<p>I got waitlisted at William and Mary (3rd choice) today even though it was a safety/match for me. Two girls I know less qualified got in. I didn't want to go there but is this a sign of what UVA(first choice) will decide? I already got in to my 2nd choice. W&M must think they're hot stuff.</p>
<p>Maybe W&M thinks YOU'RE hot stuff and are too hot to attend their school. Why give a slot to someone so fabulous that they probably won't attend? Don't take it too personally and don't worry that UVA will make the same decision. Decisions are so subjective and you have an entirely different committee of people looking at you at UVA. Think positively. Good luck!</p>
<p>Safeties I applied to accepted me. I highly doubt a school like W&M would reject somebody cause they think they wont go. If they wanted someone to go theyd offer honors admission (not that I was expecting that). It just seems odd thats all. My only grades below an A were 2 B+'s freshman year and a B last year. Weighted GPA 4.04 fairfax county...1360 SAT...who knows...</p>
<p>where did you get your decision? I'm in MD and I still have no clue if I got in or not</p>
<p>why would you bother applying to a school you wouldn't ever attend</p>
<p>seems stupid to me</p>
<p>1360 isn't an incredible SAT. It's very good, but not so good that you should panic over a waitlisting at William and Mary. W&M is a very competitive school. It sucks that you didn't get in, but since you're already into a school you like better I wouldn't fret. It doesn't mean you won't get into UVA.</p>
<p>My sis got waitlisted at a school that was a safety for her. It was quite obvious from her scores and stats that she wouldn't attend, so they didn't out and give her a spot. I'm sure this doesn't happen with competitive schools like W&M, I was just trying to make SigmaCentauri feel better. Next time I'll just stick to the tried and true, "Well, maybe you should try community college" response. Another joke, don't fret.</p>
<p>CWM is quirky in admissions. Three years ago my son got into UVA (in-state), UNC(oos), FSU film school, Toronto, VT, and USC film school and was wl and than rejected by CWM. Don't worry. Remember that CWM is a very small school when compared to UVA.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>^ Wow. UNC OOS but NOT W&M...thats weird. Maybe I didnt get in cause I'm Jewish! Thats why there arent any jews there...jk.</p>
<p>still, would you go there if you had gotten in and not into your # 2</p>
<p>Thats a good question...good thing it doesnt matter!</p>
<p>Could be 'Tufts Syndrome'....</p>
<p>Whats that?</p>
<p>Tufts has a reputation of being the school that gets all of the ivy rejects. [That's not entirely true, since Tufts is a very good school, and there are many kids who aspire to go to Tufts for being Tufts, and not as a nice safety option.] However, like other schools, Tufts likes to keep the rate of kids who choose to go Tufts after they're accepted high, and as a result, will sometimes deny kids that they don't think will go there. </p>
<p>So, W&M could have thought that the OP wouldn't actually choose them (they were right), and didn't accept them as a result of that. Though there'd never be a way to know for sure, this phenomenon can really hurt the kids who are on the threshold of being competitive enough for schools like Tufts, Williams, Amherst, etc. but not entirely competitive enough to get into the Ivies. So, though they're great students, they can sometimes get denied for being 'too good.' However, I have never witnessed such a case, nor have I heard anyone credible substantiate the existence nor frequency of 'Tufts Syndrome' occurring.</p>
<p>fhimas:</p>
<p>Competitive enough for Williams and Amherst but not competitive enough for the Ivies? There's no such thing! Williams and Amherst rank 1 and 2 on the LAC selectivity scale, surely placing them neck and neck with Ivies like Harvard and Yale. Given that almost everybody and their mother applies to Hahvahd since it's a household name whereas the top LACs draw from self-selected applicant pool, I'd say that the lower acceptance rates of the Ivies are more facade than substance.</p>
<p>SigmaCentauri:</p>
<p>I'm sorry that you were rejected! I'm sure you'll find happy news in the mailbox for your other schools.</p>
<p>Anyways, just keep in mind that admissions in dictated by more than just stats. Obviously, as a public, it has to take a certain number of students from Virginia, but perhaps it already had its fill of Fairfax county kids. It needs to consider geographical diversity even within the state. Prestigious publics are unpredictable because they have quotas to work within.</p>
<p>As for those two girls... How can you say for sure they were less qualified than you? You most likely didn't read their applications. You probably don't know all the details of their situation. Maybe their on-paper presentation was just more agreeable to the adcoms.</p>
<p>At any rate, all the admissions committee had to judge you on was your application. You may be a wonderful student and an asset to every school, but possibly your essays just didn't communicate that. Maybe, since you never actually intended to go to the school, you subconsciously sabotaged your chances there by not filling out the app as well as you could have.</p>
<p>Don't sweat it. College admissions is largely a game of chance at this level of selectivity. It's no judgment on your intrinsic worth. Hopefully your lucky number will come up for UVA!</p>
<p>IME W&M and UVA (most colleges anyway for that matter) do not reject applicants because they're "overqualified." They are state schools. </p>
<p>However, I have seen kids rejected at W&M and accepted at UVA and vice-versa. </p>
<p>Course rigor is important at W&M and UVA - more so than SATs. In a school system that offers every class you could want to take, they're looking for a lot of AP or IB classes, because you had so many chances to find one to excel in. Particularly in subjects like English and History (for W&M at least). But also in the other subjects too. They're looking for lab sciences (what we call Geosystems in Va is not a "lab science"). They're looking for four years of math, not the Va required three. They're looking for four years of a foreign language. I'm not saying any one of these factors will kill you - it won't necessarily, but it won't help. If you're at IB school, not being in diploma can really hurt too. </p>
<p>Essays are fairly important at W&M and UVA. The W&M essays are rather broad (essentially, write what you want), which can be good or bad depending. On one hand it means that you don't have a specific prompt you can't connect with, but on the other (and more frequent hand) it can mean that the essays are too generic or broad to connect with the admissions officer. </p>
<p>The thing that sticks out to me is that you "didn't want to go there." This likely came across in your application, i.e. not doing the optional essay, not sending the optional rec, not sending the optional SAT II scores. I would really caution people to avoid thinking that schools they don't care about will want to admit them. If they see other kids from your school expressing significant interest, they are going to accept them over someone who is ranking them low on the list, which can mean that in reality they aren't a good fit for the school. Not score or GPA wise, but holistically.</p>
<p>^ There ** is ** such thing. Williams, Swarthmore, and Amherst all accept ~19% of the applicants. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton accept ~9%. </p>
<p>Top LACs - 1 in 5</p>
<p>"Top" Ivies - 1 in 10</p>
<p>No matter how true your analysis may be, it simply can't account for that extra 10 percent. And Tufts didn't just get the reputation it did for feeding starving children.</p>
<p>But Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore are on equal footing with most of the other Ivy League schools, and more competitive than some of them. Amherst also caps ED acceptees at 30% of the incoming class - last year, I believe it was 28. If they took nearly half of their class ED, as some of the Ivy League schools do, they could drive their admissions rate down to about 9%. They also have a more self-selecting application pool, as they're less well known. </p>
<p>I'm not saying that Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore are as selective as Harvard, Princeton, and Yale (or possibly Columbia) because they aren't, but they are certainly on par (or more selective) than the other 4.</p>
<p>Actually - the acceptance rates that I included both ED/EA/SCEA and RD and since the rates of acceptance between RD and ED/EA/SCEA are proportional, their acceptance rate wouldn't go down. Acceptance rates that you see include all means of acceptance. </p>
<p>I'm not saying they are not on par with (because they undoubtedly are), I'm saying that they are less competitive - because according to the raw data, that is a fact.</p>
<p>FYI, I did do the optional submission, additional rec, and SAT2's.</p>