighting for a personal liberal arts education...oh: everyone will bite my head off (already they ask how I can even question not attending Harvard). Best of luck to all and I will try to get off the list if I opt out so as not to affect your guys' odds. ;)</p>
<p>My daughter was also waitlisted at Swarthmore and will not be waiting. She's got plenty of other good choices. I hope these kind of results make the waitlist nice and short so that those who most want to attend Swarthmore will be offered a spot.</p>
<p>
[quote]
She's got plenty of other good choices.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>nceph:</p>
<p>That's the understatement of the year! Congratulations to your daughter on her acceptances.</p>
<p>Our friend Mini has always put forth the proposition that college prestige doesn't come from the outstanding students they accept as much as from the outstanding students they waitlist. Your daughter's acceptances, and those of other waitlistees in this thread certainly lend credence to Mini's hypothesis. To bag four of the five HYPSM sweep and get waitlisted at Swarthmore is pretty interesting, to say the least. It suggests that either the admissions office screwed up or they guessed that she would be enrolling elsewhere.</p>
<p>Thanks. We're actually kind of overwhelmed by the choices facing her now. The only reason she applied to 8 schools (she didn't apply to P, by the way) was that she knew the admissions process was unpredictable and didn't really expect to get into more than one or two at best. I think Swarthmore probably made the right call in guessing she'd be enrolling elsewhere. There's so much she loved about Swarthmore, but it's a relief to have one school removed from consideration.</p>
<p>Ultimately, college admissions are kind of random. Congratulations on Harvard, and good luck with Swarthmore!</p>
<p>Once you are in at Harvard, it doesn't matter where else you get accepted or rejected. You've accomplished the best you could do. Good job.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think Swarthmore probably made the right call in guessing she'd be enrolling elsewhere.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Right. And, the admissions folks aren't stupid, especially at very small colleges where the admissions process is so personalized. I believe that they know more about where kids are applying, where they've been accepted EA, and where they are likely to be accepted than we give them credit for. They have an advantage none of us have: they actually see how things play out for 900 accepted students each year.</p>
<p>In your daughter's case, the Eph connection may actually have landed her on the waitlist. They would have been certain of an acceptance there, so lacking a specific indication to the contrary, might have assumed that Swat had little or no chance of enrolling her.</p>
<p>This is getting a bit off the original topic, but how do you think they know where kids have been accepted EA? And what do you think they make of that information? After my daughter was accepted to her EA school, she removed several other schools from her list and only left on there ones that she actually could conceive of attending over the EA one. I'd say that for a RD college to remain on an applicant's list after an EA accepance elsewhere shows a high degree of interest in the RD school.</p>
<p>I don't know. But, I suspect that there is a lot of data contained in the numerous College Board and financial aid reports that colleges receive and/or purchase. I think there are also clues in many of the application components, including GC recommendations. For example, some GC or teacher recs might specifically reference Swarthmore attributes, others may not.</p>
<p>To take the situation in a more generic direction and away from your daughter's case. When Swarthmore receives an application from someone who is not requesting financial aid and who did not apply early decision, they can reasonably conclude that Swarthmore is not a strong first choice school. They might be wrong from time to time, but probably not very often. IMO, Swarthmore tends to give favor students who express a strong first choice preference for the college.</p>
<p>I know i got into Columbia College and waitlisted at Swarthmore. SOmeone at school got into brown and got waitlisted at Swarthmore. Wahtever i was just happy to fill in the waitlist card and check NO.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Swarthmore receives an application from someone who is not requesting financial aid and who did not apply early decision, they can reasonably conclude that Swarthmore is not a strong first choice school.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is exactly what's happened to me, but Swarthmore IS my first choice...I don't think they quite understood that yet. I thought that not applying for financial aid was a plus...they get to keep their money and actually even get more. Interesteddad, can you please explain how this demonstrates the not first choice attitude?</p>
<p>Anonymous:</p>
<p>You can't beat yourself up or try to understand the why's and wherefore's. A "waitlist" (without a polite legacy rejection or something like that) means that that you were probably in the top third of applicants to Swarthmore this year. That's super strong. The only problem is that they only accepted 18%. It doesn't mean that your app wasn't just as strong or whatever. It simply means that they chose to fill different slots. Or, as we ended up putting it on the parents forum, you were a one-legged unicycle rider in a clown suit from Nebraska when what they need this year was a one-armed paper hanger from Central New Mexico. Just your luck, Swarthmore filled their unicycle slot last year and he just happened to be a nephew of the chairman of the Philosophy department!</p>
<p>What I'm trying to say is: you didn't do anything wrong. You gave it your best shot. A waitlist is not an indication that there was anything you could have done better on your app. You put yourself in a position to get accepted, which is all you can do. </p>
<p>If you want to, take a spot on the waitlist. Let 'em know Swarthmore is your clear first choice. Send along anything that might help them want you. But, don't beat yourself up and don't sit around moping over Swarthmore.</p>
<p>My son got waitlisted at Swarthmore, but accepted at Columbia, Brown, and offered a Nutmeg Scholarship at UConn. So he's got a HARD choice ahead!!</p>
<p>We loved Swarthmore when we visited there, it's a really lovely campus. All the best to the folks who end up going there.</p>