So I just got my decision for BU today, and I got waitlisted. However, I’m not sure if it’s worth going onto the waitlist for the Questrom School of Business. (Would have been fine going to CGS too, but I wasn’t offered a spot there). Anyways, was wonder what are your guy’s thoughts on that? In the letter, they made it specifically clear that the waitlist was apparently “short”, however, I probably wouldn’t get much financial aid out of it. Honestly, I’m kinda stuck between 2 roads. I really want to go to BU, but I have no idea what my financial aid would be. I did get accepted to other schools too (Bentley specifically) for business, but I still have my heart set on BU. Any one have any advice on what I should do now, should I keep this mindset towards BU or should I just cut my losses and move on to one of my actual acceptances?
@BladeHunter - you need to decide that for yourself. Last year BU offered the wait list to approximately 4400 students. Approximately 2200 accepted spots on the list. 4 were admitted off the wait list. So the odds are beyond long.
My daughter was waitlisted by BU as well. In fact, all 3 of my children have been waitlisted by at least 1 school. They all elected to move on and focus on those schools where they had been accepted. It can be difficult to move on when you are waiting to hear from a school.
That being said, if your feel very strongly about BU, then accepting a spot is fine. Just make certain you explore all your options and decide which of the schools you have been accepted to is the one for you. You will need to send a deposit, because wait list decisions come after May 1.
What other schools are you considering?
Cutting your losses does not apply to this situation. Let BU know you have a continuing interest, then let them make their final decision on your application.
@Themclos Only 4? That seems a bit hard to believe considering BU only has a 19% yield rate (probably because of the extremely high cost of attending). Also, from what I got off of the waitlist letter, each of the 17 colleges within BU have their own waitlist, which would amount to about 220~ Per college if your numbers are correct.
As for other schools I’m considering, I actually got waitlisted to all of my top choices (WPI, Babson, and now BU). I’ve only been accepted into Bentley so far and I’m still waiting for about 3 more schools (2 of which I do not intend to be able to get into). The only viable option that I have left which I haven’t heard from is UMASS Amherst’s Isenburg School of Management (which I just recently found out is extremely competitive as well).
@BladeHunter A few years ago BU didn’t have enough space and had to house freshmen in hotels. Despite the low yield, they are probably pretty limited on spots.
@BladeHunter - yes, 4. This is from BU’s common data set. In 2014, they accepted 69 kids off a wait list of 2400 kids. In 2013 they accepted 65 kids off a wait list of 1340. Given BU received more applications (57,416) than ever before, I would expect it to be more difficult to get in off the wait list.
But again, it does not cost anything, and anything can happen. I would just recommend to any student not to count on getting accepted off the list and to work on their plan B.
You may want to accept spots on the schools that waitlisted you. If BU is your absolute top choice, then accept a spot and email your admissions counselor expressing your continued interest. You should be hearing from UMass soon. Good luck to you.
@usualhopeful Hotels? Seriously? That is the first time I’ve heard a college actually do that. But how would they not have enough space though? Only thing I can think of is that they accepted more than their allotted quota by mistake and couldn’t rescind the acceptances.
Schools offer admittance to more students than they have spots for. Sometimes, more students than expected accept. BU has been working to increase their ranking and their selectivity. They have been successful. This year’s acceptance rate of 19% looks to be their lowest ever.
@Themclos Considering that only 5 of the 43 kids in my school that applied to BU got in, I could believe that 19%. It just kinda sucks that I was the only person to be waitlisted, being stuck in this limbo-land and all. I really hope that when they say “short waiting list”, they really mean short this time and I’ll actually have a chance of getting in.
P.S: From what I heard so far though, the financial aid packages have been terrible this year as well, which might just bring that yield rate even further down.
Anyways, thanks for the input, gonna go tell them that I’m accepting that spot on the list.
It gets better. In their 2015 CDS at http://www.bu.edu/oir/files/2015/05/cds-2015-C.pdf they offered a waiting list spot to 3,503 kids, 1,803 took a spot. BU ended up admitting 2 kids from the waitlist.
OP, walk away. IMHO being on waitlists is not entirely benign. The energy you’ll spend hoping it comes thru is unlikely to be rewarded, and meanwhile you’ll spend the next few months hoping (at least in the back of your mind) that your number gets picked. There’s a fair amount of research in psychology (Daniel Gilbert, etc) showing that having options to change your decision leads to lower satisfaction than an irrevocable decision. See, for example, https://wiki.dandascalescu.com/summaries/ted_talks/0097_dan_gilbert_-_why_are_we_happy_why_aren’t_we_happy
Schools go through a lot of calculations to try to project yield. They look at past acceptance data by every demographic slice you can imagine. There is software available to help them with this. Then they make offers to more students than they expect will accept. But there is no loss to you in getting on the waitlist. You can turn them down if they show up in May with an insufficient aid package. If you go on the waitlist, email them if you have any EC accomplishments or awards this spring, and reiterate your interest. Worst case, they come back eventually and tell you the waitlist is closed so you are not getting in.
If you have a strong preference for BU I’d go on the waitlist as even an admit off of a waitlist does not commit you to going. But mentally I would be fully prepared and excited about going to Bentley or whatever other school you choose.
Have the 2016 admission stats been released? I didn’t see 19% admission rate anywhere, yet. Anyone have a link?
I don’t think going on the waitlist would hurt you. Just don’t get your hopes up.
I think I had a typo above. Acceptance rate looks like 29%.
http://www.bu.edu/admissions/about-bu/profile/
It would appear that the 29% figure represents the rate as if no students will be accepted off the wait-list. For this reason, the figure should be regarded as preliminary.
Has anyone from the wait list heard back from BU yet?
The Yield rate is 19%, not the Acceptance rate. Last year BU accepted about 34% of applicants.
^ This. For a minute there I thought I lost my mind. Several of D’s friends are finishing up their first year there and I was pretty sure it was in the mid 30’s for acceptance rates.
Still a far cry from the 70% acceptance rate of 20 years ago.
The acceptance rate does not include applicants offered the CGS January-London program. They are not Fall admits.