What to make of 8 waitlists? No rejections, no acceptances. All liberal arts schools ranging in rank from #1 to somewhere in the 40s. Awaiting decisions from three or four more LA schools (same range) and the rest are T20 universities. At least there was a safety acceptance a few weeks ago. It was no fun watching her check portals one after the other last night.
In the current college admission environment, colleges are much less certain about their applicants (and their intention to enroll if admitted). For them, the tool to help manage that uncertainty is to use their waitlists more extensively. It creates a lot of problems for students.
7 Likes
I hope the student likes the safety.
4 Likes
It is clear your daughter is highly qualified…she wouldn’t have received waitlist decisions if she wasn’t. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough spots at Top40 LACs and Top20 universities for them to offer admission to every highly qualified applicant.
I know this probably won’t help the feelings your daughter had last night or this morning, but those decisions say almost nothing about who she is, how wonderful she is and how well she has the capacity of doing at college and beyond. The only thing those waitlist decisions say is that the school recognizes she has the ability to succeed at the school, they saw her application as a match for their school…and right now they don’t have room to accept her.
They may never have room to accept her. That is out of your hands, it totally depends on how many acceptances the schools receive going forward.
I hope you and your daughter are being kind and gentle to yourselves. This isn’t the time to second guess yourselves or wonder what you could have done differently. You can conduct a post-mortem after the college admission season is over (if you want).
She does have an acceptance to a school already. She (and you) know she is going to college next year. She may very well still get acceptances from her other applications, she clearly is a highly qualified applicant.
No matter what, she is the same child she was before those decision came out. She still has all the potential to have an amazing college experience, learn lots and use her college years to grow and develop and meet her academic and career goals. Those don’t require a specific school. I am sure the school she has been accepted to was chosen just as carefully as the rest of her list and can meet her needs and goals.
Wishing you and your daughter well this morning, and sending lots of hugs.
43 Likes
It means she’s a great candidate - among a field of great candidates. There’s no way to know why they chose the others to accept, but she’s above those who received rejections from the same schools - who were also likely great candidates to have applied there in the first place.
As a parent, it’s tough to watch. As a student, it seems like a brick wall. What did she do wrong? Likely nothing. If she’d have done something wrong (or a bad LOR or whatever), you’d have probably seen rejections.
Sending hugs and best wishes that a school works out for her and/or that she likes her safety. It can help to remember that safeties are usually the #1 choice for many who go there as opposed to the “well, there’s that” school some kids see them as.
It can also help to remember that many (most?) kids love where they end up going and look backward being glad they didn’t end up elsewhere. I’m one of those.
14 Likes
What I have learned in this admission cycle versus when my older son was applying in 2018 is that the admission stats have changed and it is a lot more competitive. Schools that were listed in Naviance as safeties were really matches and matches were reaches. My son has gotten into 3 schools. Two were supposedly safeties and one a match where his stats were above the average for the school. Rejected from one supposed match and waitlisted at another. He is not too confident about the schools he has yet to hear from which include 2 reaches 1 high match and 2 matches which are probably all really reaches this year. He says he wishes he had applied to more “50% schools” meaning schools with 50% acceptance rates do he would have more choices. The thing is one of the safeties he really was excited about when we visited and only realized it was a safety afterwards and the school he got waitlisted at he was just so so about. Problem is the school I think is really his first choice (although he won’t say) is one he is waiting to hear from and he is sure he won’t get in now.
1 Like
It probably also means they did not feel enough love from her. It may not hurt to visit one or two of the nearby ones to meet them in person, to show your interest, and to tell them face to face that they are your number one choice. You need to create a situation where it doesn’t look awkward though …
4 Likes
This cycle is so hard. My D was getting discouraged with waitlists too - WL at Williams, Bates, Grinnell, Macalester…then a surprise acceptance from Amherst. Your D is obviously highly qualified, so she may very well land an acceptance to a school that hasn’t released yet - no one knows what each particular school is looking for in any given year. It only takes one!
Hugs to her and to you.
14 Likes
Sorry this happened. A number of LACs take a significant portion of their class (some around 50%) in the ED round making the RD round even more competitive.
5 Likes
We’ve been wondering about demonstrated interest, and also about how many of the schools were need-aware. Our EFC and NPC were near zero. We couldn’t afford visits (none are close), so she tried to open and click all emails, submit all optional materials, do virtual tours, etc. But really, there are so many qualified applicants for limited spaces, we’ll never know. And, of course, it’s not productive to spend a lot of time second-guessing things that can’t be changed. She did the best she could with the resources and time she had.
We were just really surprised, so that made it harder. We were reminding ourselves all week that the decisions might all be rejections. We thought most likely there would be a mix of decisions, and we were just really hoping for any one acceptance. But to get all waitlists from both top 10 and 40-50 ranked schools was really unexpected. 
She felt like it was, “You’re clearly qualified, but we still don’t want you,” which felt more personal, I guess.
@beebee3 and all of you, thank you for writing such kind replies. I actually cried seeing that you took the time and effort to write such supportive and encouraging things. Your generosity to a stranger means so much.
23 Likes
D20 attends a T20 LAC and they are overenrolled for the class of 2025. They usually have in the neighborhood of 750/class and that one is 915, both because of issues managing yield and because of 2024s delaying start. Everything is overcrowded and resources are stretched very thin.
A large number of the top LACs are in the same boat. I know at least one other one bought a hotel in town to house overflow. This year looks to have minuscule acceptances because they have to manage enrollment to get classes to even out. It stinks for the applicants and I’m sorry you are in this boat. Hopefully, there ends up being some movement!
10 Likes
If a college’s fall 2021 entry cohort is oversize, you probably do not want to be in the fall 2022 entry cohort, because they will have some overlap with you in terms of course and major selection. For example, when you are a junior and the oversize cohort are seniors, they may have filled up all of the upper level courses in your major, leaving you without much to choose from.
7 Likes
It’s no picnic for anyone. There’s never seating in the library or dining hall, getting an appointment at student health services is impossible, trip/event tickets are gone instantly, and everything from the housing lottery to course registration has been delayed because of the logistics of what to with all of the extra people!
1 Like
Tell her to hang in there to the end. A few years ago, my daughter was admitted to her safety in February. All during spring break she kept getting notices she was on wait lists (5 in all) while the friends she was staying with were all getting acceptances or had already chosen a school. After spring break, she got acceptances to 2 schools she would be happy to attend and 2 rejections. She went to one of the schools that was the last to notify her.
3 Likes
Is this Wesleyan?
No.
I’m so sorry; I know this must be hard for both of you. Does she have acceptances to any lower ranked “safety” schools? Maybe she could start reaching out to other students through the Class of '26 page for that school and start researching clubs and organizations; having something to be excited about and connected to could help alleviate some of her stress. Good luck!
1 Like
It’s heartbreaking to read about situations like this that seem far too common this year. Totally agree with so many of the above posts, especially @beebee3 and @Creekland. I would not give up hope right now, as there are still a number of schools she has yet to hear from, and as @skydivemom mentioned, it only takes one and the ranking doesn’t necessarily correlate to which one accepts a student (i.e. a lower-ranked school might waitlist or reject a student that a higher-ranked school accepts).
Personally, when I’ve gotten bad news, I dive into the good news. Your daughter has a college acceptance in hand. I would be scouring the school’s website, looking at social media feeds, joining admitted students/families’ groups, looking at all the fun options for clubs, courses, and special opportunities, and generally getting super excited about what she does have. If she gets additional acceptances then she can do the same for those colleges. But if not, she’s then excited about the option that she does have. Because even when a school doesn’t have the same “prestige” as some others, the vast majority of colleges are good schools and the students who attend are happy they’re there. And it’s your daughter who’s going to make her a success…not the university she attends. If she’s been waitlisted at these other institutions, it lets me know that she’s going to be successful no matter where she lands.
Best of luck (and hugs) to you and your daughter.
8 Likes
Best luck to your daughter. It’s such a crazy year. DS’s friend was rejected by all the UC’s, but got into MIT!
4 Likes
Including Merced?