they are out
I dont see anything
I got waitlisted 32 superscored ACT 30 single sitting 6 AP classes varsity captain for 2 sports. I was expecting a rejecting… so thats an improvement I guess.
I was also waitlisted and was also expecting a rejection, so I am happy to at least have a chance for consideration.
I was also waitlisted and was expecting a rejection. A little annoyed though bc that means more waiting. How many people usually get off the waitlist?
@shooting4stars I’m hearing that last year it was nearly everyone. However, I think the candidate pool this year was very competitive and the waitlist is longer.
@emckeon204 It is incorrect to say that “nearly everyone” gets off the waitlist. Only a very very small percentage do. For the precise stats, google Lehigh’s Common Data Set for each year available.
Some statistics from last year:
13,403 - Applied
3,499 (26%) - Accepted
5,677 (42%) - Waitlisted
66 - Number of Waitlisted Students Admitted
That is a crazy number of wait-listed students.
@emsmom1 Remember that many waitlisted students will have already decided to go somewhere else, and will not accept a place on the waitlist.
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Out of the 5,677 that were offered a place on the Waitlist last year, 2,126 accepted (you are not automatically placed on it). Out of the 2,126 students who went on the Waitlist, only 66 were accepted, which translates to 3.1%. While the percentage is dauntingly low, the fact that 66 did get in is very encouraging. Many other schools I checked in the past accepted only somewhere from zero to less than 10 off of the Waitlist.
There is a thread below for Lehigh RD Decisions where there are many more posts on decisions and stats which may offer everyone in this thread more insight.
The data you are showing seems right to me. About 37% go on the wait list. It is easy to accept a place on the waitlist. Then out of those on the waitlist, I am guessing it is a much lower number who actively show a strong interest in attending.
That is the real group that you want to focus on. How many of the 37% contacted admissions and said they would like to visit, & asked for an interview. Toured the campus, met with admissions and gave them a clear explanation of why Lehigh is their top choice, and why they would be an excellent addition to the campus. I think if an applicant is really motivated to get in, they will have a very good chance if they do this. Every school wants students who are excited to have the privilege to be there. They are much less interested in students who only thought of them as a deep backup and view the experience as being “stuck here.”
Yes - if you really want to get off the waitlist at any school, showing interest is important. However, the fact is that only a very tiny percentage ever get off the waitlist at any school. And the number who come off the waitlist is determined by how many accepted students decide to attend. So no matter how much interest a waitlisted student shows, if the school achieves its desired yield from the accepted students, the waitlisted student will not get in.
So, for everyone who is waitlisted, if this is your dream school by all means let them know. But also spend time choosing a school that accepted you where you can be happy and thrive, because that’s more than likely where you will end up.
@higheredmom You’re correct. I’m not saying that nearly everyone will get off. But I was told on a visit to Lehigh, and it’s also mentioned on a thread on here, that in a previous recent year nearly everyone was taken off of the waitlist due to the amount of people not accepting admission offers.
Waitlists exist because it’s hard for schools to predict their yields. The yield is the percentage of accepted students that will ultimately enroll. If this number was known exactly, there would be no need for waitlists: schools would simply accept the exact number of students needed to fill the available slots.
But in practice, the yield can’t be predicted exactly. And schools have to be careful here. They don’t want to accept too many students, because if the yield is higher than expected, they will be overenrolled, which is a problem. It’s better to accept fewer students and to put a bunch on the waitlist. If the yield is lower than expected, that’s not a problem: they can just pull some additional students off the waitlist to avoid underenrollment.
Here are Lehigh’s waitlist numbers for the past 10 years, from their Common Data Sets:
Fall 2016: 66 waitlisted students admitted, out of 2127 accepting a place
Fall 2015: 0 of 1847
Fall 2014: 2 of 1296
Fall 2013: 39 of 1250
Fall 2012: 0 of 1337
Fall 2011: 1 of 1514
Fall 2010: 14 of 1206
Fall 2009: 43 of 1160
Fall 2008: 7 of 1388
Fall 2007: 72 of 1096
So the odds of getting in off the Lehigh waitlist have never been great during the past decade. There is little consistency from year to year, so last year’s results don’t really indicate very much.
You can see that Lehigh was in that category during 4 of the past 6 years.
Lehigh’s yields have generally been creeping upward in recent years, from 30.0% in 2007 to 35.7% in 2016. So it’s likely that Lehigh’s yields were higher than expected in some of those years. You don’t need to go to the waitlist in that situation; the waitlist is used when yields are lower than expected.
I was one of the 66 that got off the wait list last year. Don’t give up hope!
Hi viola627! Did you do anything while you were waitlisted to show more interest?
Don’t want to be the bearer of bad news in this Waitlist epidemic, but the reality to get off the list and get admission has lower odds than to get into Princeton/Stanford in the RD rounds. I know it 's hard news to hear, but it is best for students to move on with the offers they have in hand. Are there acceptable offers on the table? Are there schools you can excel and IF you must, you can apply for a transfer two yrs down the road? It has been an incredibly challenging and random season for the students. It seems schools are getting more applications than ever and with a wider range of stats among the applicants. Some schools may WL some students due to yield protection. Some schools may WL due to just too uncertain with the actual yield and therefore being conservative. Some schools may WL because they are afraid to give straight NO on an otherwise very competitive candidate based on scores, stats. The exact reasons for a particular WL decision will never be answered sufficiently to help the student to improve the odds of acceptance. Therefore, it is best to move on and work with what’s on the table. JMHO
@emckeon204 And as I said originally, the Common Data Set is what you should be looking at. Post #35 provides the precise data I alluded to. Whoever “told you” that on a Lehigh visit or somewhere on a CC thread was simply misinformed, or you misunderstood.